Will Trent is staying on the case at ABC.
The Disney-owned broadcast network has handed out a second-season renewal for its drama series Will Trent, starring and produced by Ramón Rodríguez.
“We’re so thankful to our ABC and Hulu fans for joining us on this wild ride and watching Will Trent. When we set out to bring the series to television screens, we wanted to do justice to the gritty, thrilling world that Karin Slaughter created with her best-selling book series. Liz Heldens, Dan Thomsen and the creative team have developed complex and nuanced characters that people are relating to on a human level — and it hasn’t hurt having our little star, Betty, on the call sheet. We’re so excited for the opportunity to dive deeper into these stories with season two,” Rodríguez said in a statement announcing the pickup Tuesday.
The drama based on Slaughter’s book series was originally ordered to pilot last year with a cast contingent order. After 35 days of viewing across linear and digital, Will Trent ranks as ABC’s No. 1 drama among total viewers with 9.9 million and a 1.65 rating among the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic. The show is also ABC’s strongest performer in the troubled Tuesdays at 10 p.m. slot among total viewers since the 2020-21 season where it has improved the slot by 143 percent in total viewers and 25 percent in the demo this season. The season one finale airs May 2 on ABC.
Heldens (The Passage, Friday Night Lights) and Thomsen serve as showrunners and exec producers alongside author Slaughter and 3 Arts’ Oly Obst. The series hails from Disney’s 20th Television, where Heldens is based with an overall deal. Paul McGuigan directed the pilot. Erika Christensen, Iantha Richardson, Jake McLaughlin and Sonja Sohn round out the cast.
Will Trent is ABC’s first freshman series to earn a pickup for the 2023-24 broadcast season and joins returning hits Abbott Elementary, The Rookie and Grey’s Anatomy as the network continues to make early pickups ahead of a potential Writers Guild strike. ABC has yet to make decisions on the rest of its scripted slate that includes Big Sky, The Conners, The Good Doctor, Home Economics, Station 19, The Wonder Years and first-year shows Alaska Daily, The Company You Keep, Not Dead Yet and The Rookie: Feds. Keep up with all the broadcast renewals with THR’shandy scorecard.
