“Cross” creator breaks down season 1 twists, what's next in season 2

Ben Watkins breaks down that big finale.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Cross season 1.

Alex Cross finally got the answers he needed. Now it's our turn.

In Cross's first season, the Prime Video drama — which brings the characters of James Patterson's beloved Alex Cross series to the small screen — saw Aldis Hodge's titular detective grapple with the loss of his wife, Maria (Chaunteé Schuler Irving), lean on his friends, and hunt for a killer. Well, technically multiple killers.

Eventually, Cross was able to put Ed Ramsey (Ryan Eggold) behind bars and discover the truth about Miss Nancy (Karen Robinson), who was responsible for his wife's murder. But there are still many questions in Alex's world, and we asked creator Ben Watkins a few of them.

Keri Anderson/Prime Video Ryan Eggold on 'Cross'

Keri Anderson/Prime Video

Ryan Eggold on 'Cross'

Ramsey's fate

"I never considered killing him because I felt that if you're Ramsey, that fits within your goal," Watkins says of the decision to let Ramsey live. "Ultimately, he wants to be executed like all of the legends. The next best step would be to be killed, especially if killed by someone of the stature of Alex Cross. So we knew that we weren't going to give him that win."

Plus, there's always the opportunity to bring him back if he's still alive. "In the Cross books, there are a lot of killers who stay in the mythology and some return," Watkins continues. "Once I was getting this performance from Ryan, I said, 'Man, this guy's going to land.' And so at that point, I had already started hatching plans of: I wonder how could we ever see Ramsey again?"

Related: Cross season 1 finale post-credits scene explained

Ramsey's mask

Whenever Ramsey spoke to his online followers, he wore a particularly creepy mask of what appeared to be an average man. Although the mask wasn't inspired by someone real, it was ... inspired.

"That is a mask of the first killer, the killer that caught his fancy. When we're flipping through the book, you'll see the killer's face, and he's also on the wall when we see the hall of gods that he set up," Watkins reveals. "Ramsey's backstory was that a killer was active in Indiana when he was a kid and captured the imagination of everyone around in the worst way. He paralyzed an entire region just by being a scary killer, and that is what started his fascination with death and the power that serial killers have over people. And so he got a version of this guy's face, and he wears that when he is online. Originally I was going to have his voice modulated, but when I saw the takes of how that was affecting his mouth, that was scarier and weirder to me, and we ended up just keeping it."

Quantrell Colbert/Prime Video Aldis Hodge on 'Cross'

Quantrell Colbert/Prime Video

Aldis Hodge on 'Cross'

Related: Cross review: A timely spin on James Patterson's tragic hero

Who killed Maria?

At one point, Miss Nancy tells Alex, "Those were Maria's last words, or at least that's what I was told." But Watkins assures fans that Miss Nancy was behind Maria's murder.

"It would be the equivalent of Al Capone ordering Frank Nitti to kill someone, and so they know it's Al Capone who they ultimately hold responsible. But if we ever get our hands on Frank Nitti, that might also be something," Watkins says. "In the books, John Sampson [Isaiah Mustafa] finds out that it's someone else and actually takes care of it for Alex. So I wanted to keep that alive, and also for the plot logic, I couldn't have it be Miss Nancy who did the killing."

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"Someone else carried it out, and we haven't crossed paths with the person who carried it out," he continues. "In in the writers' room we did talk about whether or not it was her son, but in my mind there's somebody else out there. After season 1, the whole point is for Alex to deal with the grief. He should not be worried anymore about who actually pulled the trigger. He should be worried about his own healing."

Keri Anderson/Prime Video Isaiah Mustafa and Aldis Hodge on 'Cross'

Keri Anderson/Prime Video

Isaiah Mustafa and Aldis Hodge on 'Cross'

Related: Cross team on why they didn't want to make a direct adaptation

More Sampson in season 2

With the show already renewed for a second season, Watkins says fans can expect the series to focus in on some of the supporting characters, namely Alex's best friend. "We get to peel back a layer to John, where you get to see a little bit of his backstory and watch him deal with emotion," he says. "You've seen how good he is at holding his friend accountable and at helping his friend navigate deep emotions. You haven't seen how he would do it if it was him having to confront it."

Furthermore, with Watkins treating each season as its own book, fans can expect a new killer. "It's the show that we made in season 1, and we get to build on those relationships, but when we start getting into the world of the killer, it feels and looks different in a way that is fun and refreshing. It livens it up."

Cross season 1 is streaming now on Prime Video.