Cast And Creator Tease Darker Chapter For Alex Cross & Team
James Patterson’s fan-favorite detective is back with Crossseason 2, and his caseload is about to get a lot darker. Developed and showrun by Ben Watkins, the Prime Video show takes a somewhat looser approach to adapting its source material, featuring elements of Patterson’s 34-novel series, while largely telling original stories and featuring a handful of novel characters, including Detective John Sampson.
Cross season 2 picks up sometime after the events of season 1, with the titular detective now turning his attention to tracking down a ruthless vigilante who is hunting down and killing corrupt billionaire magnates. This not only puts him in the path of Matthew Lillard’s currently-unnamed character, but also going down a dark spiral leading to a mysterious group with knowledge of his past.
Leverage vet Aldis Hodgereturns to lead the Cross season 2 cast as the titular detective alongside fellow returning stars Isaiah Mustafa as Sampson, Alona Tal, Samantha Walkes, Juanita Jennings, Caleb Elijah, Melody Hurd and Johnny Ray Gill. In addition to Lillard, the new season will also introduce Upload‘s Jeanine Mason and The Expanse‘s Wes Chatham in currently unknown roles.
In honor of the show’s New York Comic Con 2025 presence, ScreenRant hosted Ben Watkins, Aldis Hodge, Isaiah Mustafa, Sam Walkes, Alona Tal, Wes Chatham and Matthew Lillard in our media suite to talk Cross season 2. The creator and returning stars opened up about how the new season is evolving their characters, particularly as it proves to be one of Alex’s darkest cases yet, while the new stars talked about joining the well-received crime thriller.
Cross Season 2’s Dark Story “Cuts Deep” For Alex And His Group
While story details are still largely under wraps from the season, the firstseason 2 teaser trailer has already showcased how it will have a different feeling from Cross season 1. With a brighter color palette and intense set pieces for the titular detective, Ben Watkins looks to have evolved the show in a variety of ways.
One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is Alex having to hunt down yet another brutal killer after successfully taking down Ed Ramsay in Cross season 1’s ending. The brighter color palette also looks to come in time with a change in season for the show, with season 1 taking place in a wintry setting, while season 2 appears to be in the heat of the summer, and after Alex began going to therapy to properly process his wife’s murder.
But without spoiling secrets, I’m very excited to see the unexpected twists and turns in the dynamic of people’s relationships.
However, despite some potential progress being made in his time off the air, Hodge partially jokes that Cross is “probably gonna need some more therapy” after season 2. Keeping mum on the exact reasons why, the star/executive producer praises the way the show continues to evolve the relationships at its heart, including “different areas of relationships that we weren’t even ready to go down” in season 1.
“Sampson has his own journey. We got Elle, and she has a different journey, and we get to fill out the world a little bit more,” Hodge teased. “So, it’s a big continuation of where we left off, but we get so invested in their lives, and we don’t drop anything. We kind of pick up where we left off, and we keep people pushing.“
Even while Sampson often sticks with Alex through even the thickest of emotional hurdles, Mustafa does tease that season 2 “cuts deep” for the two characters. Assuring that the season picks up “right where it left off“, the Cross star says audiences will get to see “how tight these two are” and the importance of “certain people [having] to help certain people out“.
Before closing it out, though, Mustafa laughs as he says anything else said would risk entering spoiler territory for the new season. Hodge concurred, while giving a brief tease that there “is another moment where we might have some trust issues going on“, leaving us with a hint that “maybe, maybe not, we come back together as boys“.
Tal & Watkins Are Still Not Ready To Talk THAT Major Book Villain Theory
Alona Tal’s Kayla looking in thought while Aldis Hodge’s Alex looks at something in Cross season 2
Prior to season 1’s release, one of the biggest talking points around Prime Video’s Cross was Alona Tal’s character, FBI agent Kayla Craig, who comes aboard Alex’s investigation into Ramsey. Fans of Patterson’s novels immediately drew a parallel between Tal’s character’s name and that of Kyle Craig, who started as an FBI agent and close friend to Alex before eventually being revealed to be a master criminal.
During season 1’s press tour, Tal frequently dodged questions about this theory. This felt all the more possible when the first Cross season ended revealing Kayla meeting with Johnny Ray Gill’s Bobby Trey, an associate of Ramsey’s, and offering him a deal for full immunity in exchange for turning over evidence of at least six of Ramsey’s murders.
Alona Tal’s Kayla leaning against a bar flirtatiously in Cross season 1
She further asked for all of Ramsey’s blackmail material on the elite society he frequently met with in private video calls and hosted at his house, in exchange for a hefty sum paid to Trey. However, even as the character seems poised for something darker, Tal laughs as she admits “nothing has changed” in what she can actually discuss about Kayla’s motivations and actions, joking “I can just talk about my gender” when presented with the theory that the show has gender-swapped the character.
Watkins would chime in shortly after to denote that the show has “stayed away from the stories of the books while just taking the characters and the world“, therefore leaving the door open for Kayla to be her own character. The showrunner does denote, however, that his Cross team “really [tries] to pay homage to the books” with references and “characters who are inspired by characters from the books“.
He subsequently acknowledged that the writers room is “having some fun with planing the seed of a character” book fans will recognize, which will “start creating a road towards some really fun stuff that we can look forward to in future seasons“.
“That was something that I planned right off from the start, as soon as I realized, ‘Hey, I’m not going to do the original stories, I’m not going to do Along Came A Spider, I’m not going to do Kiss the Girls, but I want to be able to give something to the original book fans’,” Watkins said. “So, we started planting those seeds early, and we put it in the pilot, and it will be blossoming sometime soon.“
Tal would concur with a sincere answer, acknowledging that the cast, as much as the creators “are aware of the books“, and want to stay true to their spirits. However, she goes on to point out the “beauty of having talented actors and talented writers“, in which they can all “collaborate and bring something fresh and new” to the world of Cross.
“I think that’s what people will be able to see, that seed that he planted a maybe,” Tal teased. “Is it a notion of something that you know and are familiar with, but something completely new and refreshing?“
Cross Season 2’s Apparent Villains May Be More Than Meets The Eye
Matthew Lillard holding a box while on a stage in Cross season 2
As the show continues to build on the dynamics and arcs set up in its debut, Cross season 2 is also expanding its roster with Lillard and Chatham. Though the actual details of their characters are being kept close to the vest, with the latter even joking he had to “be careful what I say” in the interview, the trailer does make it clear the Expanse alum is one of the two vigilantes targeting corrupt billionaires, while the horror icon is one such billionaire.
Wes Chatham looking intensely in front of a fire in Cross season 2
For Chatham, one of the big things he and Watkins discussed early into creating his character was a desire to explore people who have “completely different social economic backgrounds, come from different places” and subsequently “unite on a common cause“, thus becoming family.
The other person Chatham is associated with in the season is that of Jeanine Mason’s Luz, with whom he recalls getting to “really build this relationship over time” and touch on the “emotional motivation” of their vigilantism stemming from “somebody that deeply wronged us in the past“.
Joking that his character is “the sex symbol of season 2“, Lillard praises Watkins for giving him a “full-bodied character” in his billionaire figure who is “out to save the world“. When questioned about whether he’s sincere about his motivations, Lillard is quick to quip “I have never played a bad guy in my entire life“, calling his Cross character an example of “a guy that’s really trying to do the best for the world“, sneaking in “like all billionaires“.
“Having stepped on set as the show was coming out, getting to know the world, getting to know the culture we were stepping into, it was just a total joy as an actor,” Lillard warmly expressed. “These actors are incredible, and to share the space, it was an awesome way to spend the season.“
What Else We Learned From The Group About Cross Season 2 & Beyond
ScreenRant: Matthew and Wes, how has it felt to join the Cross family?
Matthew Lillard: It’s been terrible. Nobody welcomes us. They’re rude and beautiful, so you just feel ugly and unwelcome.
Wes Chatham: And everybody’s tall, everybody’s, I’m like, “Man, I am short, unattractive.” [Laughs]
Matthew Lillard: It’s amazing to step into incredibly successful show with a storyteller that is at the top of the game right now. As an actor, it’s all you dream about, to be associated with the best, and here we are, so it’s a privilege.
Wes Chatham: Yeah, I feel the same way. I was lucky enough to work with Ben on a show a long time ago, and I got to know him, and the energy and the camaraderie and the family-like relationship on set is always the same on all his sets. And Aldis was really welcoming coming on. Isaiah, not so much. [Laughs]
ScreenRant: Sam, to talk about Elle a little bit here. Elle was with Alex throughout his trauma throughout season 1, and she was obviously proven wrong about Ed Ramsey, which I’m sure didn’t make things any easier for the two. How has your characters’ dynamic changed going into season 2?
Sam Watkins: I think what is at the forefront of her mind also remains the same. It’s the health and wellness of the relationship, and that we don’t sacrifice just because we love each other. I think so much in TV and film, we romanticize the ideas of love and falling in love and staying in love, and the trauma and tribulations of relationships. And we sometimes forget that modern love, real love, is actually this. It’s actually fighting for what is healthy. What is the healthiest version of ourselves? So, that is what Elle keeps pushing through in season 2.
Matthew Lillard: We need to broadcast that to the world!
ScreenRant: The last time I was interviewing you in a room like this was at SXSW for The Dutchman, and one of the things you said that weekend was people were praising your iteration of Hawkman from Black Adam a couple years ago, asking if there were any future plans? And you said, “Well, maybe in another universe there will be hope.” I want to get some clarification. There is that other universe, in the DC world, are there Marvel roles you have your eye on. You ever think you’ll put on a cape again?
Aldis Hodge: That’s above my pay grade. You gonna have to talk to them. Obviously, if that was something that came back around, yeah. I know for Hawkman, we definitely actually had plans for that, but plans changed, but it depends if the story is right, the timing right. Personally, I grew up a huge fan of graphic novels, superheroes, all that kind of stuff. 9B Collective, yes, we design superheroes. So if it was something that came around that felt right, absolutely, but I’m also happy kicking it out here, being a fan.
We stopped on the wrong floor, I saw a whole bunch of anime, and I was about to go, because we stopped on the wrong floor. I blame Samantha, because she was like, “Mmm, popcorn,” and we stopped on the floor to get popcorn. I saw the floor, I was like, “Oh, but do we have to work? Because I gotta go.” So I’m a fan, man, but yeah, if something came around that was right, sure, because it is fun. And for me, when you do it just right, and the fans hit you with that love, that’s a different kind of relationship, that’s a different kind of experience, and it’s amazing. But like I said, it ain’t up to me. You want to talk to a couple guys.
Matthew Lillard: Five Nights 2. Yeah, I am not that smart. I’m a little like a housefly, my mind only lasts for 24 hours. It’s super fun to be associated with these franchises. It’s all you dream about as an actor. You want to be in the fellowship of great storytellers, and yeah, it’s a privilege to be a part of them.
Cross season 2’s first three episodes premiere on February 11, followed by new episodes every Wednesday on Prime Video.
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