When Karin Slaughter first considered the possibility of her Will Trent crime series being adapted, she panicked—but after ABC approached her, she quickly realized it was going to be done well.
The author told Newsweek about her experiences with the new crime drama based on her work, which stars Ramón Rodríguez in the title role, alongside Erika Christensen and Iantha Richardson.
Will Trent follows its eponymous special agent as he works for the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) in Atlanta on a grisly murder and missing persons case. He is tasked with solving it alongside new partner Faith Mitchell (Iantha Richardson), while his on-off romantic partner Angie Polaski (Erika Christensen) works on her own undercover case.
Based on her New York Times bestselling series, Slaughter said the drama is a “fantastic interpretation” of her work that she is sure fans will enjoy as much as newcomers to the franchise.
Which ‘Will Trent’ Book Is the ABC Show Based on?
Slaughter was initially worried about her series being brought to the screen, but her concerns were put aside following her initial meeting with Liz Heldens, who went on to executive produce and write the series with Daniel T. Thomsen.
“Liz Heldens was the first person I spoke with years ago about this and she’s a real fan, and she was asking questions about the books and I thought ‘wow, that’s a readers’ type of question,'” the author said.
“A lot of times when you talk to Hollywood you’re like, ‘oh, I can feel the air going up my a**!’ But Liz knew all these details and so did Dan.
“I talked to a lot of the writers on set, and they had a sign that says respect the IP, the intellectual property, and they understand that I’ve got 10s of millions of readers and they love the books, and they want to make sure they get the essence of that. So I felt very much included in the process, it’s felt very collaborative.”
Slaughter had similarly high praise for Rodríguez, who is an executive producer for the show as well as starring in it: “Ramón has brought a lot, as a producer he’s brought a lot into it.
“One of the great questions he had was ‘what does Will do in his free time?’ Because he’s not always solving crimes, he’s a guy who has a lot of complications and a lot of baggage. And so, particularly in the books, he’s always doing house projects, and he’s just doing things that keep him moving forward.”
“I just felt like it’s very much included. They respected the fact that I’m the source material, so if they have questions instead of trying to figure out the answer among themselves they just call or text me and say, ‘Hey, what’s this? What were you thinking?’ I’ve got this entire Bible in my head of 10, going on 11 books, right? So I’m my own Wikipedia, I guess, and I’m happy to answer their questions.”
The Will Trent series has a total of 10 books and two novellas so far, but the drama doesn’t focus on any one story. However, the pilot is particularly inspired by “Fractured,” the second book in the franchise.
“The script is so good,” Slaughter went on. “And Ramón is so good, everybody has Will Trent in their head and that’s great, but he’s just so mesmerising on screen and he captures the essence of the character.
“He’s got Will’s silences down and [his] awkwardness, that kind of thing. There could be a possibility of going over the edge with his awkwardness and I think he’s just got a perfect balance.”
Slaughter also heaped praise on Christensen, Richardson and Sonja Sohn’s portrayal of her characters, Angie, Faith and Amanda, respectively.
“I’m very pleased, I think it’s a fantastic interpretation of the books,” the author added.
‘Will Trent’ Easter Eggs Book Fans Will Enjoy
With so many books to draw on, the ABC series contains particularly important details that fans of the source material will immediately recognize, Slaughter said.
She explained: “The biggest one is Will’s suit, the three piece suit. He’s a guy who’s really covered up, he has a lot of his history written on his body and so he’s physically constrained in a lot of ways by the suit, and it’s a really big part of his personality because people make fun of him for it.
“He’s like, ‘f*** you, I’m just gonna dress how I feel comfortable dressing,’ which is a real message about him, and also a really important part of his personality is Betty [his chihuahua].
“He’s a reluctant dog owner, he grew up in an orphanage so he’s never going to be the kind of man who could leave a dog in the pound and not let the dog have a family and a life.
“I think that says a lot about him, he doesn’t want to do it but he ends up doing it because it’s the right thing. And that’s what really drives Will, ‘I’m going to choose to do the right thing, I’m going to be a good guy instead of a bad guy.'”
Of the adaptation of her novels, Slaughter added: “They’re really very carefully following the plots that I’ve set down, but their [additional plot lines are] also make sense.
“They’re not just saying ‘we need somebody to be in a closet, so let’s just think of a really stupid reason for them to be in the closet like the woman has never seen a Dateline,’ so I really respect that part.”
“If you haven’t read the books then you should,” the author added, while reflecting on what those who hadn’t read the series before might like best about them.
“I think the big draw is it’s not just about the crime, it’s about how the investigators are affected by the crime, how the community is affected.
“In both the books and the series, Atlanta is a character, which is fantastic because the city has so much history, so much negative and positive history, and they really captured that well.
“Will is pretty true [to the books], he might not look how you visualize him, or how I describe him in the books, but his personality, his temperament, all of that is very similar to the books.”
“When I started writing the books I came from someone who was poorly parented and grew up watching television all the time, so I see it in my head like it’s a TV show with cliffhangers and stuff,” she added. “And if that’s what you like about reading then the series definitely has all of that.”
Will Trent premieres on ABC at 10 p.m. ET on Tuesday, January 3.
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