Prime Video’s Cross Season 1 was a helluva ride.
Pitting Aldis Hodge’s Alex Cross against not one, but two, insidiously clever villains had us on the edge of our seats as both serial killer and stalker toyed with the man, his team, and his family.
With Cross Season 2 premiering on February 11 with a triple-decker event, Prime Video recently released a set of first-look images to whet our appetites and fire our imaginations.
Who’s Returning?
Clearly, this is still the Alex Cross show. And where Detective Alex Cross goes, you’ll find his partner and bestie, John Sampson.
Along for the ride are fellow Metropolitan Police Department officers, Vega and De Lackner.
We can also expect to see Alex’s family — Nana, Janelle, and Damon — as well as Alex’s love interest, Elle, and the beleaguered Chief Anderson.
The first-look images include Cross and Sampson seated at the counter at Ben’s Chili Bowl, with Cross looking a little worse for wear, a bandage holding a cut together above his right eye. Sampson, on the other hand, doesn’t have a mark on him.
While it’s unlikely Sampson wouldn’t have Cross’s back in a fight, it’s very possible that Cross gets into a dust-up without his right-hand man there.
More than possible if it’s a fight that Cross knows Sampson wouldn’t advise getting into in the first place.
Considering the trauma Cross and his family went through in Season 1 — and Cross’s historical reluctance to deal with his own issues — it would make sense for him to be making bad decisions early in the sophomore season as he attempts to process the fallout from his family being stalked by the person who killed his wife.
We hope this means Season 2 will actually address the repercussions of the Cross Season 1 finale. This isn’t a show that exists beyond the realities of life.
Its characters are human — vulnerable and fallible. They are strong because they need to be, willing to fight because they believe in humanity, but they also need time to heal their wounds.
A New Partner? Or Something Else?
It’s interesting to note that half of the first-look images pair Cross with Alona Tal’s Agent Kayla Craig in the field.
Fans of James Patterson’s novels noted Craig’s presence in the first season with interest, speculating that she’s somehow connected to Kyle Craig, Cross’s long-running adversary in the novels.
Like Kayla, Kyle works closely with Cross on several serial-killer cases in the novels. He’s a rising star in the FBI until he reveals himself as the Mastermind killer.
So the question is: is Kayla’s presence an on-ramp to introduce Kyle, aka the Mastermind, OR are we watching the origin story of the Mastermind HERSELF?
Of course, it could all be a red herring, and the writers never plan to take the Mastermind route at all. In that case, PFFFT, what a wasted opportunity!
Kayla’s not a stranger to covert ops that tread the gray area of the law.
In the Cross Season 1 stinger scene, we saw her strike a deal with the chaotic evil mercenary criminal, Bobby Trey Abellard, putting him on her payroll now that Ed Ramsey’s out of the way.
Bobby’s canny enough to realize that she’s not offering a sanctioned deal, but doesn’t really care as long as the deal works for him.
With Kayla working closely with Cross, it’s possible her deal with Bobby will come to light.
In case anyone’s forgotten, Kayla also bumped booty with John Sampson last season, despite clearly setting her cap out for Cross.
Will that be something Sampson and Cross need to discuss, especially if Cross steps away from Sampson to work with Kayla?
New Faces
Of the three new cast members announced for Cross Season 2 — Jeanine Mason, Wes Chatham, and Matthew Lillard — only Lillard appears in the first-look images.
It’s been a minute since the Scream and Scooby-Doo films, and Lillard’s shaken off his earnest Shaggy energy in favor of an eccentric mogul vibe.
While not nearly as stylishly dressed as Cross Season 1’s Ryan Eggold’s killer, Ramsey, Lillard’s Lance Durand clearly has money and connections.
Wealthy enough to warrant private security and powerful enough to command the attention of the FBI and Alex Cross.
With Cross Season 2 focused on “a ruthless vigilante who is hunting down corrupt billionaire magnates,” we can assume good ol’ Lance is either a corrupt billionaire or a well-disguised vigilante.
Sadly, it’s very much an either/or situation.
In today’s societal climate, it’s hard not to get behind a vigilante targeting the evil wealthy elite.
As much as Cross Season 1 spotlighted the problematic complexities of police culture, we hope that Cross Season 2 opens a discourse on the exploitative entitlement of the rich.
Agree? Disagree? Have a theory?
Let us know in the comments, or share this article with someone who will want to argue about it with you. That’s what makes it fun.
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