James Patterson Praises New Alex Cross Series, Calls It 'Edgier' Than Most (2024)

Though the new Alex Cross series for Prime Video – simply titled Cross – has yet to set a premiere date, the show is already being praised as “edgier” than most other projects involving the famed detective by creator James Patterson. While Cross has been in development for some time, it wasn’t until 2022 that the series received an official order from Amazon following the success of another crime series that year, Reacher. Aldis Hodge (The Invisible Man, Black Adam) will portray the popular detective/forensic psychologist made famous in the novels by Patterson.

Appearing on the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shepard, the 77-year-old Patterson was asked how he felt about the various movie and TV adaptations of his novels, which to date have sold more than 425 million copies. Narrowing it down to Cross specifically, Patterson said the show is “edgier” than other adaptations he’s seen, and that it’s the first one to really capture the realism of a police procedural. Check out his comments below.

“The new Alex Cross series on Amazon with Aldis Hodge, that’s good. That’s the first one where I can look at it and really go, ‘Yup, it’s edgier, it’s more realistic about police work.’ I really like the way that turned out.”

No official synopsis has been released for Cross yet, so specific plot details are currently unknown. What has been revealed is that Aldis Hodge will portray Alex Cross as a man who is “brilliant, flawed, and full of contradictions. A doting father and family man, Cross is single-minded to the point of obsession when he hunts killers. He is desperate for love, but his wife’s murder has left him too damaged to receive it.”

Amazon Has Faith That Cross Will Be a Huge Success

While many cable and streaming outlets at least wait a few episodes before deciding on whether a TV series will get picked up for another season, such is not the case when it comes to Cross. The series has already been renewed for a second outing before its first season even airs, proving that Amazon is banking on Cross to do huge numbers in terms of viewership. Following the success of other shows in the same vein as Cross, such as Reacher and Bosch, there’s little reason to doubt otherwise, given the huge attention the series will receive from longtime fans of Patterson’s novels.

Aldis Hodge, who portrays the third incarnation of Alex Cross following Tyler Perry in the 2012 film of the same name, and Morgan Freeman in Along Came a Spider (2001), and the 1997 hit, Kiss the Girls spoke with Collider earlier this year, calling Cross the best TV show he’s ever been involved in. He says he's been looking for a project like this "for a while."

“I will say, as far as TV series go, this has been my favorite TV series, and I mean that honestly. Fully, truly, intently, this has been the best, in terms of character development. I’ve been looking for this for a while. As an audience member and then also as an actor, I’m excited to see how people respond to it, because I know what’s there, and I’m so proud.”