‘Cross’ Aldis Hodge and Isaiah Mustafa Tease What’s Next For John Sampson In Season 2

Actors Aldis Hodge and Isaiah Mustafa have been in the movie business for decades. From one-off character stints on shows like ER, The Walking Dead, and Black-ish to major roles in internationally acclaimed blockbuster hits like Hidden Figures, The Invisible Man, and It: Chapter Two, Hodge and Mustafa continue to impress and entertain audiences. Now, they share the screen — and unmatched chemistry — as famous literary detectives Alex Cross and John Sampson in the new Prime Video series Cross.

In this latest interpretation of James Patterson‘s seminal detective, Alex Cross (Hodge) uses forensic psychology to analyze and investigate the minds of killers, delving deep into the victim’s psyche to identify their killer and bring them to justice, along with his trusted partner and best friend John Sampson (Mustafa). The series also stars Alona Tal (SEAL Team), Samantha Walkes (The Changeling), Ryan Eggold (The Blacklist), and Eloise Mumford (50 Shades of Grey).

Ahead of the series premiere, Hodge and Mustafa sat down with Collider’s own Steve Weintraub to discuss all things Cross. In this interview, they discuss the importance of brotherhood and camaraderie within their community, on set, and beyond, as well as teasing a little Season 2 action and hints of Jerry Maguire.

Aldis Hodge Got His Start In This Bruce Willis Threequel

COLLIDER: Let’s get into the most important thing up front, right at the beginning: how the hell did I not know you started your career with a Die Hard movie?

ALDIS HODGE: [Laughs] Well, sir, there are many things you may not know about me, particularly that I was in two Die Hard movies. I was in one of the best ones, and I was in one of the worst ones. Yeah, man, back when I was eight or nine years old, Die Hard with a Vengeance with [Samuel L. Jackson] being my uncle. It was cool, man. I didn’t know the scale and the scope of the movie that I was in at the time — clearly, I was a kid — but that was a cool little bit, man. It was awesome. That was the better Die Hard. Well, you know. [Laughs]

It’s really cool to be able to say you were in one of those.

‘Cross’ Already Has Season 2 in the Chamber

Jumping into why I get to talk to you guys. First of all, congratulations. It is not too often a show gets a second season before the first season has even premiered.

HODGE: Yeah, man. Yes, indeedy. How did you feel when you got the news? Because I had a head start on it.

ISAIAH MUSTAFA: Yeah, you did have a head start. Actually, you told me the news. So I was like, “What?! That doesn’t normally happen, does it?”

HODGE: No, that is a true testament. The cast really put down their best efforts, and our crews are incredible. Our writing staff is incredible. The producers are amazing, and honestly, the leadership of Ben Watkins, his perspective, and his vision are really what got us all here today. So, I say hats off to that brother because he really did something historic.

It’s hard to do one season of a television show and get a second season before it premieres. That’s very, very rare.

HODGE: I mean, to tip our hat a little bit, we got the second season before anybody saw a trailer, let alone an episode. It also shows the faith that Amazon really has in us, and that we’re tremendously grateful because you’re right, it doesn’t. We’ve both been in the game a long time, and this is the first time in my career — 35 years — this has ever happened.

‘Cross’ Season 2 Filming Is Wrapped – Before Season 1’s Premiere

I did not realize until Ben told me that you’ve already shot Season 2.

HODGE: Done! In the can.

I was like, “Wait a minute, how did I not know?” I mean, I’m pretty smart, I know a lot about TV and movies. I had no idea you had already shot both seasons.

MUSTAFA: Yeah, man.

HODGE: We got that knocked out in August?

MUSTAFA: Nah, June, July… August. [Laughs]

HODGE: It was August. I be paying attention because I was there. I was actually there. I was working. Where were you? On vacation? Out there in the streets?

MUSTAFA: Oh, you know.

Brotherhood Is At The Heart of ‘Cross’

“This is something that’s quite common. It just hasn’t been exposed or expressed in television in this way.”

One of my favorite things about the show is the relationship between the two of you. It is so rare to see two men have this loving, great relationship. In either movies or television, this shit is not done, especially between two Black men. Can you talk about that aspect of the show and just how cool and unusual it is?

HODGE: Ben described the show as there’s a love story here. Not a romantic love story, but there’s a love story, one of a bromance between these two, Sampson and Cross. The opportunity presented is to be able to show Sampson in a way that has never been seen or even touched before with any of the narratives. Sampson is a fan favorite from the books, so we have that opportunity that we can capitalize on, but also the relationship there talking about the brotherhood, talking about mental health, pushing each other, and standing in the muck with one another when things are going crazy.

This is something that is honest and true for us inter-communally. Within our community, this is something that’s quite common. It just hasn’t been exposed or expressed in television in this way. We literally have this dynamic on set from us, to the producers to, shoot, my assistant who’s sitting right over there. That’s the little homie, that’s the little bro. We all have a communal brotherhood where we hold each other down. We hold each other up, and we hold each other down. The fact that we get to show it in this way gives us a fantastic opportunity to really speak to the audience about the necessities of things that make us thrive, not just live, but to actually thrive as human beings.

MUSTAFA: That goes even off-set in our own personal lives. Actually, I remember a moment I had after the first season. A tragedy happened in my family, and one of the first people I talked to about it was this man right here. He was there for me. It wasn’t something manufactured. It was something that was real. He was just like, “Hey man, if you need somebody to talk to, here I am.”

HODGE: I appreciate that.

MUSTAFA: And I appreciate the call, man. It was just one of those moments where I was like, “Okay, I’m supposed to be where I’m at right now. In my work life, in my whole life, I’m supposed to be around these people that I’m around.”

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HODGE: You wanna tell them about that time I had bailed you out of jail?

MUSTAFA: I don’t want to talk about the jail time because what I was doing wasn’t really out there right now.

HODGE: You don’t need to talk about what you did, just the fact I bailed you out of jail.

MUSTAFA: He spent his own money to get a bail bond to get me out of– Wait a second, see, I just implicated myself in some stuff. We’ll talk about that later. We’ll get into that a little bit later.

HODGE: I mean, it’s on tape. It’s on record.

I mean, editing. Who knows?

Sampson Will Face His Own Past In ‘Cross’ Season 2

“We get to live with both of these characters in their best and their worst moments.”

I know you’re here to talk about Season 1, but I’ve already seen Season 1…

MUSTAFA: Steve!

HODGE: Come on, brother!

[Laughs] The relationship, what do you build on when you get to Season 2? What can be teased?

MUSTAFA: You know what? I’m not allowed to tease anything, but what you asked is a very good question.

HODGE: We see what you’re doing here, Steve.

MUSTAFA: If you have any idea where you’re going with that, that is the one of the first questions that will be answered in Season 2.

HODGE: Let me ask you this since you’re already asking, since you’ve already seen the first one, I suppose that the first season was good enough that it intrigues you to want to know where the relationship is gonna go. Okay! Thank you. Now that we have that established… You see from the first season that the relationship they have is truth, right? In that they’re going to fight it out, sometimes. They’re gonna argue, they’re gonna disagree, they’re gonna come together, hold each other down, they’re gonna surprise each other and support. It’s multi-layered. It’s up and down. But the throughline is always love. The throughline is always that brotherhood. Because everybody has their own lane, like they each have their own traumas they have to tackle. They each have dark things from their past that are unanswered that they will confront. We get to see that with Cross. Eventually, we will get to see that with Sampson. I’m not saying what it is… I don’t know.

MUSTAFA: We don’t know.

HODGE: We get to live with both of these characters in their best and their worst moments, and, at the end of the day, they always have each other to rely on, regardless of the stakes. We get to watch them move through life and tackle these things head-on together.

MUSTAFA: What I can tell you is this: when someone is moving in the wrong direction, a true friend–

HODGE: Is gonna pull you back.

MUSTAFA: –is somebody who will tell you what you’re doing wrong, pull you back, and put you in the right direction.

HODGE: Unlike Isaiah, who will let me keep driving down.

MUSTAFA: I’ll let him eat all the wrong things…

HODGE: One time we were driving somewhere, and I was supposed to make a left, and he said, “Go right,” and then he kept telling me to go right. And I knew it wasn’t right. That’s what had happened.

MUSTAFA: Continual rights. That’s what had happened.

HODGE. Right is wrong, bro. Right is wrong.

This is not a spoiler, but it’s a little bit of a spoiler. In Episode 8, I love the fact that the episode is called ” You Had Me at Motherf*cker,” w hich I find funny, but there’s a little bit of a Jerry Maguire element to that episode and the way you guys are talking at each other. When you were filming, did you realize there’s a little bit of that?

HODGE: I just heard it now, and I’m like, “You know, you gotta point!”

MUSTAFA: That just landed on me, too. I didn’t think about that.

HODGE: You know it’s gonna be a hashtag, though. #youhadmeatmotherf*cker because that is the line. Mm. That is the line.

Cross is available to stream now on Prime Video.

TV series based on James Paterson’s Alex Cross novels. Alex Cross uses forensic psychology to analyze killers’ minds, delving into victims’ psyches to identify murderers and bring them to justice

Cast

Aldis Hodge , Jennifer Wigmore , Mercedes de la Zerda , Sharon Taylor , Siobhan Murphy , Stacie Greenwell , Ashley Rios , matthew lillard

Creator(s)

Ben Watkins

Writers

Ben Watkins

Streaming Service(s)

Prime Video

Franchise(s)

Alex Cross

Watch on Prime Video