ABC’s Will Trent was the surprise hit of the 2022/2023 TV season, ending as the network’s third most-watched show with its unique insight into procedurals. Following the titular Will, dyslexic Georgia Bureau Of Investigation officer (played by Ramon Rodriguez) who grew up in the foster system, refuses to ever process his trauma, and has a loaded but beautiful friendship with Atlanta police officer Angie Polaski (Erika Christensen) — who also grew up in the system with Will — it has a good sense of humor that balances out the dark emergencies the team faced each week.
That is something Ramon and Erika both hope continues into season two, which premieres on ABC on February 20, 2024 at 10/9c.
“That’s the thing the show does really well, honestly,” Ramon tells HELLO! for our Spotlight cover. “There’s really heavy emotional stuff and then at other times it’s silly, ridiculous fun. When the whole band gets together, it’s a lot of wrangling – and we have a lot of that coming up in the first few episodes of season two, which is really nice.”
Season one ended with a major cliffhanger, as Will discovered the truth about his late mother and it was revealed that he had a substitute mother looking over him all along in boss Amanda Wagner (Sonja Sohn) who had always wanted to adopt him.
Angie, meanwhile, had decided to end her on-and-off-again romance with Will for good, but in a cruel twist of events, she was beaten by serial killer James Ulster (Greg Germann) and Will was being told she may be paralyzed.
Here, Ramon and Erika dive into identity, found family and just how they keep things light on set. Hint: it involves a dog.
Season one ended with Will discovering the truth about his mom, how will that continue to play out in season two?
Ramon: Will finally received some understanding of his identity, and some pretty big significant puzzle pieces of his life were filled in. But when we wrapped season one, I asked: ‘What does that do for season two?’
I’m fascinated by identity, and for someone like Will, there’s so much of himself that he doesn’t know. Yet that process of self discovery and choosing to look into his history life might be nice or it might be awful, so how does that impact somebody psychologically? At the top of season two, he’s begun to scrape a little bit at his heritage as he learns Spanish to be tied to his mom – and I love it when we see him vulnerable and awkward. But it might also trigger some other things, and I think we’re trying to continue down that path this season and see where that takes us.
For Angie there was a huge injury that left her future up in the air, where will we meet her when season two opens?
Erika: We’re going to see the results of that attack and those injuries. But Angie is a fighter, someone that really needs to work in order to keep her sanity and to feel a sense of self-worth and purpose, so while at the outset of season two she is not working and is physically recovering, she’s definitely got her sights set on getting back on the team.
Angie and Will have a long history that’s bonded them but is also complicated, as actors how did you approach building this connection early on?
Erika: We had 15 or 16 years of being friends so there was a layer of trust that we automatically started with. There was a romantic scene in the pilot where they’re making out – and we have intimacy coordinators, which is so wonderful – but I remember thinking, ‘We’re going to be fine,’ because we know each other, we trust each other.
Ramon: There’s no doubt it helps when you’ve known someone for a long time. We all knew what this relationship and this history was, so it was a question of, ‘How do you make that feel honest?’
One of Angie’s first lines is, ‘I’ve seen your scars.’ How beautiful and wonderful. And all of that with the complexity of having a dog next to us…
Belle (the Chihuahua who plays Will’s pet dog Betty) must help to keep things light on set….
Erika: The way that we fawn over Belle!
Ramon: That’s the thing the show does really well, honestly. There’s really heavy emotional stuff and then at other times it’s silly, ridiculous fun. When the whole band gets together, it’s a lot of wrangling – but we have a lot of that coming up in the first few episodes of season two, which is really nice.
