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[Editor's note: The following contains major spoilers for the Season 4 premiere of Will Trent.]
Summary
- In Season 4 of the ABC series 'Will Trent,' Will tries unconventional therapy in order to deal with his rage and confront his past.
- James Ulster resurfaces when he escapes from prison and the premiere's cliffhanger cranks up the danger.
- Angie's pregnancy further complicates things with Will, as humor continues to be used to lighten the heavy drama.
Based on the best-selling book series by Karin Slaughter, the ABC TV series Will Trent is now in its fourth season and sees the Georgia Burean of Investigation Special Agent (played by Ramón Rodríguez) still sorting through his feelings about his biological father, Sheriff Caleb Roussard (Yul Vazquez), as well as Angie’s (Erika Christensen) pregnancy, and is trying to work through it during unconventional therapy sessions with Dr. Roach (Margaret Cho). Picking up five months after the Season 3 finale and the attack on the GBI, Will finds himself face to face with James Ulster (Greg Germann), the man who killed his mother and who is now a fugitive. Being forced to defy orders also pushes Will to deal with the pent-up rage he’d prefer to ignore, and after that cliffhanger, Season 4 is sure to push the beloved title character even further into his feelings.
During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Rodríguez discussed what he’s enjoying about Will’s Season 4 journey, whether Will could find some success in therapy, the biggest challenges he found in also directing the premiere episode, developing the dynamic between Will and his father, injecting some humor into what Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin) is going through, how Angie’s pregnancy changes things, whether fans could still see Sara Linton, and what viewers can expect from episode two.
Season 4 of ‘Will Trent’ Will Explore the Character’s Rage and How He Handles It
"He's covering and not revealing how he’s really feeling about things."
Collider: As one of a small handful of people who know this character better than anyone now, how are you feeling about Season 4 and where things are at with Will this season? What have you been enjoying about getting to explore and play with where he’s at right now?
RAMÓN RODRÍGUEZ: It’s a conversation that we have often, creatively, at the beginning of the season before we even start, where we say, “Where do we want to take Will? What seems interesting and exciting?” I’m grateful that everybody really wants to try to continue elevating the show. And so, the theme that really resonated was this idea of Will unraveling and really coming apart, and how best to do that and how best to explore deconstructing this guy who’s typically pretty constructed and put together. Using those therapy scenes that we show in the premiere and that will continue through the season, we bring up various things from Will’s past, whether it’s Ulster or trauma from his childhood or things with his mom, or Caleb, his father.
That’s been the thing that we’re hanging our hat on this season. It’s the idea of, how can we push Will emotionally, which we’ve done before, and how can we make it feel different this time? An emotion that we wanted to explore was rage, what that looks like on him, and how he handles that? Very early on, he’s having a pickleball session for therapy, which is very weird and funny, with Margaret Cho. We already see that he’s covering and not revealing how he’s really feeling about things, and she pokes and prods and really tries to get a reaction out of him. It’s something that’s going to be continuing through the season. We’re two-thirds of the way through, and that idea of getting inside Will’s head, what’s in there, what he’s dealt with and what he hasn’t dealt with, seems to be something that’s really compelling and exciting for us creatively.
The dynamic between Will and his therapist is fun to watch because it’s very unconventional. That also really depends on who you cast. How much fun has it been to have Margaret Cho around? What’s it been like to figure that relationship out?
RODRÍGUEZ: First of all, Margaret is fantastic. She’s obviously funny, but she’s quick and takes notes. We felt that the quirkier that character is and the more unconventional, the better. We showed her last season where he would go to a typical therapist that would do the emotions of the emotional wheel, and he would chew that person up and spit them out like it was amateur hour. As funny as the pickleball is, it actually is a method she’s doing, which is to get him out of his head and into his body. Sometimes, when you’re not thinking and having to sit in front of somebody and talk about your feelings, you might be more vulnerable, and you might gain more access to certain things that you wouldn’t typically. And so, anytime she’s quirky and weird and funny is good. She ends up spotlighting things that are going on with him, and I think will hopefully be able to give him some tools to try to figure out what is going on, and how he can cope and manage some things that he’s not dealt with and didn’t want to look at. And casting Margaret was perfect because she has a comedic sensibility, she’s fast, she’s smart, she can be serious and rounded, and she makes it feel like she’s trying to get to him, but yet she just has her own way of doing it, which is really fun to watch.
Related
You also directed the Season 4 premiere. What were the challenges specific to directing that episode?
RODRÍGUEZ: I love directing. I directed last season’s premiere, and I had such a blast. I’m lucky because I really know the show well. Our crew has been with us since the beginning and we’ve gelled. It’s a real pleasure that’s almost like getting back to summer camp with your friends and getting to play with them and create and collaborate. I love collaborating with all the departments that typically I don’t get to collaborate that in-depth with, when we’re prepping and scouting locations and working on the production design and with the DP. It’s a really lovely, collaborative group. We happen to have a really fantastic crew. One of the challenges, honestly, is something that I always forget when I leave Atlanta, and then we come back and shoot in August and I’m like, “It’s so hot.” The three-piece suit is so unbearable. I’m so excited to go back to the show, and I’m so excited to direct and I’m prepping, and then I always remember when I put that three-piece suit on, and I’m outside in the sun. That’s one of the greatest challenges, being out there in the sweltering heat of Atlanta.
The premiere this season, we do the reconstructions on the show where Will puts together a crime scene, and I had a thought that I really wanted to explore. We talked about it in previous seasons, but I thought it would be a great opportunity in this premiere episode. It wasn’t written that way, originally, but as I read it, I went, “This could be really fun if we did it all in reverse.” So, we see what happened during the crime scene in reverse, and then we see what really happened when we reveal that Ulster did it and we see that playing forward. That was a real technical challenge in a lot of ways. I remember trying to explain it to the crew. When you start going in reverse, it gets complicated because you start messing with the order of events. And also, it wasn’t a literal reverse of everything. It’s funny, I had it very clear in my brain, and I would just keep repeating how I saw it. And then, we did crack it.
I’m really proud of that reconstructed sequence. I think it’s really unique and fun. And there’s the general visual language for the episode, just discovering that with our DP, Tim Gillis. I love the juxtaposition at the beginning of the episode, where we’re with our heroes five months later, catching up with everything going on with them, from Ormewood’s chemo, to Angie being pregnant with the nursery with Scott Foley, to Amanda making her recovery versus the prison stuff when we reveal that Ulster is there and what he’s got going on as he’s planning his escape. It was just such a fun dance between very different worlds, with the prison, which is dark and violent, and then the outside world where things might feel a little bit more hopeful. But all the while, I wanted to give it this feeling that something dangerous is happening and coming, which is obviously Ulster, who’s coming for Will. I thought the end of that premiere episode, how it’s written, was just so fantastic. It’s such a cliffhanger that left me wanting to know what was going to happen. We wanted to make the best premiere possible, to set us up with the strongest start to hook the audience back in.
The Relationship Between Will and His Father Will Continue to Deepen in Season 4 of ‘Will Trent’
"He is actually surprisingly funny."
Image via ABCYou’ve introduced Will’s father, and I didn’t know what to expect from that, but I think that there’s a really special bond that’s formed between them. When all of that started to come together, what were you hoping for with that relationship, and what have you really enjoyed about finding that dynamic with Yul Vazquez?
RODRÍGUEZ: It’s interesting because when we introduced Caleb, Will and Caleb butted heads and did not get along. Caleb is this tough sheriff and it’s his turf. Will is tough in his own way and stubborn. They really went at each other, which made it all the more shocking when Will found out that this man is his father, which he had no idea about. That turns up all kinds of emotions, particularly for someone like Will, who had no idea who his father was. So, to know that that person is alive in Atlanta, so close and yet never searched for him or looked for him, there are a lot of wounds or at least questions that Will hasn’t gotten answered, that makes that relationship fun to watch, but difficult for him to navigate. He’s being welcomed by this man who he barely knows, into his family, which seems to be really warm and cozy and almost perfect, but it’s hard for Will to not feel resentment, to feel anger, to feel rage. He’s like, “This perfect life that you’re living, I could have been a part of that. I could’ve had a very different childhood.” It’s a tough pill to swallow.
Yul Vasquez is so fantastic. We’re so happy to have him on the show. Last season, they had a whole scene where they were yelling at each other, but talking things through in a weird way, which was really fun. This season, what’s been most surprising to me is that Yul is funny. I wasn’t expecting that. He would break me out of character, which doesn’t happen often. He is actually surprisingly funny as the season goes on. There’s some physicality that he does that I couldn’t unsee. And once I break, I get loose and I can’t help it. It’s hard for me to recover. It doesn’t happen often, but I have a very clear memory of a moment when he got me and I couldn’t stop laughing. It’s been fun watching that relationship evolve and to see where it might go.
There’s also something inherently funny about everyone hanging out in Ormewood’s office behind a wood wall and door. Was it important to balance everything he’s going through with his medical diagnosis with some humor?
RODRÍGUEZ: Jake [McLaughlin] is hilarious. He’s a fantastic actor and he’s really funny. He can’t officially be on duty at work because of what he’s going through, so we’ve set him up in this makeshift office with the vending machine next to him, where he’s going to be bothered and annoyed. We also were interested in showing a new skill that Ormewood develops, which is that he’s going to be more technical and on the computer and helping that way and figuring that world out. We love whenever we can find comedic elements or create a situation that we know is going to be funny. The other instance is Will and Faith sharing that window in their new office structure set-up. It’s so annoying, but so fun, and really fun visually. We’re always going to find the emotional, heavy stuff that’s going on, and then we look for moments of levity that are funny and silly. Sometimes it’s physical, and sometimes it’s just the situation. Ormewood’s office was one we knew would be really fun.
Related
For two seasons, Will and Angie were the one thing that Will could rely on, and the audience could rely on. And then, that all got dismantled at the end of Season 2, and Season 3 was very complicated between them. How do you feel about where things are at with them in Season 4? What’s it like for Will to see everything she’s going through with her pregnancy? Does watching that and how she handles that affect or change anything for Will?
RODRÍGUEZ: Yeah. It was really interesting, last season, to see Will find out that Angie’s pregnant. When they go to the doctor’s office and hear the heartbeat, Will knows he’s always wanted family and has imagined that with Angie. He had all these hopes and dreams. It’s fun territory for the writers and for me and for Erika [Christensen] to continually try to find how those two navigate a new scenario. We threw an obstacle in their way, and can they be friends? How does that work? I feel like there’s a part of Will that really is happy for her. To see Angie happy makes him happy. To see her with this doctor, they got along over worms and had a connecting point. But obviously, there’s the thing that Will always hoped and felt.
So, watching them, there’s a bit of evolution happening that we’re going to explore this season. Can they grow together even if they’re not together, or do they have to grow apart? That’s going to be something that will definitely be explored. There will be some new romances and love interests as well, along the way. We’ll figure out what’s going to stick and what’s not, or whether they’ll get back. Those are the kind of questions that everyone wants to know. We love that we get to be fortunate enough to even have people that are invested and want to know more about that. It’s complicated. It’s a very complicated relationship. Having those hurdles maybe pulls you in a little bit more and makes you want to know what’s going to happen next.
Ramón Rodríguez Says It’s Definitely Still Possible That Sara Linton Could Turn Up in ‘Will Trent’
"It's a conversation we continue having, knowing that there's a huge fan base."
Image via ABCAre you still having the Sara Linton conversation or has that ship sailed?
RODRÍGUEZ: Oh, yeah, 100%. Sara Linton is never off the table. I know that for a fact. It’s such a popular character in the books. We have so much going on with our characters right now. It’s very loaded. We’re two-thirds of the way through the season. But to say that that’s not going to happen is just not true. It may happen. The writers and I and the producers all want to be mindful of, when you bring someone in, how do you bring them in and add to what we’ve been building? It’s a conversation we continue having, knowing that there’s a huge fan base. There’s just so much story that we have with our cast that trying to find a way to squeeze another character in is tricky, but I know we want to try to find a way to do it. So, that conversation is something we always touch base on. It’s ongoing.
Related
Obviously, we know that Will Trent can’t be dead, or the show wouldn’t be called Will Trent. How did you feel about the cliffhanger? What would you say to tease fans about episode two?
RODRÍGUEZ: It’s one hell of a cliffhanger. When I read that, I was like, “Oh, this is good.” I love that kind of stuff. Without having all the pieces of the puzzle until you get to the next episode, you’ll get to see what went down and what happened. That was just fun creatively. Like you said, the show is called Will Trent, so we’re not going to kill him off in the first episode, but how do we make it feel like the stakes are high and the situation is bad? That theme that I mentioned earlier, which is something that will continue, is that Will someone that’s always tried to stay morally correct and do the right thing, and that’s just going to constantly be tested and challenged and questioned. Ulster is a person that’s going to be in Will’s head. A lot of the objective is to get inside Will’s head, and sometimes that’s going to be a manipulation tactic to use him or maybe it will be helpful. As he’s undergoing therapy and exploring some of his past and emotions, a lot of stuff is going to come up.
Meanwhile, he’s got this father that he’s discovered in Caleb. What is that relationship going to evolve to? There’s the relationship with Angie and where she’s at in her life, and where does that potentially go? Trying to do the right thing is something we just want to keep testing and pushing and seeing if there’s a breaking point. Psychologically getting inside his head has been a lot of fun for us. Exploring that emotion of rage is something he probably doesn’t let out much, which is a good thing. It’s a release at times, but how do you use it? He does have these cathartic break-out moments where he’ll release, but so much of it is him coping with a lot of his stuff and always moving forward, keeping busy with working, but that only works so far. At some point, you’re going to have to probably look in the mirror and face certain things if you want to potentially evolve.
Release Date January 3, 2023
Writers Inda Craig-Galván, Henry 'Hank' Jones, Karine Rosenthal, Adam Toltzis, Antoine Perry
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Ramón Rodríguez
Will Trent
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Erika Christensen
Angie Polaski
Will Trent airs on ABC and is available to stream on Hulu. Check out the Season 4 trailer:
English (US) ·