Alex Cross TV Series Ending + Maria’s Killer Explained

The ending of the TV series adaptation of James Paterson's Alex Cross novels from Amazon Prime Video revealed the killer of the titular detective's wife, Maria.

Produced by and starring Aldis Hodge, who previously co-starred with Dwayne Johnson in Black Adam, plays detective Alex Cross. A detective and father of two, shortly after Cross had completed a case, his wife, Maria, was tragically gunned down by an unknown killer.

A year after her death, while Cross was still in grief, he was tasked with tracking down and stopping a serial killer dubbed the Fanboy killer. On top of that, someone had been stalking his family and breaking into his house.

It was not until Cross had finally put away Ryan Eggold's Ed Ramsey and denied him the infamy he craved that the detective finally connected the dots. Unfortunately, he realized too late that his family's stalker was one he had let into his home willingly.

Ending of Cross TV Series Explained

Amazon Prime Video's Cross series features a jaw-dropping ending.

In a case that Alex Cross consulted as an expert witness psychologist, he had deemed a suspect, Deirdre Nolan, as someone who "cannot be fixed" or rehabilitated, causing her to get a life sentence. Shortly after his testimony, Deirdre committed suicide in prison.

Years pass, and Cross' wife is suddenly murdered, her scarf taken. As Cross was investigating Ramsey, his family was being stalked with ominous phone calls, break-ins, Maria's stolen scarf left for his son, and scratched-out photos of his wife's face.

Shortly after Cross' grandmother, Regina 'Nana Mama' Cross, gave her grandson a name, Peter Lennox, she was attacked. After investigating him and finding an old address, Cross quickly learned that Peter was stalking his family for what happened to Deirdre.

In another twist, Cross quickly learned that Miss Nancy, Damon's newest piano tutor, was the adoptive mother of Peter and Deirdre after hearing the latter say, "Blood doesn't make you family," the same as Nancy. However, when Cross learned this, Nancy had been sheltering his family from Peter in her cabin.

After Nancy had Cross at gunpoint, she forced him to choose which of his children would die. Something that pushed Cross to think why she'd want him to choose until he realized what she had done.

Deirdre had taken the fall for Peter's come at the behest of Nancy, believing that the court would give a white girl like her a lesser punishment compared to her son. Unfortunately, according to Cross, during her time in prison, "By the time [he] met her, she was broken."

Peter becomes conflicted learning this, not wanting to kill either of Cross' children since Deirdre wouldn't approve. But while he argued with his mother, John Sampson came to the rescue.

Who Is Maria's Killer?

While the ending of Cross does not make it explicitly clear that Peter killed Maria, context would certainly suggest that he pulled the trigger at Nancy's command, but four things put that into question.

First, and most importantly, Nancy's last words before she set herself on fire in front of Cross, "I can't go now; my babies need me." According to Nancy, those were Maria's last words, but she stipulated, "At least that's what I was told."

She could have meant that her son, Peter, told her Maria's last words after he killed her, but why would she say it like that with her son still in the room? It would suggest that someone other than Peter had told her, which raises the second question.

Who broke into Cross' house and returned Maria's stolen scarf? Something that only her killer would have? It certainly wasn't Peter or Nancy, but they also tied a thread of Deirdre's hair to it.

Thirdly, earlier in the season, after receiving ominous photos and flowers, Cross got a phone call from a woman, who wasn't Nancy, asking him, "Would you like to know what her last words were?" It seems that there's someone else involved in Maria's murder besides Peter and Nancy that Cross hasn't brought to justice yet.

Finally, in the original books, Maria's killer is not Peter Lennox. Of course, things change in adaptations, including the exact manner of Maria's death in the show, which also differed from the books. However, it'd seem like a pretty big anticlimax if the mystery of Maria's murder was already solved.

Aldis Hodge's Cross Season 1 is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.