The actor recently took a trip down memory lane to reflect on one of Season 2’s most unforgettable moments.
James Doakes has become one of television’s most “memed” characters, and his legacy continues to grow stronger than ever in 2025. Despite being alive in only two seasons and 23 episodes of Dexter, Erik King’s portrayal left an impact that few supporting characters ever achieve. Remarkably, it’s been 18 years since Doakes was last alive on screen yet his intensity and quotable lines have kept him alive in pop culture conversations ever since.
Season 2 of Dexter marked the turning point for James Doakes: his rise and eventual downfall. He was the first person to uncover Dexter’s secret that he was, in fact, the Bay Harbor Butcher. This revelation sealed Doakes’ fate. After catching Dexter red-handed, he was imprisoned in a cage at Santos Jimenez’s remote cabin in the Florida Everglades, as Dexter tried to divert suspicion from himself.
That decision led to one of the biggest moral dilemmas: Dexter considering whether to turn himself in, a struggle deeply tied to his tense conversation with Doakes in the episode “Left Turn Ahead.”
In that episode, a desperate Doakes pleads with Dexter to do the right thing and surrender. It’s a rare moment of honesty between two men who, for so long, had been locked in mutual hostility. For a brief second, fans saw what could have been, a version of their relationship rooted in respect. It was actually the last time both character talked to each other, before... Lila happened.
But was that moment truly sincere, or was Doakes simply manipulating Dexter to escape? During his appearance at Scaradise 2025, Erik King revisited that unforgettable scene and offered his insight. When asked whether Doakes meant what he said or was playing mind games, King replied:
“I think it’s a combination of both. For the first time, they saw each other’s humanity. It’s the first time Doakes called him ‘Dexter,’ and the first time Dexter called him ‘James.’ When Dexter says he thinks he might turn himself in, Doakes tells him, ‘I’ll go with you.’ Now, of course, I’m trying to get the f**k out of the cage, let’s be real, but there was something real there. They understood each other. Doakes had seen him kill someone, he knew about Harry, he knew Dexter’s past. So yeah, they saw each other, man. But trust me, I still wanted out of that damn cage.”
King also reflected on the inevitability of Doakes’ death:
“When I found out Doakes was going to die, I understood why. He couldn’t go five seasons saying, ‘I’m watching you, mother**cker,’ without eventually finding something.”
That cage scene remains one of the shows most memorable moments and it can be easily descrpbed as a mix of truth, manipulation, and reluctant empathy. The human side of both was revealed, but thanks to Lila's obsession with Dexter, Doakes' fate was sealed later in the same episode.