Will Trent star Ramón Rodríguez says bringing Betty home is Will starting his own family
Will Trent (Ramón Rodríguez) has closed his case.
The eccentric GBI agent has to juggle his complicated present and complicated past to find Emma Campano. Not only was Emma’s father one of Will’s childhood bullies, but he also took on the case from the Atlanta Police Department after exposing several of their officers as corrupt, including the mother of the officer he worked with. He eventually wades through the case and his personal complications to find Emma alive.
Beyond the case, there are developments in his professional and personal life. The second episode picks up after Paul Campano (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) shoots the man he thinks kidnapped his daughter, which exposes Will and Angie Polaski’s (Erika Christensen) personal relationship, as they were together when Paul showed up. During the investigation, Will asks her to share her traumatic past of being used by her own mother to get a suspect to confess, prompting her to end their latest on-again, off-again relationship. On the professional front, Will’s union with Faith Mitchell (Iantha Richardson) becomes a long-term one, and she becomes an official partner with the GBI.
We spoke to Will star Trent Ramón Rodríguez about what drew him to the role, Will’s new guest, the many complicated relationships in his life, and what’s next.
RAMÓN RODRÍGUEZ: I wasn’t familiar with the Karin Slaughter series before I got the script, but when I started reading the book—I started with Fractured, then Triptych—I met this character who I quickly found very appealing. He’s been through a lot in the Georgia foster care system. I liked that through everything he’s been through and lived through, because he’s dyslexic, he’s been able to find a way to look at crime and the world in a way that’s quite unique. That’s what allowed him to be quite successful as a [special agent] for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. We had a lot of conversations about their vision and where they wanted to take their characters and their story.
Will and Amanda have a very funny and touching relationship. What was it like developing that dynamic with Sonja?
Very few people have a deep history with Will, one of them being Amanda and the other being Angie. We’re going to learn in the series how deep those roots are, what they’ve been through together, and what those people mean to each other. Amanda’s been there for him, she’s been there for him in so many ways. Amanda respects him and understands what he’s capable of because of their deep history.
On the other hand, his relationship with Faith starts out very confrontational, but by the end of the second episode, he’s starting to trust her. What will they be like as partners?
The story continues to develop slowly, which I really like in terms of the characters and the relationship. [It’s interesting] how their relationship evolves from this place of tension and adversity to slowly realizing what each person can bring to the relationship. Will is not someone who’s easy to let anyone in and there’s a lot of resistance on his part.
In the first episode, we see Will’s scar and we learn a little bit about his past in the group home. Can you give us a little bit more insight into what we’re going to learn about him this season?
The goal is to slowly peel back the layers and Will, by the way, has a lot of layers. Even in the clothes he wears. He has a three-piece suit, which is his armor that helps him keep his distance from people. Throughout the season, we get to learn more about what he’s been through, what his childhood was like. One thing we talk about a lot is that in many ways, this is a show about people trying to have a family and Will was someone who didn’t have a family growing up and that’s what he craves.
We see that in the first episode, when he adopts a dog that he doesn’t even want. It immediately tells us that he’s someone who has a big heart and is as cold and distant as he can be. He has really deep emotions and he is extremely sensitive.
