Warning: SPOILERS for the ending of Cross season 1!Prime Video brings one of James Patterson’s most iconic characters to life in Cross, which has seen huge success in its debut season. The streamer had such faith in Cross season 1, in fact, that it renewed (and filmed) season 2 before the show even premiered. The effusive word-of-mouth is in large part thanks to the work of showrunner Ben Watkins (of Burn Notice fame), as well as the nuanced performances by Aldis Hodge and his talented supporting cast.

One such talent is Samantha Walkes, who takes on the role of Alex’s romantic partner, Elle Monteiro. While Elle is not a character from the Cross books, she occupies a similar space to Bree by helping him move forward in his life after the death of his wife, Maria. She nearly meets a similarly tragic fate after being held hostage alongside Alex’s children in the finale, but the resourceful detective saves the day, and his newly complete family unit remains intact for the time being. However, Elle is much more than a love interest and damsel in distress, as her childhood friendship with Alex and passionate pursuit of social justice make her a three-dimensional character who is fleshed out over the course of season 1.

ScreenRant interviewed Walkes about becoming Elle Monteiro for Cross season 1, and the actor generously shared her creative process from first reading the scripts to “creating the world” of her character’s life. Walkes also shared how her intimate moments with Hodge were a choreographed dance, revealed why she feels music is so important to Cross, and explained what she felt were the most resonant differences between Prime Video’s newest iteration of the character and previous versions.

Cross Season 1 Makes Elle Monteiro So Much More Than Just A Love Interest

“Her passion for community is what drives her, and that’s the bridge between her heart and Cross.”

Screen Rant: How did your initial skepticism about the role of Elle Monteiro transform into excitement, and what aspects of the character stood out to you the most?

Samantha Walkes: When I see “love interest,” I always tiptoe. I’m very hesitant. Usually, we are painted, especially as black women, as wallpaper. We are an aid to the main action, never really seeing center stage or being fully developed. Multidimensional, rich, complex characters are just not written that way.

Going past the audition material, seeing the quick headliners under Elle Monteiro, and really moving through that script changed the game for me. And that just really speaks volumes to Ben Watkins and his writing room; he does cultivate a very vibrant environment for all of them to write in and actually inspires them to push the envelope. I think that that’s where it all starts.

Screen Rant: Can you walk us through your journey of discovery, the complexities and depths within Elle’s character, and how she differs from the typical love interest role?

Samantha Walkes: Absolutely. Elle has her own world really developed. She’s a college basketball athlete. She played well, and that was her backbone. Then coming into her fullness as an adult, creating this beautiful nonprofit, and being the executive director of the Somewhere Foundation, her passion for community is what drives her. And that’s really the bridge between her heart and Cross. That’s really where they meet first and foremost, after having this beautiful history together of being childhood friends and growing up together.

I think the ways I’ve created the world by having that knowledge just gives her memories; a richness of recalling her first time seeing Alex on the playground, why they came into contact, where he came in and saved the day when she was bullied that one time, how he was always looking out for her, but then them drifting apart through college before coming back into each other’s periphery. When he got married, when I started the nonprofit, the congratulations letter that I got from him… I just create memories, right?

That’s not scripted, but what it does is ensure that, when we are sitting together at that dining room table, it’s just us. There is a familiarity there that cannot be written, and it’s something that really has helped me navigate the beautiful highs and the peaks and valleys that you see when you watch Cross. That has to do with the Absorption method that I learned from an LA coach that I’ve worked with for the past few years.

Screen Rant: Elle isn’t really directly based on any character in the book. Can you elaborate a little bit more on the process of creating her backstory and how that helped inform your relationship with Aldis as Alex on the show?

Samantha Walkes: Absolutely. I start from childhood, from the very first moments that we actually form memories as kids. Growing up, I built her two parents. She’s the only child — all of these things. Like I told you, her ebb and flow through college and adulthood, finding herself, and then Cross in her periphery. We call it “creating the world.” The practice that we’ve done is just absorbing more and more of the material that Ben and his team would write.

Then it’s, “Why does she say it this way? Why does she choose that phrase and why now?” From all of that, I have to build a story. I have to build the world even more in-depth. It’s so fun because what ends up happening is that we’ll get on set, and he’ll say something in a certain way. And I swear to God, he doesn’t know all of the memories I created. He doesn’t know all the world that I’ve created for Elle, and it will have me laugh spontaneously, or it’ll make Elle emotional spontaneously. It feels very energetic, like static, and it’s forward-moving. All of the energy that’s generated is propelling this thing that’s unseen, and it’s like a duck on water. You don’t see the legs going because there’s so much going on, and you are moving through it.

Samantha Walkes Details The Most Important Inspirations (And Differences) From The Cross Books

“Him being young hits different.”

Screen Rant: Fans are very familiar with Cross through the book series, and also there’s been iterations with Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry. Did you go back and look at any of those other iterations to help inform the world when you were creating and crafting Elle?

Samantha Walkes: When I got the role, I did go back and read Patterson’s first few installments. I really wanted to see how he wrote love interests for Cross, and how he had Cross approach being a widower of three kids. From that, I was just gathering what I wanted to use and what I found interesting about the way he wrote it, and then pairing it and combining it with what Ben and his writing room did. By allowing all of that to take surface where it needed to, I could build that world even more.

Screen Rant: In your preparation, which elements did you find most helpful?

Samantha Walkes: I loved the woman that he ends up marrying in the books right after grieving. I mean, you’re never done grieving, really. Loss is loss, and it comes in waves, but he allows himself to marry again. What I loved was that this person is just so good-natured, and he finds a place to land that is gentle and that allows him to de-mask and de-robe and come down, even though they work together and have to do this very grimy thing in the books.

What I really wanted was there to be for him as Elle, especially as Black people or minorities in general. We always have to armor up when we step outside that place of safety; our homes become our sanctuaries because it’s the only place we rest from whatever projection society has put on us. The way our bodies are politicized goes away in this one space.

And so, I thought that I wanted Elle’s house to be a place he can unmask. I wanted him to be at my front door, and it’s already coming down. When he steps into that threshold and we are sharing space and breath together, we’re breathing as one. It feels effortless, and it feels like coming home.

Screen Rant: I think Ben Watkins is such an incredible showrunner, and I love that he’s the one that’s helming this show because I feel like it’s such safe hands. How did his leadership style influence the atmosphere on set, and what unique qualities did he bring to the production of Cross?

Samantha Walkes: Humility. That man demands so much of everyone, and it’s because he demands it of himself first. When we step on set and know that we are meant to serve and care for each other, I don’t care what role you have, or if you’re a crew member — from top to bottom, you say, “Hello, good morning. Are you fed? Are you watered? What do you need?” We’re all surviving. There is this level of community that is non-negotiable.

We had a crew that showed up and really wanted to be there. I remember the last day we wrapped season 1. wat’s probably 3AM Eastern time, but not one crew member left. They all huddled up, took out their phones, took pictures, and watched us yelling, “Speech!” Aldis gives a speech, then he just threw the bone to me, which I was very excited about. But they all stayed to take pictures, to watch, to clap, to cheer, to congratulate, and to celebrate what we did. I’ve never been on a set like that.

I’ve never been on a stage like that, where we’re just like, “I want to give you your flowers, boo.” And it was not just Aldis, it was the crew too. Everybody got their flowers, and that is because Ben made it a point to say, “We care for our brethren. I don’t care what role they have. We are responsible for each other, and we are responsible for making sure that we all show up and give 110%.”

Screen Rant: I feel like this is my favorite version of Cross. It’s such an honest portrayal of the character that I’ve not seen before. Can you talk about how this version may differ from others that we’ve already seen?

Samantha Walkes: First of all, I want to talk about age. This industry is very ageist, though I think they’re easier on men than they are on women because we know we’re supposed to stay young forever and nip and tuck and Botox everything to high heaven. But while I loved that some of the other portrayals are older, I think Cross lends so well to someone being younger because of the loss of Maria, his wife. He has built such a beautiful career, he’s passionate about what he does for a living, and he loves being a father, but then these things to happen to him. Him being young hits different. He has built a whole life, and now he’s taking hits this young. How do we pivot from here?

I think it leaves more of a question mark, more of a cliffhanger for our audience to see a man who is in his prime be dismantled in ways. And then we get a narrative — which is very important to me as Samantha Walkes, as a Black woman, as an activist and an artist — about mental health issues. We get to talk about community, we get to talk about men’s health. We get to talk about brotherhood, about finding your community ,and your tribe. We get to talk about these things that expand us as human beings. This is more interesting to me, and I think it plays very well.

Samantha Walkes Shares Passionate Fan Response To Alex Cross & Elle Monteiro

“First of all, thank you for being unambiguously Black.”

Screen Rant: In what ways do you believe Elle adds to the representation of multifaceted female characters on television?

Samantha Walkes: The list is long, but I think it raises the bar. I think it demands more from Hollywood. I’ll be honest with you, my DMs are blowing up, and I was not prepared! But nothing prepares you for a moment like this.

What I am hearing most is joy over the representation; seeing black love on screen that isn’t toxic, that isn’t abusive, that is real, that is tumultuous, and that is turbulent. It has its complexities, and we don’t have the answer. Elle and Cross don’t always have the answer, and there are question marks, but they’re being transparent within. The intimacy comes from de-masking and rolling into this.

I have messages from fans being like, “First of all, thank you for being unambiguously Black.” To lead with that. What happens is our audience doesn’t have to work twice as hard to watch a story, be entertained by it, and believe it. Yhey can just sit back, relax, and take it in. That to me is very important. Why do we have to work so hard to have, be entertained, and to see ourselves represented when it shouldn’t be this way? I want to be able to reflect what I see outside my door, period.

Screen Rant: How did your chemistry with Aldis contribute to the character’s relationship in Cross and what aspects of working with him stood out to you the most?

Samantha Walkes: The fact that we both really love what we do as storytellers helps, and we provide a professional safe space for one another. In creating the intimacy, it’s really just two people committing to being completely open and completely transparent. There’s a consent given to each other and ourselves that says, “There is not even a veil between us.”

And then what happens is you enter into this beautiful, sacred space that no one can really mess with. We have, of course, the technical aspect paired with that commitment to each other and these stories. We want Elle and Cross to really be authentic and real, so you have the beautiful dance that’s choreographed by the intimacy coordinator, the director, and then us. Nothing is left to chance. We know where our As and Bs are, and we step into the 1, 2, 3, 4. We pull it back on the downbeat; everything is calculated so that we can just live with transparency.

I think audiences forget this, and that’s why I really love this question because we don’t really talk about it in Hollywood. I don’t see shows coming out and being like, “It’s a dance. We are choreographed. We are really not doing this.” It’s awkward! I have to land this way and that way, and it can be so hard. Not in a negative way, but it just is a very complex thing to accomplish and to make look real. Dedication and commitment to that transparency rope us into this beautiful dance that we all curate on set. Then it can live, and it can be bright.

Music Is Woven Into The Fabric Of Cross Season 1

“There’s this beautiful thread of music that binds the family and then also grounds his heart.”

Screen Rant: What aspects of the expanded world of Cross did you find most intriguing?

Samantha Walkes: I really do love the family moments, and there are a couple of reasons why we have this beautiful thread of music — not just the soundtrack that Ben and his team cultivated, but also within the show. The jazz when he wakes the kids up on Saturday mornings, and they’ve got to give him a kiss on both cheeks in order for him to stop. I think that there’s this beautiful thread of music that binds the family and then also grounds his heart.

It’s interesting because part of my process is that I have a soundtrack and a playlist for every character I play, and so to have something that’s written in the story gives you this whole vibe. As soon as you hear that piano, you get the whole. You’re already inside that house, and you’re sitting eating waffles with them. It allows us to drop in that much quicker as an audience to the life that is outside of work and that becomes the nurturing side of him. He has to be both parents now, the mother and the father, and this is his struggle to find that.

Screen Rant: If you don’t mind me asking, which songs are on Elle’s playlist?

Samantha Walkes: Obviously, SWV. All of those slow jams. A lot of Nina Simone. There’s something about the voice of certain vocalists where they don’t even have to be on key because the pain with which they are painting is so devastating. The grumbling is enough, and sometimes it’s in a way that’s more guttural than intellectual because we’re not always intellectual when we feel and when we fight and when we cry and when we celebrate. We’re not heady; we’re more in our sex, or in our stomach, or in our feet. The root systems of that, Nina also does that so well. Also, “Nemesis” by Sam Claudio. Beautiful contemporary music, but he’s got jazz and classical roots.

Screen Rant: What did you want to bring to the role of Elle that went beyond the page?

Samantha Walkes: I’ll be honest with you, we never planned for this. The only thing I planned for and hoped for was that I would always show up allowing Elle to take all the space, even if I was scared of Samantha, because I didn’t know where it was going to go. That’s the only thing that I planned for.

I can’t actually say I bring something special. I just know that my commitment to her every day was my full vessel. I created such a rich world for her, so I don’t even have to take from my own, because that would be limiting hers. I give you my entire body and space to breathe and be. To be honest, every single time I step in front of that camera, I am nervous because I want to be completely a conduit for her and show up and give her all of it.

About Cross

Starring Aldis Hodge, Cross is a crime thriller series that follows ALEX CROSS, a decorated D.C. homicide detective and forensic psychologist who faces a sadistic serial killer leaving a string of bodies strewn around the city. As Alex and his partner, John Sampson (Isaiah Mustafa), track this killer, a mysterious threat from Cross’ past appears, aiming to destroy what he’s done to keep his grieving family, career, and life together. Ryan Eggold, Alona Tal, and Johnny Ray Gill also star; Ben Watkins serves as showrunner.

Season 1 of Cross is currently streaming on Prime Video.