The end is near! Dexter's final season kicks off this Sunday, June 30th, on Showtime, and features recurring guest stars Charlotte Rampling and Sean Patrick Flanery in notable new roles.

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Now with some seasons in the past, Showtime has come right out and told us who the "big bad" will be. We knew it would be Jimmy Smits in Season 3, and John Lithgow in Season 4. Then they played it closer to the vest in Season 5, and tried to trick us a wee bit in Season 6 by telling us that Edward James Olmos was the villain. In Season 7 we were told there'd be no "big bad," even though Ray Stevenson's Isaak wound up surpassing our expectations. Now we're back to keeping secrets. But it's the final run, so just knowing that Dexter's story is coming to an end is probably bigger than any one villain.

Dexter: Which Characters Could Get a Spinoff?

Honorable Mention - Rita Morgan (née Bennett, Brandon)

"I knew you were trouble when you walked innn..."

Dishonorable Mention - Travis Marshall (Doomsday Killer)

"You guys know where I can get one of those gold necklaces with a 'T" on it?"

So here we're going to look back at Dexter's top foes so far. His best adversaries. Not all are villains; just people who threatened Dexter's carefully constructed world. One way or the other, they were all serious obstacles. This is distinctly different than the Dexter: Top 10 Kills list I did a few years back (and will be updating at some point), especially since Dexter's not always the one who kills off his own enemies.Take a look at Dexter's most formidable foils. All of them, intentionally or not, have threatened to bring Dexter down - through murder, the law, or... marriage. And while Dexter's had a bunch of psychos try to kill him over the years (Boyd Fowler, Ray Speltzer, The Skinner, etc), you'll see that the best ones where those who had unconventional and complicated relationships with him.Oh, Rita. An earlier example of the many unjustly maligned wives of "Golden Era TV" anti-heroes, which would also later include the likes of Breaking Bad's Skyler and Boardwalk Empire's Margaret. Women who are perfectly right and reasonable to want more from their husbands, and to not want their lives to sink into the depths of crime and murder, but whose very existence opposes the entire premise of the show. Dexter spent four years of the series trying to hide his true, dark nature from Rita; sneaking out to kill and almost getting caught numerous times. She didn't mean to cause him so much distress, but there were several moments when the strain of his relationship with her took him to a breaking point.Acting as the start-to-finish villain in the worst season of Dexter, Travis Marshall was frustrating in both design and execution. Not only were many viewers able to figure out the big twist (which took nine episodes to drop- i.e. eight more than some fans needed), but Travis' shift from innocent, reluctant student to all-in maniac -- once he learned that he was the horrible killer all along! -- made no sense.

10 Hannah McKay

humana humana...

Hannah "Pretty Poison" McKay represented the best of both worlds for Dexter; a gorgeous domesticated suicide blonde like Rita and a murdering/serial killer-accepting hellcat like Lila. Unfortunately, she also complicated Dexter's life, as all his attempts at close, personal relationships do. First, she was his target, but her "come hither" curves were too much to resist and he decided to spare her. Then, in order to simplify their life together, Hannah tried to snuff out Deb, leading Dexter to make a hard choice and call the cops on her.As it stands, Hannah is still out there and she knows all about Dexter's true nature. Yvonne Strahovski is due back this summer as Hannah and we'll just have to see where Dexter stands now - given the fallout from the end of Season 7 with Deb and LaGuerta. Also, how much of a grudge does Hannah still hold?

9 Frank Lundy

FBI Profiler Frank Lundy was another one of Dexter's adversaries who never knew he was one of Dexter's adversaries. When he arrived on the scene in Season 2, after the discovery of Dexter's body drop, Dexter spent countless hours trying to out-maneuver him so as to not be revealed as the Bay Harbor Butcher. There were also definite moments between the two of them when it felt like Lundy knew more about Dexter's dark heart than he was letting on. Little passive-agressive jabs.Fortunately, Deb swooped in and Dexter was saved. No, she didn't help Dexter throw Lundy off his scent (well, sort of), but she did start having sex with Lundy, thereby making Lundy blind to the semi-obvious creepy crimes being committed by her brother.

8 Lila West

Some women just want to watch the loft burn.

Dexter learned the hard way that chicks who can burn it down in the sack will probably also burn it down...in real life. As in, set fire to everything you love. Yup, Lilas be crazy.Part of Dexter's psychological recovery process, after killing his brother at the end of Season 1, involved kill-impotence followed by a reinvigorating sexual relationship with a woman who was attracted to, and did her best to amplify, Dexter's darkness. Some fans might not have been crazy about the way Lila met her end (or how she all-too-conveniently killed Doakes), but her stealthy, seductive madness was enough to send Dexter running back to Rita and commit to forming a new family. So, you know, she must have terrified him to the core.Pardon her t**s, indeed.

7 Jordan Chase

"Thank you for sharing that dream about your penis-shaped algebra teacher, Dexter."

Ostensibly, motivational speaker/rape-enabler Jordan Chase (Elementary's Jonny Lee Miller) was really Lumen's foe. But through Dexter's aid -- and his thinking that if he could help her end him, he himself could heal -- Dexter decided to use the tactic he used on Trinity and go undercover, trying to be Chase's friend.And it was there that Chase became more than just a target; seeing Dexter as a shattered man who he could help piece back together through his new-age "Take It" speaking tour package. In fact, during the scene when Chase brought Dexter up on stage, he surprisingly broke Dexter down psychologically, leaving Dexter a bit of a mess afterward. And yes, as with Trinity, Chase figured out Dexter's ulterior motives before Dexter could successfully get the drop on him. So let's hope this marks the last time Dexter feels the need to cozy-up to a killer.

Surprise, Motherf***er! and more on Page 2...