Jeff Logan, the co-star of ALLBLK’s hit show Double Cross, sat down with me last week to discuss the series’ fifth and final season. The show’s plot focuses on the crime-fighting twins, Eric and Erica Cross (Ashley A. Williams), and their quest to end human trafficking in their neighborhood as they search for their long-lost sister, Robin.
Season four left off with the twins reunited with Robin and their mother and the discovery that their father, Cade, is the one behind the trafficking ring. Eric and his girlfriend Keenya have a baby, but the baby is stolen from the hospital in the final episode. Season five kicks off with the twins searching for Eric and Keenya’s baby.
In this interview, we discuss Jeff’s character, Eric, and his transformation, what crime Jeff himself would fight in real life, human trafficking, and more.
Fancy: How would you describe your swagger? What makes Jeff, Jeff?
Jeff: I would say masculine, dipped in tattoos, hardworking businessman. That’s my swag in one sentence.
Fancy: Got it. I love it, and I think it fits you perfectly from what I’ve learned of you since I’ve been preparing for the interview. So, were you familiar with human trafficking before you accepted the role for Double Cross? It’s such a serious subject matter, and it’s something that is not oftentimes really discussed within the Black community, or we kind of talk about it in hush tones. We learned more about it within the past few years. So, what was it like being cast when you discovered that your character was going up against something of that stature?
Jeff: It was challenging to deal with because I have my own kids, but it didn’t get real until they brought kids on set who were child actors. Their parents were on set, of course, and the kids were to be freed from a jail cell. Then when you saw them, it’s like you just couldn’t imagine these little innocent, vulnerable kids getting lured in by an evil person.
It’s definitely odd, but we do need to bring awareness to that in the Black and Brown communities. Before this, I think the only trafficking movie I’ve seen was Taken when they took his daughter, which is drastic, but still, in Double Cross, multiple kids get taken. You know what I mean? Like a school bus full of kids. So it’s definitely a touchy subject.
Fancy: Yeah, it really is. Because it is such a touchy subject, did you have second doubts about it? Like, “Oh, I don’t know if I could do this,” or anything?
Jeff: No, not at all. I can do just about any role. To me, there’s a certain level of discomfort that I have to reach in order to be like,” Hey, it’s not even that I can’t do it.” It’s either I’m going to do it, or I’m not. But no, this didn’t place me outside of my comfort zone at all as far as completing it or, quote-unquote, freeing the captured kids or something like that. So, no, it didn’t hinder any of my performance.
Fancy: One thing that I noticed from watching some of your past interviews is that you always seem really positive and uplifting. So then, when we think about Eric, your character in Double Cross, he seems more like a realist. Do you have to switch personalities a little in order to get into character for Eric?
Jeff: Yeah, it is definitely a switch that happens. It’s kind of like when I’m in the bathroom, and you switch the light on or off. So, yeah, you’re right. I am a positive, forward-thinking entrepreneur and individual, and then Eric is just a thug. He’s from the streets. This dude is gutta, so to speak. So, yeah, I don’t think he reads self-help books, and you’re talking to an author. I don’t think Eric has written any books.
So, yeah, it’s a huge switch from my real life to my character. That’s why when you said to explain my swagger, I was like, “Me or the character?” Because it’s a difference. So, yeah, you’re right. It is a switch, and that’s cool that you picked up on that.
Fancy: So we left off in season four, where you and Keenya had just had a baby. The baby’s been kidnapped. But initially, Eric’s character did not seem like the person ready to settle down and have a baby. So what was that like for you? Did you foresee that happening in the writing of the show?
Jeff: No, not at all. If you had asked me where Eric would have progressed, I didn’t think it would be to having a kid, but it shows a softer side of him. How many thugs do you know with kids? There’s a lot of them that you know, and it now brings out a vulnerable side. But Christel (Double Cross’s writer and director Christel Gibson) said when she writes, she just kind of flows. She’s in this flow state, and whatever comes to mind, she puts on paper. So I guess that’s how she flowed—him having a kid and him wanting to have a life change in that aspect of his love life. But, yeah, for his kid to get taken, it turns it back up from the soft, new father, to just like, I’m on a war path.
Fancy: Oh, I can imagine because Eric was already kind of— I won’t say reckless, but he made me think, TTG, trained to go.
Jeff: Now that his kid has been taken, I’m starting to go on with that. Where are you from?
Where are you from?
Fancy: I’m originally from Mississippi.
Jeff: I hear it.
Fancy: Yeah, you know TTG?
Jeff: (Laughs). I said, “Oh, yeah, we’re talking the same lingo!” But, yeah, you’re right. He’s extremely reckless.
Fancy: So, with this fifth and final season, do you feel your character’s story is complete? You probably can’t tell us too much, but what can you tell us?
Jeff: No, I think they did everything. You’re talking about people– well, the twins plus Robin didn’t know who their parents were. And you just find your parents, and then you realize that your father is your enemy behind everything you’ve been trying to stop is really detrimental, but it also shows why these characters do what they do. And no, season five really wraps it up and closes that circle. Some doors will get closed in season five that were left open in season four.
Fancy: Okay, and my last question for you, if there was any other cause in real life that you would fight for outside of your kids, what might it be?
Jeff: I would say that a cause I would fight for is an ignorant mindset. I’ll fight against that because there are certain things, just experiences in my own success, that I didn’t know were possible for me or people who looked like me until I saw those people doing it. I saw an example. So, fighting for the cause exemplifies anti-ignorance because it is ignorance. Ignorance is a lack of knowledge. I didn’t have the knowledge at the time that I could be more than I was. Anybody could be whatever they want to be with work, obviously, and the right thoughts. But I would say working on people’s mindsets.
Fancy: I like that. And also, it’s not something that requires any guns or weapons or anything like that.
Jeff: It does require a weapon because you must wage war against your old self. You must almost kill your old thought patterns. You know what I mean? You have to kill your old thought pattern. It’s a little violent in its transformation. Where you work right now if they were to say we are about the gut out the whole building. It would get violent in there. Changing stuff, like hitting stuff.
So I would say changing a mindset does get kind of violent because you have to, quote-unquote, kill that former mindset. And you can’t-like any traces or temptations to think how you used to think has to die. I think it is a little violent, but not a physical gun. I see what you mean.
Fancy: I like what you said, and I think that because we are an empowerment publication. So, of course, we talk about mindsets. I don’t know if you realized how deep what you said was, but it was very deep, and I think that our audience is going to really enjoy it. So I’m looking forward to watching the rest of season five. Is there anything you’d like to add before we close out?
Jeff: So episodes one through four are out, and then there is a new episode every Thursday. So tomorrow, it’ll be another episode, brand new.
Fancy: Okay, and we’ll be tuned in. Thank you so much for speaking with us. You have a blessed day.
Jeff: You as well, speak soon. I look forward to seeing this interview.
Watch the trailer for Double Cross season 5. Catch the new season of Double Cross on the ALLBLK streaming service.
*This interview has been edited for clarity.
