Ryan Eggold plays the antagonist in the Prime Video series Cross, opposite Aldis Hodge’s titular detective. Eggold brings a sense of menace and exudes charisma as Ed Ramsey, a ruthless killer who mimics other infamous serial killers. One look at Eggold’s eyes, and it becomes apparent that Ramsey is a fan of other killers. However, Eggold quips, “I would delineate it into Ed Ramsey’s eyes,” while adding, “Like most, I do not admire anyone who inflicts violence or pain on others. But Ramsey is obsessed with those killers and sees them as demigods. Cross aptly named him the ‘fanboy killer.’”
An interesting aspect of Ramsey is that he is extremely confident because he has clout among DC’s elite class which allows him to easily manipulate public opinion. Somewhere, the confidence also seems to suggest he would not mind it even if Cross catches him, because it would then make him that much more infamous. Elaborating on this, Eggold says, “At one level, Ramsey also admires Cross’s intelligence and the fact that he is a great profiler. That also poses a challenge for Ramsey to one-up Cross in this psychological game they play with each other.”
On the flip side, Eggold feels that the sense of invincibility Ramsey feels about himself is also his inherent flaw. “Such characters have some sort of God complex. They think they are better than everyone and have a sense of entitlement over whatever they want,” he says while adding, “I reckon that confidence is a mask for much of his fear and vulnerability. After all, someone who feels desperate to be supremely in control must feel some lack of control as well.”
Ramsey abducts his victims, subjects them to extreme torture, and ultimately stages their deaths to mirror those of infamous criminals. It is a dark and disturbing character, but Eggold had an interesting journey with it. “Initially, I only found it fun to play this character because, creatively, it was brand new. For instance, there is this great scene Ben Watkins wrote, among many, where Ramsey traps Shannon with a hand sanitiser, catching her in his web like a spider. However, eventually, the scene gets a little heavy and starts to wear on you, especially because Eloise (Mumford) delivers an amazing performance that makes her character feel so real.”
On whether Eggold wished that Shannon escape Ramsey, the actor laughs, “Absolutely. But then again, you do not want to judge your character as good or bad. You just want to inhabit their thought process and just become them. Even Ramsey is a hero in his mind, of his story, like we all are in ours.” Speaking of hero, Aldis Hodge’s Detective Alex Cross completes Ramsey. Discussing their chemistry as actors and their character dynamics, Eggold says, “In an early test, we squared off immediately as two characters who engage in this psychological warfare. Aldis plays Cross so confidently and smoothly that you cannot imagine anyone else as him. Conversely, Ramsey is not as smooth and is terrified that Cross will soon figure him out. I think the best heroes and enemies respect each other on some level to make it a fight we all want to watch.”
