Three attempts to capture author James Patterson’s massive Alex Cross thriller franchise flopped on the big screen. But Prime Video is betting that the small screen will be the right home for the titular detective with the new series “Cross,” starring Aldis Hodge, debuting Thursday.
Hodge’s most notable TV roles include master hacker, computer specialist and gadgeteer Alec Hardison in the series “Leverage”; assistant district attorney Decourcy Ward in “City on a Hill”; and Noah in the slavery-era limited series “Underground.” But he said nothing he has done before is like his role as Alex Cross or “Cross” in general.
“The person that he is, the man that he is, the depths that he gets to go emotionally are areas I haven’t been able to go to before,” Hodge told NBC News. “In this case, it’s no-holds-barred: We are going to the deep, dark places. We’re going to the fun places, the lighthearted places, the emotionally vulnerable places, as much as possible, as often as we can, to really paint a picture of who these characters are, what their lives are, in juxtaposition to what they do. We’re not just living with the case and the killer and the murder mystery.”
That core world includes Cross’ two children, Damon and Janelle, who, like him, are still grieving the murder of their mother, Maria; his grandmother Nana Mama, who raised him and now helps raise his kids; his police partner and childhood best friend, John Sampson; and his love interest, Elle, who runs a nonprofit.
Then there is his work.
To create this much fuller world for the series, showrunner Ben Watkins turned to Patterson’s many books about Cross, the 33rd of which will debut just before Thanksgiving.
“The early Alex Cross books really tell a bigger picture of the character and the world, the family, the best friend relationship with John Sampson, the community of D.C., and I realized that those things weren’t as alive in the screen adaptations, and I think it’s because they didn’t have the real estate,” Watkins said. “I think when you’re trying to do a thriller in less than two hours, when you’re forced with a choice between plot and character, you’ve probably got to do more plot.”
Telling the Cross story through a TV series gives the producers more space to explore the world and the character. “I knew I could deliver a great thriller,” Watkins said, “but I also had the time to combine that with a character study that raises the question, ‘Who is Alex Cross in 2024?’”
Morgan Freeman first played the role of the widower and ace Washington, D.C., police detective in the 1997 film “Kiss the Girls,” and then again in 2001’s “Along Came a Spider,” named for Patterson’s first Cross novel, published in 1993. Tyler Perry starred in “Alex Cross” in 2012.
“There are a lot of the fundamental core principles that come out of the books, but there’s also an updated version that shows you a Cross that I think is more charismatic, has a physicality to him and is authentically Black, and I wanted to really portray a character in that way,” Watkins said.
“I also wanted to bring in the fact that there’s some sexiness to this character,” Watkins added. “He has a lot of relationships in the books, and I wanted to be able to have some fun with that because I think all those facets give us a fuller picture of a real person. And I know that this character has to be relatable and real if it’s going to work in 2024.”
That also meant the series confronting what being “Black and blue” means for Cross.
“Unfortunately, the tension between law enforcement and the Black community is just a reality, just like it’s cold in the wintertime,” Watkins said. “And so I feel like if we’re going to tell a story about a Black detective who’s a cop, if you tiptoe around the fact that that tension is there, then the audience is going to know you’re lying.”
Hodge is especially proud of being able to represent the detective as a father in the series.
“Obviously in the Black community, we get the stereotype of fathers not being in the home, which is actually not true at all. It’s the complete opposite coming from two fathers who love their families and love their kids,” he said, referring to himself and Watkins. “That’s something for me that is one of the greatest elements of who he is and what we get to see and experience with him.”
The world of Alex Cross keeps growing. Author James Patterson has penned nearly 30 best-selling novels about the iconic character, whose stories have inspired three movies with Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry in the eponymous role.
But Ben Watkins, the creator, showrunner, and executive producer behind the new Prime Video thriller Cross, opted for a younger leading man and chose Aldis Hodge to take the reins as the fabled forensic psychologist and detective. Watkins’s reimagining also explores Alex Cross’s family, friendships, and flaws in a way the big-screen versions did not.
“When this got put in front of me as a potential project to adapt to a television series, I got excited,” said Watkins, a self-professed crime junkie who grew up reading Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Walter Mosley. “No. 1, this is the type of stuff I would want to watch. I thought I could do a good job adapting it. No. 2, it had a legacy that included Morgan Freeman. And No. 3, when I read the books, I realized that there were actually some opportunities to do things that didn’t get done in the movies.”
Unlike in the films, TV audiences will have eight episodes of Cross to get to know the titular character.
“Alex Cross is Black. He lives in a Black neighbourhood, and he has some swagger,” Watkins explained. “Those were some things I felt were missing from the movies. The irony is that updating it and making it contemporary and more authentic actually reflects what’s in the books. There were some assumptions being made about Black characters that felt like if they were too specific, they wouldn’t have the same mass appeal. I think we are now entering an era where people are really appreciating the fact that you can go narrowly and still make it universal.”
Watkins describes Hodge, whose previous films include Black Adam and Hidden Figures, as his muse for Cross.
“I had a dream that Aldis would be Alex Cross,” explained Watkins, who first met Hodge and his older sibling, Edwin, also an actor, when the brothers were teenagers. “He was the blueprint. Aldis exudes this curiosity. He is wise beyond his years, but in a grounded way. He has this very intense intellectual feel to him, and I knew Alex Cross had to have that. But I also needed the vulnerability. Because for this to work—and it’s one of the things I’m most proud of about this series—Alex Cross can’t be a superhero.”
Hodge, in turn, was drawn to Cross because of the protagonist’s complexity.
“The script was just written so brilliantly that I just fell in love with it,” revealed Hodge, who is a father in real life. “When he’s at work, we get to see Alex Cross in cop mode. He’s doing his thing. But we also get to see another side of him at home when he’s just being a dad, which is what makes this role so multidimensional.”
Hodge says being a dad was one of the ways that helped him authentically portray his character on screen. The other? He says understanding what drove the detective’s everyday life.
“I was stepping into honesty, and all I had to do was keep remembering what Alex Cross’ ‘why’ was with whatever situation he stepped into,” the actor tells TODAY.com.
“We didn't have to try for that. All we had to be aware of was making honest decisions and choices,” he says.
The Prime series also stars Isaiah Mustafa as John Sampson, a fellow detective and longtime friend of Alex Cross. The Sampson character has made several appearances in the James Patterson novels but has seldom been brought to the screen.
In an interview with TODAY.com, Mustafa opened up about bringing his character's close friendship with Cross to the screen.
“I looked at the relationship that Sampson had with Alex, and I let that inform me as to who Sampson was and how deep his character was, how much love he had for his partner,” Mustafa says. “So to me, that was the through line. To show how much heart this character had and what he was willing to do to make sure his partner, his brother, lived up to his higher power.”
The backdrop of Washington D.C. also serves as an important component of this new retelling of the Alex Cross story. Hodge explains that in the show, “D.C. stands as its own character.”
The star says that the show attempts to go beyond the political significance of nation’s capital by tapping into the culture of the people that make up the city’s heart.
“Something that was really important to Ben was that we really bring out the flavor of D.C.’s culture. You’ve only really seen D.C. from the political side, the White House, the monuments,” Hodge explains. “We owe it to the culture to highlight them in a celebratory way.’
