Alex Crossthe author’s character James Pattersonthe popular crime thriller series, is get a refreshment passing through Main videoIt is Cross. In the eight-episode detective series written and created by Ben Watkinsactor Aldis Hodge reprises the role of the noir detective, solving crimes in Washington, D.C. alongside fellow officer and best friend John Samson, played by Isaiah Mustafa.

“Talking with Ben, I really liked the vision and what he wanted to do with it to make Alex more contemporary, more of a cop dealing with the real world right now,” Patterson said. The Hollywood Reporter to give his blessing to Watkins for his interpretation of the characters Patterson first created in the 1993 novel A spider has arrived.

Hodge is the third actor to play Cross, following in the footsteps of Morgan Freemanwho played him for the first time on screen in 1997 Kiss the girls and again in the sequel to the 2001 film A spider has arrived; And Tyler Perry as the main character in 2012 Alex Crosswhich bombed at the box office and led Lionsgate to abandon the pre-planned sequel Double cross.

“Tyler Perry got screwed. The director just screwed him,” Patterson says unabashedly of Rob Cohen, who helmed the action thriller.

Similar to Alex Cross feature film, Cross was already been green light for a second season ahead of the series premiere on November 14. However, Patterson has every confidence in the success of the TV series this time around, crediting Hodge for the depth he brings to the lead role. Below in conversation with THRPatterson talks about creating Alex Cross more than 30 years ago, refusing to whitewash him, and why this character is still ripe for reinvention.

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When you were first approached about an Alex Cross TV series, what intrigued you about the pitch?

Here’s an interesting thing about the Hollywood Cross stuff. When I wrote the first Alex Cross book, I didn’t have a lot of money and Hollywood came calling… hit, hit, hit, hit, hit. They were offering seven figures and I didn’t have a lot of money. They said, “We just want a change; we want Alex to be a white man. And I said, “Fuck you.” It was painful, but I did it. So we didn’t sell it right away. But a few years later, Paramount came along, so we did a few films with Morgan. One of the pieces here is David Ellison with Sky Dance. David was involved early on, and then Amazon got involved, which was great, and I met Ben (Watkins) along the way, which was really great, and then obviously Aldis came along a little bit later .

What made you say no to making Alex Cross white?

Because that wasn’t who he was. I grew up in a small town, Newburgh, New York. My grandparents had a very small restaurant and the chef is a black woman, Laura, and she was having problems with her husband, and my family said, “Move in with us.” She lived with us for three or four years. I spent a lot of time with his family and they were great. I loved being with his family more than my family. They were smart, the music was great, the food was great, and I loved playing basketball. And then I looked at Hollywood and, at that time, there was Sidney Poitier – okay, he’s worthy – and then a lot of films with black people with boomboxes. Really? This was not my experience in Newburgh. So I started writing about this family that I knew and the town that I knew and one of the things that Ben and I talked about a lot was the idea that Alex was always the smartest person in the room. And that was really why Morgan Freeman originally wanted to play him, because Alex wasn’t in it. TREE kinds of anything – there’s nothing wrong with TREE — (but Alex) solves mysteries in his head.

This series is based on the characters you created, but not on any particular book. Was that your preference or was that how (series creator) Ben Watkins presented it to you?

It was totally my preference, but Ben would have done it anyway. I don’t like it when someone picks up another series I have and describes an eight page thing. I don’t like it. First of all, a lot of people have already read it, so how do you make a thriller when people know how it comes out? The second thing, I think it’s really better for the creators if they can do something new. I think they get more emotional about it. They have more property. And Ben kept a lot of things about the books, about Alex and his family, about Nana Mama (Juanita Jennings) and Samson (played by Isaiah Mustafa in the series). This is by far the best Samson, one hundred percent.

How so?

Well, in the movies you have two hours, and they didn’t have time to really develop Samson, so Samson was always an afterthought. But in this he is brilliant. I think I was very lucky, and it’s a little unusual, in that we had two actors to play Jack Reacher. Sherlock Holmes, God knows how many people (have played him), and we have three very good actors, different approaches (which was Alex) with Morgan, Aldis and Tyler Perry. Tyler was fooled by the director.

Why do you say that ?

The director just fucked him. The director came, it’s weird, but every night he would sit there and rewrite the script. So we would go out, Tyler would get the new script, which is difficult, and it would basically be a first draft. And Tyler, when he was missing girlit was a small role, but you were like, “he can do that” – he’s a great guy. So I was lucky enough to have three very different guys, and I love all the takes. Aldis is awesome. I just finished Pacino’s autobiography, and Al is really getting into it. He just goes deep and I feel that a lot with Aldis. From the first time I talked to him, he said, “I have to go in, I have to understand this guy.” “And you’ll see scenes where you’ll see two or three sides of him in the same scene, which I think is really awesome.

What do you think Aldis Hodge brings to this interpretation of Alex Cross Is it different from Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry?

One thing is the complexity he brings to individual scenes. You feel his mind shift and change depending on the scene and it’s unusual. Usually, if you watch network television, it’s pretty much there, it’s this scene, but you see him working and doing what great actors do, which is reacting to the moment. You kind of do it, like with really good interviewers where they ask questions based on what you’ve said, not just, “well, here are the nine questions, thank you very much.” With Aldis, we see that he changes as he goes through the scene and that’s what really good actors do.

How much time did you spend on set?

Oh no, I don’t do the decor bullshit. I did it. It’s a joke, but when we did it Kiss the girls, everyone was very nice to me. But I quickly discovered that on the set, generally, the writer ranks somewhere below the caterer. They know why the caterer is there. And they don’t know why (I’m here) so, for the most part, no. It takes too long. It’s just too slow for me. I could write three more books. But I read every script, every rewrite. I received all the dailies so I stayed involved that way.

What struck you most about Ben’s vision for this series?

I think taking Alex away from who he is in the books, which are mostly aimed at a slightly different audience, and really bringing him more up to date, particularly with regard to the role of the police in major cities today, the controversies, and make it really real. Also – and this is to some extent in the books, but it wasn’t in the films – the conflict between his family. It’s really something big in this series, from the opening scene, this conflict between his family and his life as a cop, and it’s big and throughout this series you feel it. And then with Nana Mama, who kind of raised Alex and Samson to a certain extent. You will see more even in the second season.

Alex Cross is your most successful series and one of the best-selling crime series overall. Why do you think this is the case?

I think people make a connection both as a cop and as a human being, as a father, as a lover sometimes. There’s a real person there. Someone did some research at one point, and they said they discovered that sometimes, and the brain does this, the relationship we have with a character in a book that we’ve been reading for years, or even with a character of television, can be as strong as our relationship with our family members because we have learned a lot about this character. Our mind doesn’t care, it’s like, “Oh, I like Alex.” I think that’s part of it.

What is another novel or series that you would like to see adapted that hasn’t been adapted yet?

Jane Smith. Jane Smith is kind of my second favorite character. And we actually have a series future Max.. Renée Zellweger is in it. It’s really good – not as good as that (laughter).

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Cross is now streaming all eight episodes on Prime Video.