Based on Karin Slaughter’s best-selling book series, the hit ABC drama Will Trent is back for Season 2 and raising the stakes in every possible way for Special Agent Will Trent (Ramón Rodríguez) of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. After a car bomb was ignited, leading Will to partner with bomb expert Cricket (guest star Susan Kelechi Watson), he found himself in an unexpected but budding romance that he was looking forward to exploring. But when the elusive bomber’s actions led to a shocking moment of tragedy, it pushed Will directly into the path of the many unanswered questions about his family that he’ll now be looking to uncover.
Collider recently got the opportunity to sit down with Rodríguez, who is also a producer of the sophomore series, to chat about all things Will Trent. Clearly passionate and invested in playing the popular character, he talked about his interest in the concept of identity and the effect of where a person comes from, digging deeper into his character’s personal backstory, balancing heavier moments with some lightness and humor, that shocking moment in the Season 2 premiere and what it will mean for Will moving forward, whether he’s looking to direct an episode, that they’re already considering ideas for Season 3, and whether fans might see Dr. Sara Linton appear in the series in the future.
Will Trent Will Search for Answers About His Family in Season 2
Collider: It’s so nice to have this show back. What did you learn from the first season? Especially since you have more of a voice in the show as a producer, what did you feel went right with the first season that you wanted to make sure you further explored in Season 2?
RAMÓN RODRÍGUEZ: I thought we did a really good job of beginning to scratch at who this character is and a bit of his backstory. There were a lot of questions within that, that we obviously didn’t wanna get into too far, and that I think we’re hoping to get into a bit further [this season]. The concept of identity is fascinating to me. There’s the question of what this person has been through, trying to find out more, now that he’s gotten a couple hints about where he came from. There’s an uncle somewhere. His dad may be James Ulster (Greg Germann). I wanted to really get into some of that stuff deeper. I thought it’d be cool if we got to scratch that more and figure out, who is this person? He created a whole persona because he didn’t really have a lot to go off of. He has the three-piece suit and all the things to help protect himself. He created a whole system where he can survive with coping mechanisms, and part of that is his look and his perception. To peel that back a little bit is gonna be really cool. Who is he? Where does he come from? What does that do to him? There might be some good things there, and there might some really tough things there.
There’s humor to the show, but who his mother was, her fate, and who his father could be is pretty heavy. Does that feel like a really tricky thing to balance?
RODRÍGUEZ: Because it’s such heavy, loaded stuff, I try not to just breeze past that. Even though we’re on network television, how do we find a way to pace things out, so that you don’t just blow past really monumental moments in someone’s life and act as if it wasn’t that big a deal? I feel like I’m constantly trying to be conscious of, “Okay, if we’re gonna go there, there’s gonna be ramifications.” You don’t get to just open this box up that is filled with all kinds of loaded stuff in this person’s life, and then not really deal with it or how it impacts them today and maybe moving forward. That was a big deal to have those conversations with Liz [Heldens] and Dan [Thomsen]. I think we did a really good job in Season 1 of peppering some of that stuff in there. We learned a little bit about his dyslexia and his history and the foster care, and then we got to the mom stuff and the Amanda relationship and that history. I feel like we get to explore that maybe a little bit deeper. How far down the rabbit hole does he go? What does he discover along the way? How does that affect him psychologically and emotionally? It seems like interesting land mines to try to traverse.
Cricket Could Have Had a Different Fate in ‘Will Trent’s Season 2 Premiere
In the season premiere, there’s this sweet, light relationship between Will and Cricket (Susan Kelechi Watson) that we’re watching unfold and that he’s trying to figure out, and then all of a sudden she’s gone. How was that to handle?
RODRÍGUEZ: You’re excited because she represents a bit of hope and potential of what some healthy thing might look like. One of the things I adore about him is just missing all the absolute social cues and just not picking up on what she’s putting down for him, at all. He’s just oblivious to it. But then, they have a moment where he’s really excited by it. I felt like that was so accurate. Sometimes you can be really blown away when you see somebody doing what they do, and they’re good at it. He’s in that moment and even though he expresses himself after they had that moment, it cracked me up. We talked a lot about it early on. It could have been something that went on beyond an episode, but it felt like, instead of getting deeper into it, to have it be something that compounds, which is what’s happening a lot right now for him. I imagine at some point, we’re gonna really get into seeing how that might crack him. You can only bury so much. At some point, stuff starts spilling out. How and what that looks like, could be really interesting.
Is it fun to have that kind of interplay?
RODRÍGUEZ: Yeah, we’re lucky we have really great people that want to come and play, and Greg [Germann], who plays James Ulster, is one of them. It’s always fun to be a villain, too. I’ve been on that side and it’s really fun. He’s eating it all up. It’s a great concept of having to go see him for an investigation, but we know this person holds jewels about his life, possibly. He’s got more answers about his childhood than he does, so we know we’re gonna have to tap into some of that. If he wants to take the dive about himself and within himself as to who he is, he’s gonna have to have this conversation. And is this guy his dad? It’s pretty crazy.
Have you already talked about what you might want to explore in Season 3, or what could happen up to Season 5? What are the bigger conversations that you have, or do you just try to stay focused on the season ahead?
RODRÍGUEZ: We have the board that we get to throw things at. Maybe it doesn’t work this season, and maybe we punt that idea to Season 3. We haven’t gotten into Season 5 talk, but we do punt things and throw things up there that we think could be interesting for a Season 3. But obviously, we were really focused on Season 2, where it goes, and what we can explore. And when you have that talk, you go on to figure out what the best launch is for a potential next season if we’re lucky enough to have one. Where do you go with it? We did a great job in Season 1, leaving it in a place where you felt like there was a lot to explore in Season 2.
Ramón Rodríguez is Well Aware that ‘Will Trent’ Fans Want to See Dr. Sara Linton
Have there been conversations about the possibility of bringing Dr. Sara Linton into the show? Is that something that has come up in conversation?
RODRÍGUEZ: Absolutely. We’re all well aware that it’s a big part. We hear it from people that are fans of the books and the show, and we talk about it with Karin Slaughter, so we’re aware of it. I think everyone just wants to make sure that when we do it, we do it right and we do it justly. How does folding that character in affect the rest of the culture of the show and all the other characters? It’s this constant balancing act of figuring out, if you bring someone in, how you bring them in? What is that relationship like? How does it affect the ecosystem of what we’ve created already? But for sure, we talk about it. It’s on our minds. I’m not gonna say if and when we will, but I will say it’s definitely a topic that we talk about, for sure. It’s up on the board. There’s no doubt.
The premiere really does set up a lot for Season 2. Obviously, things aren’t quite the same with Angie (Erika Christensen), so what can you say about where things are at with them? Is that more about her trying to get herself back together, at this point?
RODRÍGUEZ: We saw them go through the crazy, tumultuous relationship that they do have a lot in Season 1. When we meet them at the top of Season 2, it feels like there’s some kind of caution tape around it, at least on Will’s part. Even his reluctance to get in the pool with her, he knows where that can go and what that means. I think it’s scary for him. Maybe he’s putting up some boundaries. But yet, he can’t help himself, and he can’t help himself with her. These are two souls that have seen everything, the ups and the downs, and they know more about each other than anyone else. They are connected like that and likely will be forever. Does he necessarily figure out that this is not a healthy thing? I don’t think they’re there yet. But I think there’s some caution about it. There’s a little trepidation. But he’s also not out there searching for love. Cricket just comes out of nowhere and happens to be someone that, at first, he’s not picking up on anything she’s throwing at him, and then, eventually, the light bulb goes off and he’s like, “That was cool.”
Ramón Rodríguez is Always Thinking About the Character Nuances that Make Up Will Trent
Are all the little details in the script, like having him spend the time to unbutton his shirt cuffs? Do you sometimes find those once you’re doing the scenes?
RODRÍGUEZ: All these things that he has and does, we try to find ways to incorporate them, and sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t. It depends. Some of it is written prior and some of it is discovered on the day. There’s the handkerchief, the phone, the tape recorder, the French cuffs, and his vision on a crime scene and how he can reconstruct things in his brain. These are things that we know people have really liked and responded to, so we try to integrate it when possible. There’s his dyslexia and how that comes up for him. It’s a lot to juggle. And then, we’re adding all the events and things that are happening in his life and that he’s discovering about his life. So, some of it is definitely on the day. There are a lot of times that we find a perfect moment for the tape recorder, or for the handkerchief. The French cuffs were written in and it was funny. He’s got a lot of layers, literally and metaphorically, and that’s fun.
Especially as you get to know the character better, you must get a feel for all those little things that so define who he is and when they feel most natural.
RODRÍGUEZ: Yeah, totally. It’s really cool how the creative evolution and that relationship behind camera evolves. That’s really fun. Between me and the writers and the showrunner, we earn each other’s trust. I operate from best idea wins, no matter where it comes from. It’s been fun to find gems. The more you can talk it out, the more you get to uncover about this character and some of the other characters, and where we can go in a season. That’s probably my favorite part of the process, all those early conversations, and then diving into the scripts and going, “Here’s an opportunity,” or “Maybe it’s not the right time for this to happen.” That uncovering and that creative process just gets me very excited.
