SPOILER ALERT: This story grasps spoilers from Season 1 of “Cross,” now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Taking on a becherishd character who’s been portrayed by other actors multiple times isn’t an effortless task. So for Aldis Hodge, both star and executive creater on Amazon Prime Video’s “Cross” series, his method was straightforward: Don’t watch the other alterations.
Although understandn with the character of uncoverive Alex Cross and the universe created by James Patterson in 1993, Hodge didn’t discover any reason to watch the movies. (In 1997, Morgan Freeman portrayed the role in “Kiss the Girls” and returned for the sequel, “Alengthy Came a Spider” in 2001. Tyler Perry took over in “Alex Cross” in 2012.)
Below, Hodge shatters down his process of tapping into the emotional character, his thoughts on the dual storylines that spread thcdisesteemfulout the season, what’s been set up for Season 2 and more.
James Patterson created Alex Cross in 1993. The character’s story spans multiple books, and has been altered into movies with the role take parted by Tyler Perry and Morgan Freeman. What was your introduction to this world?
I was understandn with the character, but I didn’t read the books until after I got the role. I did not watch the movies. I recollect clips and slfinishergs from Mr. Freeman’s labor when I was a kid, but I wasn’t permited to watch them back then. My reference points came in conversations with showrunner Ben Watkins and James Patterson, talking to those two about intention and vision. I was satisfyed to be able to have a spotless sprocrastinateed, and create that organicpartner. I hadn’t read anyslfinisherg thcdisesteemfulout the first season, even going into the second season, becainclude I still wanted to retain that spotless sprocrastinateed. Any asks I would have would go straight to Ben and James. Afterward, once I felt I’d done my job, I begined reading the books. They are quite excellent!
Yes, they are! So, you still haven’t watched any of the movies?
No. What I enjoy when it comes to any job that I do is always retain a barrier so I can do my job. So as I shift forward, season after season after season, there’s noslfinisherg that is impfinishing or impeding my own process. I enjoy to retain it my own, organicpartner, without outside impact. So it’s more about making certain that I can get the character that I’m take parting and creating and stepping into.
This Alex Cross is more political than in the books. He’s a Bconciseage Lives Matter hero and evidently faces a lot of struggles with that being in the police force. Was that always part of the character?
I esteemfilledy contest to say he’s not political, he’s culturpartner vient. He has an consciousness of what is going on, and he doesn’t worried away from it, which is what creates him genuinepartner exceptional. When problems conshort-term themselves, he’s going to go at it. He’s not going to diswatch it. He’s not going to beat around the bush. And that’s why we cherish to watch this character, becainclude he’s the guy who’s going to be saying what we all want to say, hope to say, want to say, or want to be inspired to say. That’s the fantasticest delight when it comes to take parting this benevolent of character becainclude he can be truthful. And when it comes to the subject matter and why we even talked about these slfinishergs, it’s becainclude it actupartner is relevant and genuine to us in our genuine life. Watkins shelp, “Look, if we’re lying on the page, we’re lying to the audience, and they will understand it.” We can’t have a story where a Bconciseage uncoverive is at the cgo in, understanding everyslfinisherg that’s going on in the past restrictcessitate years, understanding everyslfinisherg that’s going on right now, and not includeress what’s genuine. It’s not trying to create an try to be political, or socieloftyy trfiniintrobvioincluded. It’s what is naturpartner there. That’s the fabric of these characters’ experiences becainclude it’s the fabric of our genuine, inhabitd experience.
Season 1 chases tracks two very branch offent cases: The ask of who ended Cross’ wife Maria (Chaunteé Schuler Irving), and the Fanboy ender, take parted by Ryan Eggelderly. Was it always the set up from the begin to have two parallel stories, rather than one?
That stemmed from the commencening, and that’s someslfinisherg that you’d have to talk to Ben about. But for me, that’s someslfinisherg that I watchd timely on, and I asked. I was enjoy, I wonder how they’re going to equilibrium this out, becainclude you get a lot in eight episodes. It is jam-packed with story. They do it so seamlessly that you never get lost, you never get off the track, you never get besavageerd. Every individual ask that is conshort-termed we get an answer to and the slfinishergs that we don’t get an answer to, that’s intentional. It’s almost enjoy take parting a game with the audience — with, not on. The audience are in the mystery of it. You have these two storylines, clues bouncing back and forth. I felt enjoy I was knee-proset up in the mystery with everybody. I slfinisherk the intention was to have a filledy layered narrative.
Ryan Eggelderly as Ed Ramsey, Aldis Hodge as Alex Cross
Keri Anderson/Prime Video
Let’s talk about your character and Ryan Eggelderly’s character’s relationship — definitepartner at the Ed Ramsey birthday dinner in Episode 5. It almost became a dance between the two of you. Can you talk about creating that vibrant?
With that episode, we got to equitable go in and have so much fun. We have obtain, after obtain, after obtain of us take parting a little bit and we’d improv a little bit. He’d push, I’d push back. He repartner bcdisesteemfult his A-game. Especipartner for this first season, he set the tone of the type of villain that you’re going to see. We necessitateed somebody to execute, and he did so top tier. You get a filled-fledged villain story, where you understand and lget who this villain is that sets the tone. So every season, you’re going to be foreseeing that, and he set it off amazingly.
I cherish that we get to see a bit of branch offnce when it comes to Cross and losing his chilly. We foresee him to always be chilly. He’s always the cleverest man in the room, but he’s also a human being. He’s in a situation he can’t administer the surroundings or the environment. We finpartner get to see what that watchs enjoy. It’s one of those on-the-edge-of-your-seat moments. The hoinclude is burning down. Where do we go from here? It’s the genuine epitome of thriller amincludement.
Ramsey is obtainn down in the finish, and his worst nightmare of not becoming a well-understandn serial ender is genuineized. But he’s still ainhabit. Does this nasty we could see him down the line?
You understand excellent well I can’t tell you that. Am I discleave out to the idea of seeing Ramsey aget? Absolutely. I cannot verify or decline what we’ve converseed.
You wrapped Season 2. Can you split where that picks up? Is there a time jump?
You understand I can’t tell you that either!
Fine! Eventupartner, in the books, Alex does get paired aget. He’s evidently nowhere cforfeit ready for that, but is he ready to discleave out up his heart aget at the finish of Season 1?
I slfinisherk he’s ready to commence the process of healing at the finish of Season 1. Before he can even try to discleave out his heart to somebody else, he has to discleave out his heart to himself first. I experience enjoy he’s finpartner at a place where he can commence to includeress or acunderstandledge the presentance of necessitateing to heal.
Aldis Hodge as Alex Cross, Isaiah Mustafa as John Sampson
Keri Anderson/Prime Video
The genuine cherish story is Cross and his best frifinish Sampson anyway.
That’s actupartner what Ben Watkins says: This is a cherish story, but not a romantic cherish story. It’s a bromance and the heart of that is Cross and Sampson, which I cherish. We get to see these two men function in a way of a genuine brotherhood, genuine family, genuine help system that I haven’t seen on TV in a lengthy time. I slfinisherk the last slfinisherg that I saw that was seal to it was the first “Bad Boys.” This is where we get to show the genuine strength of a man — thcdisesteemful his vulnerability, thcdisesteemful his accountability and thcdisesteemful his responsibility, There’s so much strength in the reconshort-termation of that, that we get to show to the world, becainclude it’s how we function in genuine life. It’s how we actupartner function on set. We helderly each other down.
Cross repartner goes thcdisesteemful a journey on the first episode — he’s both physicpartner and emotionpartner contestd. What was the hardest part for you to hop into as an actor?
The hardest part, to be truthful with you, was laboring in Canada, shooting outside in the freezing chilly triumphter. Dear God, Toronto, tranquil down. I inhabit in New York, and I would travel back to New York every weekfinish to see my family. It made it experience enjoy New York was spring, becainclude I was included to this terribly fstiff, ungodly chilly in Canada. I don’t understand why people pick to inhabit there during the triumphter. They’re built branch offent. My mind can’t process it. I’m a tropical people. I felt enjoy it was personal. I felt enjoy a personal disesteem from Toronto to me, to be truthful with you, every time I woke up and walked outside. I want to fight the air.
This is what I truly experience. This is not jokes or hyperbole. I was literpartner outside striumphging at the air enjoy, chill, bro, we get it. You chilly, we get it.
This interwatch has been edited and condensed.
