Hodge is the third actor to portray Cross, following in the footsteps of Morgan Freeman, who first played him onscreen in 1997's Kiss the Girls and again in the 2001 movie sequel Along Came a Spider; and Tyler Perry as the titular character in 2012's Alex Cross, which bombed at the box office and led Lionsgate to scrap the preplanned sequel Double Cross.
Similar to the Alex Cross feature film, Cross was already been greenlit for a second season ahead of its Nov. 14 series premiere. However, Patterson has every confidence this time in the success of the TV series, crediting Hodge for the depth he brings to the lead role. Below in conversation with THR, Patterson talks about creating Alex Cross more than 30 years ago, refusing to whitewash him and why this character is still ripe for reimagining.
In episode 2, Cross tells Sampson he smells like "mothballs and old spice." In real life, Isaiah Mustafa featured in the great Old Spice ads as 'the man your man could smell like'
The series makes multiple references to titles of books from the Alex Cross series. In one episode Cross recieves a note that says "Kill Alex Cross", this is the title of the 18th book in the series. The song 'What a Wonderful World' features prominently, particularly the line "Red Roses Too", Roses are Red is the title of 6th book in the series. In one episode the camera zooms in and lingers on a spider sitting on a web, the first book in the series is Along Came a Spider. The title of this series takes its name from Cross, the 12th book in the series.
The character of Kyle Craig from the books has been changed to Kayla Craig in the Amazon Prime series.