Spoiler alert: We’re discussing the Season 2 “Will Trent” premiere. Don’t read further if you don’t want to know.
Look out for an explosive Season 2 of “Will Trent.”
Tuesday night’s season premiere of the ABC procedural, based on Karin Slaughter’s best-selling novels of the same name, saw Georgia Bureau of Investigations Special Agent Will Trent (Ramón Rodríguez) hurled into a car bomb mystery that already tragically took out a budding love interest.
Then, the real bombshell! The key to solving the fiery conundrum lies with imprisoned serial killer James Ulster (Greg Germann) who, as we learned in the Season 1 finale, killed Will’s mother and might just be his biological dad.
Kaboom!
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“There are so many unanswered questions to Will Trent, like is his father James Ulster?” Rodríguez tells USA TODAY. “We keep peeling back that onion, to find out who he is now that he has little crumbs of his own life story.”
Rodríguez, 44, answers some key burning “Will Trent” questions.
Question: Will Trent has all those three-piece suits and a vintage Porsche. How does he do it on a cop’s salary?
Answer: I had the same question. The suits look good, but they are a little oversized and not the fanciest. His suits are like his armor. He’s doing well at the GBI, but his shoes are so beat up and we haven’t changed them since Season 1. The shoes, which are aging every day, are so Will Trent. And that vintage Porsche, he rebuilt that. He’s a handy guy, not buying fancy things.
Will starts to learn Spanish to get closer to Lucy Morales, the mother he never knew. How is it for you to speak halting Spanish?
I do speak Spanish. So it was very satisfying to undo that and find a way to make it feel like it’s a discovery for Will. We love seeing Will in uncomfortable situations and vulnerable. He struggles to figure out how to put these words together.
Prison is not the end for Greg Germann’s James Ulster on “Will Trent.” How was that to confront him in prison and how long will his Hannibal Lecter-esque informant role last?
Greg gets to be really fun and big in that role. It’s so juicy. We wanted to go back and revisit that and Greg came in fired up. We’ll definitely find ways to bring him in this season because he’s got the missing puzzle pieces of Will’s life. Seeing them together, there’s some great tension. I can’t say where this goes, but we’re going to milk that when we can. And Ulster’s a lawyer, so who knows how long he stays in prison.
Will loses his bomb squad love interest Agent Dawson (Susan Kelechi Watson) before their first date in the premiere. Will he ever find deeper love?
We even discussed that: Is this relationship something that goes one episode or more? It ended up just being that one episode. But that’s something that’s going to haunt him. When he has something like that happen after he’s feeling like he just connected.
Will he finally settle down with Agent Polaski (Erika Christensen), the friend who endured a similarly harsh foster care upbringing? The tension is killing me.
Their history is complicated, because of what they’ve been through. They know they can count on each other, no matter what. The love is deep. But getting romantic and intimate might not be the best for them. They trigger each other in a way that isn’t the healthiest. We’re in the middle of that now. So we’ll see.
We didn’t see Will’s chihuahua Betty in the premiere. Will the Season 1 breakout star dog be back?
Betty came in hot after the success of Season 1, demanding a private jet just for herself, one for her trainer. It’s hard being under that dog’s shadow. No, she’s in the show, for sure. We see a different side of Will with Betty, which is awesome. He didn’t want the dog, but he didn’t want her just out there. Now he’s got something to care for at home.
How is it to play against Bluebell, the chihuahua who plays Betty?
She lives a really good life. No private jets, but we fly her to Atlanta from Florida. She does a few scenes, gets treats, and then takes off. But she’s the best. My sister had a chihuahua. It was out of control. The thing wouldn’t shut up, because it was a chihuahua. But Bluebell is just the best-behaved dog.
The internet wants to know, is the GBI a real thing? And what does the GBI think of Will Trent?
It is real. We have GBI consultants who come on the set and are involved in the creative conversations. We’re never going to be 100% accurate. And they get it. But it’s always nice to have their eyes on things. I don’t think they’ve ever been represented in TV or film. So they love it.
