Amazon's "Cross" series enigma: A second season without releasing a first?

Such situations do not happen often. Sure, announcements about the continuation of hit movies and series are the daily bread in the entertainment industry, but they rarely concern projects that... have not seen the light of day. This is the case with the first season of the "Cross" series, for which Amazon is responsible.

The market giant announced the plan to execute the project in 2022. The whole thing was to be based on substantial source material—a saga of 32 volumes of crime novels by James Patterson, whose protagonist is the titular Alex Cross. He is also an African American detective of the Metropolitan Police Department and a father who counteracts threats lurking on his family and the entire city of Washington.

The book series has been adapted into three films. The first was "Kiss the Girls" by Gary Fleder from 1997, in which Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, and Brian Cox starred. Four years later, the second was "Along Came a Spider" by Lee Tamahori, where Freeman starred alongside Monica Potter. The third was "Alex Cross" by Rob Cohen, with Tyler Perry in the lead role. The series was an opportunity for a slightly more liberal development of the story, which is well-known to fans of literary thrillers.

No longer surprising are situations where platforms, despite the artistic failure of the first instalment of a series, decide to proceed with the next one, satisfied with high viewership ratings. This was the case, for example, with the animated series "Velma", one of the worst-rated in history. However, this label was the reason for its peculiarly understood success – intrigued by such harsh reviews, viewers ultimately reached for the "crushed" title.

As for "Cross," they didn't even have a chance to form their own opinion. Over two years in production, the first instalment has still not had its premiere. Ben Watkins, a screenwriter for "Burn Notice" and "Hand of God, " oversaw it." Aldis Hodge ("Straight Outta Compton," "Hidden Figures," "One Night in Miami...") stars in the leading role.

The cast of the first season also included Ryan Eggold ("New Amsterdam"), Isaiah Mustafa ("It Chapter Two"), Alona Tal ("Hand of God"), Johnny Ray Gill, Eloise Mumford (the Grey trilogy) and Siobhan Murphy ("Spotlight"). It is also known that Wes Chatham ("Star Wars: Ahsoka"), Matthew Lillard ("Scooby-Doo", "Good Girls"), and Jeanine Mason ("Roswell, New Mexico") have been cast for the second part. It is still unknown when we can expect the premiere of the mysterious Amazon series.