The two Morgan Freeman films were made in the opposite order to the books they adapt, and the second one is a sequel.
Readers start at book one. Viewers do not, and that is the whole point of this page: the two Morgan Freeman films were released in the opposite order to the books they adapt, and the later film is written as a sequel to the earlier one even though it adapts the earlier book.
Seen some of these already? Tap the circles to tick them off. The full list below fills in as you go.
Book one, 1993. It introduces Cross, Sampson, Nana Mama and Gary Soneji, and the 2025 novel Return of the Spider is an explicit companion to it, so starting here pays off at both ends of a very long series.
Kiss the Girls came out in 1997 and adapts book two. Along Came a Spider came out in 2001 and adapts book one, but it is not a prequel: it is a continuation of the same Freeman Cross, with returning supporting cast. Watching them in book order gives you the sequel first.
Self contained, no prior knowledge needed, and the only version still producing new material. Sixteen episodes across two seasons so far.
Then what? Skip the 2012 Tyler Perry film unless you are completing the set. It adapts the 2006 novel Cross, connects to nothing, and its planned sequel was cancelled after it underperformed. If a 1993 start feels daunting, Cross Justice from 2015 works as a soft reset into the modern run. The two novellas, Cross Kill and Detective Cross, are short works rather than novels and are listed separately for that reason.
A suggested way in, not an official one. The full list is below: tick anything off in either place.
Everything you tick is saved in this browser and nowhere else. An account is the only way to put your list on another device, and the only way to get it back if this browser clears its storage. It is free and it takes an email address and a password.
Sign in on your phone, your laptop, anything, and the same list is there, kept in step as you tick. Nothing to copy, nothing to remember.
All three are about this franchise and all three are for showing, not moving. The link and the picture open SagaList with that progress displayed next to whatever the person opening it has already ticked. The code is what a friend pastes into Compare below. None of them writes anything into anybody's list.
Read only. This never changes what you have saved, and nothing leaves your browser. The code has to be their code for this same franchise: codes do not carry a name, so one from somewhere else may not be recognised as wrong.
Removes everything ticked here, in this browser. If you are signed in it clears on your other devices too. If you are not, there is no other copy and this cannot be undone.
Your email is confirmed and your account is ready. Everything you tick is saved on this device, as it always was.
Yours, on every device you sign in on.
Your SagaList account.
Nothing else happens until you follow the link. If it has not arrived in a few minutes, look in your spam folder and search for SagaList. It is sent from a no-reply address on our own domain, so there is nothing to reply to.
Both addresses get an email: the new one to confirm it, and the old one so that nobody can move your account without you knowing. Nothing changes until you follow the link.
Signing out leaves everything you have ticked on this device exactly where it is. It only stops it syncing.
This removes your account, your email address, and the progress stored on our side. It cannot be undone and we cannot get it back for you.
Nothing is charged and nothing is cancelled, because SagaList does not take payments. What goes is your account, your email address and the progress synced to our side. What stays is everything ticked in the browser on this device.