Abhiroop Das
Created by Ben Watkins, the second season of Prime Video’s ‘Cross’ returns with another deep dive into the nature of systemic evil. Tasked with investigating a threat to the life of billionaire Lance Durand, CEO of Crestbrook Industries, Alex Cross and his team discover a string of murders that involve the chopping of fingers. What initially seems like the work of a serial killer, though, quickly reveals itself to be the actions of a vigilante, one whose sole purpose is to rescue migrant children who are being exploited by the wealthy elite.
The discovery naturally puts a renewed spotlight on Crestbrook Industries, a company whose entire business model revolves around the food and farming industry. As Alex uncovers one piece of evidence after another, he discovers that the vigilante killer might know the darkest secrets of these people, and that people like Lance are not as innocent as they seem. In the process, Lance’s company becomes the focal point of this crime thriller series, revealing itself to be a den of secrets.
Crestbrook Industries is a Fictional Company That Secretly Indulges in Child Exploitation
Crestbrook Industries is an invented food company created by the writing team of ‘Cross’ season 2, led by Ben Watkins. While the show itself is based on author James Patterson’s ‘Alex Cross’ novel series, Crestbrook doesn’t find a mention in any of the books, making it an original creation for the show. Depicted as a billion-dollar company that aims to end world hunger, the company is first shown to be in great danger at the hands of the season’s antagonists. However, a better look at its inner workings reveals rampant child exploitation, specifically in rural factories and plants. While the show tugs at a major real-life concern with this plot thread, Crestbrook’s arc is ultimately a work of fiction, with no direct real-life antecedents.
Much of Crestbrook Industries’ role in the narrative is to highlight the effects of child exploitation. In 2025 alone, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) resolved 976 cases with child labor violations involving as many as 5,272 children in the homeland. As per reports, migrant children are among the most affected and are often forced to work full-time jobs. The second season of ‘Cross’ makes this human rights crisis the center of its narrative, using a fictional company as its medium. In real life, there are reports of some of the world’s largest food-based companies facing investigations or penalties related to child labor violations.
Crestbrook Industries’ Crimes Reflect the Harsh Reality Faced by Several Migrant Children
Reportedly, Smithfield Foods, a food processing company based in Virginia, was found to have employed at least 11 minors in its meat-processing plants between 2021 and 2023. Accordingly, the company had to pay 2 million dollars as a penalty for the violation of the law. A similar incident was uncovered in the case of Packers Sanitation Services, a major slaughterhouse-cleaning firm that illegally employed more than a hundred children in the early 2020s. Reportedly, children were forced to work for multiple hours, five to six days a week, often in unhygienic and dangerous conditions, which led to many injuries. As a result, the firm was charged a total of 1.5 million dollars in civil penalties. While these two incidents may not have directly inspired the creation of Crestbrook Industries, they raise awareness towards similar issues.
When creating the storyline for the show, Watkins was aware of the rise in exploitation against minor children and decided to design it as the driving force behind the antagonist’s vigilantism. His idea was also influenced by a range of social issues, such as the increase in the wealth gap, as well as the misuse of law enforcement. Through Crestbrook Industries, as a crafted construct, Watkins and the creative team found an outlet for all of these themes. While the company’s inhuman actions are dramatized in the story, they nonetheless shine a light on human injustices that occur every day in real life.
Read More: Cross Season 2 Episode 1 to 3 Recap: Serial Killers or Vigilantes?
