Samantha Walkes as Elle Monteiro
Photo Credit: Prime

‘We don’t hide from the ugliness of grief’: ‘Cross’ star Samantha Walkes talks about genre, industry, and real-life influences

James Patterson’s best-selling notable series Alex Cross made its TV debut on Prime Video on November 14 this year, and Cross has stayed on Prime’s top 10 list ever since.

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Samantha Walkes sat down with The Mary Sue to talk about her character in the show, Elle Monteiro, her experience working with Aldis Hodge, who plays Alex Cross, and how she ended up on screen instead of on stage.

Elle Monteiro is a new character created for Cross; however, in preparation for playing the character, Walkes went back to the first few installments of the James Patterson series to get a feel for the romantic tension between the classic character and his love interests. Mixing that history with the new writing direction from Cross showrunner Ben Watkins, Walkes found her foundation.

In addition to all that preparation, Walkes revealed that Paramount and Amazon provided free on set counseling as a resource to the cast and crew dealing with the heavy themes of Cross season 1.

“Because we’re dealing with suicide, we’re dealing with BLM, we’re dealing with seeing on television in our real lives what is happening in our work and the marrying of those two. And to not be able to escape that ever. You know, being a black woman, my physical form is incredibly politicized. And so I did have a few sessions, but it quickly morphed,” she explained.

Walkes grew close with the psychologist on set, Dr. Renee Carr, and they began working on Walkes’ life alongside her character’s. “I was curious about the cognitive dissonance that has to happen as a black woman, Elle has to date a D.C. detective, but also as an activist,” Walkes explained. “Like, how does that work? […] And so what happened was with my process of creating memories in the world for Elle and building all these layers. I also had kind of real-life counseling for Elle on how she deals with that whole part of her world. And so knowing that I had support on all sides, all fronts to do this role was pretty spectacular.”

As she says, Cross deals with heavy and extremely realistic topics and issues regarding Black communities and the police. Before the 2020 BLM protests following the death of George Floyd, there was Eric Garner in 2014, 12-year-old Tamir Rice, Philando Castile in 2016, Breonna Taylor in 2020, and the list keeps going. Police dramas and cop procedurals were called into question by activists during the 2020 protests, and networks have made significant changes to how their shows treat minority characters after hiring consultants.

Yet through the decades, another genre developed out of this chaos, the resurgence and multiplication of the Black Cop, Black Detective: Idris Elba as DCI John Luther on Luther, Angela Bassett as Athena Grant on 9-1-1, Niecy Nash as Simone Clark on The Rookie: Feds, etc.

So what sets Cross apart?

“I think what makes this show different is the vulnerability and the brokenness that we don’t hide from the ugliness of grief, the ugliness of loss, and also losing touch with oneself, like our hero is a very broken person. And I think what this does is it also arms our community to talk about men’s mental health,” Walkes said.

She continued, “I think we give our audience an opportunity to purge certain feelings that our society has told us you’re not allowed to lean into. […] This show can be so healing for my community; as BIPOCs, this could continue the conversation on issues that we need to be talking about in a way that brings in the acceptance of getting help, making sure you have a tribe around you that gives you that tough love, that calls you into a better light and invites you to be better and be more for those around you as well as yourself.”

“[We’re] spotlighting the feminist lens on things, all of the femme pillars in Cross. I’m really proud. We have Nana Mama, Kayla Craig, me, we have Jani, even as a little one, just starting to really challenge and see Dad. And I just feel like this show really writes us well, and I’m really proud of that. And I hope that audiences continue the conversation.”

Walkes hails from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She grew up a theatre kid and got out of the small circuit as soon as she could, getting parts on stage and finally landing on Broadway for the Book of Mormon. Yet, it wasn’t in the cards; the theatres shut their doors due to COVID-19, and Walkes found herself fleeing back to her hometown with an expired US visa and in need of a major career pivot to keep her creativity alive.

“It made me rethink, you know, if this is going to be a couple of years, where do I want to be? And, of course, you want to be close to your family. Of course, you want to be in a place that feels like home. […] I would love to finish that journey. Covid really stole that moment, [but] I don’t have any regrets because I would never have gotten into TV and film if it didn’t.”

Unfortunately, the Canadian film and TV industry isn’t big enough. Walkes explained, “I’ve always wanted more than what our country could afford me—a black woman. […] And our industry is struggling so much, which I know coming out of these strikes, we’re still not there yet, and I don’t think we will be. I think we have to radically change the way we do things. And so, with that being said, it was tough before; it’s a thousand times more tough now.” Yet, Walkes landed Cross, and she encourages all the Canadian theatre kids to do more, reach further, and not be afraid to cross borders to get what they want.

You can catch Walkes in Cross streaming now on Prime Video, and expect a season 2 coming soon.

You can find Walkes on Instagram here.


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Isobel Grieve
Isobel Grieve is a Freelance Writer for The Mary Sue. She scours the internet for culture, controversies, and celebrity News, and when she isn't writing about that, she's deep-diving into books, TV and movies for meaning and hidden lore. Isobel has a BAH in English, Cinema and Media Studies, and she has over two years of professional writing experience in the Entertainment industry on the Toronto Guardian, TV Obsessive, Film Obsessive, and InBetweenDrafts. You can read her unfiltered thoughts on Twitter @isobelgrieve