Amazon's Alex Cross Series Release Window: Will It Premiere in 2024?

Summary

• Amazon Prime has wrapped shooting on Cross.
• The new series is one of several Prime shows based on a long-running book series.
• The buzz around Cross is already excellent.
• This is not the first time the series has been adapted for the screen.

Rumours have been swirling for years now about Prime's new Alex Cross series, based on the long-running book series by mystery author James Patterson.

We've been getting information in bits and pieces – we know that the series stars Aldis Hodge as detective Cross, who in the book struggles to balance his obsessive work as a criminal profiler with his responsibilities as a widower and single father.

Last week, Prime dropped a teaser trailer that showed off the project's slick, dark tone. But who exactly is Alex Cross, and when will we get to watch him in action?

Who Is Alex Cross?

In 1993, crime novelist James Patterson wrote his first book starring Alex Cross. The character is a good choice to center a new series on, not only because he is fascinating but also because there is a lot of material to adapt: to date, Patterson has written a whopping 32 books starring Cross. (Fun Fact: there have been more than 80 million books sold in the series.)

Prime knows what it's doing here – the streamer has found success with a number of similar projects. Other long-running book characters who have made it to Prime include:

1. Jack Ryan, hero of 33 novels written by Tom Clancy. John Krasinski starred in the Prime series Jack Ryan for four seasons.
2. Jack Reacher appears in 28 books by Lee Child. Alan Ritchson plays the title character in the series, which has been renewed for a third season.
3. Harry Bosch is a cop starring in 24 books by Michael Connelly. Bosch is currently Amazon's longest-running series, and stars Titus Welliver as the titular detective.

It's Looking Good

Something must be cooking with this Alex Cross series: streamers are notoriously cancellation-happy, but Prime has already ordered a second season. The premiere hasn't happened yet – there are no numbers to prove whether it's a success or a flop – so clearly studio executives are liking what they see.

They aren't the only ones. Cross's leading man Aldis Hodge told Collider:

'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. This has been the best TV show I've ever been a part of in my career.'

If Hodge and Prime are correct about the quality of the show, this would be the first successful adaptation of Patterson's novels. Although Tyler Perry and Morgan Freeman both tried to bring Alex Cross to the big screen, the character didn't really take off as expected.

It might be that the third time's the charm.

Release Date…?

Prime has been very coy about its release date for Cross. The teaser trailer simply promises that the show will premiere 'soon'. Unfortunately, it may still be a number of months before we get to see Aldis Hodge in action.

However, if the show is as good as Hodge believes, we might have many years of Cross ahead of us.

Source: Collider.