Notice! This article contains spoilers for season 1 of Cross.
Notice! This article contains mentions of murder and many real-life serial killers.
Cross the first season is based on the fictional story of James Patterson Alex Cruz books, but appears to draw inspiration from real-world crimes. Created by Amazon’s Ben Watkins Cross doesn’t shy away from straying from the stories of its source material. Instead of remaining faithful to almost all of the stories in the original novels, Cross Season 1 merely borrows character beats from the book while adopting a completely original narrative.
While this approach could have easily backfired on the series, it surprisingly works wonders and earned the show a “fresh” rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Although some aspects of the story in Cross The first season is very campy, the show also tries to ground itself in more realism than its source, making subtle references to real-life crimes. Because of this, one might be curious to know whether the series’ central serial killer character is based on a real person.
The Fanboy Killer In Cross is not technically based on a real serial killer
Ed Ramsey from Season 1 crossover is an original character
Although many fictional serial killers in movies and TV shows are based on real-life criminals, Cross “The Fanboy Killer” from season one feels completely original. He is not based on any particular real-life killer and even his name appears to be an original creation. Although Cross The first season features many original characters from James Patterson’s novels; the Fanboy Killer, Ed Ramsey, does not appear in any of the books.
Considering how Cross season 1’s mid-credits set up a familiar villain for season 2, the Amazon show’s next episode may share more parallels to the source material than season 1 did. However, as Season 1 adds a completely new antagonist to the franchise’s mix, its story feels new and unpredictable even to those familiar with the original books. The Fanboy Killer, Ed Ramsey, is convincingly portrayed by Ryan Eggold (from The black list and New Amsterdam fame) in Cross season 1.
The Fanboy Killer is inspired by several real-life copycat serial killers
Ed Ramsey idolizes some of the cruelest real-life serial killers
The more Alex Cross investigates the Ed Ramsey murders, the more he realizes he is obsessed with many famous serial killers. When Alex Cross and John Sampson discover Ramsey’s scrapbook, they discover that he makes his victims look like famous serial killers before killing them. They also note that most of his victims were murdered by lethal injection, which parallels the method used to execute the serial killers he admires. A closer look at Ramsey’s scrapbook reveals that most of the criminals featured in the diary are real-life serial killers.
From John Wayne Gacy to Aileen Wuornos, from Ted Bundy to Jerry McFaddenthe scrapbook features them all along with some fictitious names. In addition to having real-life serial killers in his scrapbook, Ed Ramsey also uses their names as pseudonyms for his dating app profiles. Rodney Alcala and Harvey Glatman are among the few real-life serial killers loaned by Ramsey in Cross season 1 to create fake dating profiles and lure unsuspecting victims.