Most Memorable TV Serial Killers

“Bates Motel” is a psychological horror drama that tells the story of how Norman Bates, already made famous by the thriller novel and iconic Hitchcock motion picture “Psycho.” The series shows him slowly transforming from a shy and smart boy to a vicious serial killer with a split personality disorder.

Throughout the first season of “True Detective,” Detectives Rust Cohle and Marty Hart pursued the elusive Yellow King, a serial killer who terrorized women and children in rural Louisiana over the course of many years. They eventually learn it is Errol Childress, a member of a secretive religious cult that has operated in the area for generations.

“Wolf Creek” follows Australian outback serial killer Mick Taylor as he targets a new set of victims each season. The show was originally a pair of films that was spun off into a series, with the films’ star, John Jarratt, returning to portray the deranged Taylor.

The Scottish drama “The Loch” centers on a small town whose idyllic image is shattered when a serial killer strikes. Kieran Whitehead kills and removes parts of his victims, leaving them in plain sight for investigators to find.

In the TV adaptation of the Stephen King book “Mr. Mercedes,” a killer uses a stolen Mercedes-Benz to run over his victims. The killer taunts recently retired detective Bill Hodges, sending him letters and emails to lure him into a cat and mouse game.