Will Trent (2023)

Will Trent is an American police procedural television series developed by Liz Heldens and Daniel T. Thomsen based on the series of novels by Karin Slaughter. The series, starring Ramón Rodríguez in the titular role, premiered on January 3, 2023, on ABC. In April 2026, the series was renewed for a fifth season.

Premise

Abandoned as a child, Will Trent grew up in the Atlanta foster care system. This had a lasting effect on him and, despite being dyslexic, he became a Special Agent in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). Will is highly observant, solving the highest proportion of cases in the GBI, which causes some envy.

Will had been assigned a corruption case involving the Atlanta Police Department, which shares an office building with the GBI. Solving it resulted in the arrest of several APD officers. Amanda Wagner, his boss at the GBI, assigns Faith Mitchell, the disgruntled daughter of an arrested APD officer, temporary GBI status as Will's partner.

He is in an on-again off-again relationship with APD Detective Angie Polaski, his childhood friend from the foster care system. Angie is partnered with APD Detective Michael Ormewood. Will and Angie's cases sometimes overlap, bringing the two and their partners into ongoing contact.

Cast

Main

Ramón Rodríguez as Will Trent, GBI Special Agent

Erika Christensen as Angela Polaski, APD Homicide Detective

Iantha Richardson as Faith Mitchell, GBI Special Agent

Jake McLaughlin as Michael Ormewood, APD Homicide Detective

Sonja Sohn as Amanda Wagner (seasons 1–4), GBI Deputy Director, former APD Officer

Bluebell as Betty Maria White Trent, a chihuahua Will adopts in the pilot episode.

Gina Rodriguez as Marion Alba (season 3), Assistant District Attorney

Kevin Daniels as Franklin Wilks (seasons 4–present; recurring seasons 1–3) APD Homicide Detective

Alexandra Metz as Birdie Palmer (season 5), GBI Deputy Director and Amanda's successor

Recurring

Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Paul Campano

Greg Germann as James Ulster

LisaGay Hamilton as Evelyn Mitchell, the mother of APD Detective Faith Mitchell. She is a retired APD captain with 30 years of service.

Cora Lu Tran as Nico, a non-binary former murder suspect who pet-sits Betty for Will

Ric Reitz as Director Armstrong, GBI state-wide director (season 1)

John Ortiz as Antonio Morales (season 2,4), Will's uncle

Christina Wren as Caroline

Ser'Darius Blain as Luke Sullivan

Sara Antonio as Gina Ormewood, Michael's wife

Jophielle Love as Cooper Ormewood, Michael's daughter

Owen Trumbly as Max Ormewood, Michael's son

Chapel Oaks as Crystal

Todd Allen Durkin as Captain Heller

Raiany Silva as Lucy Morales

Kurt Yue as Pete Chin

Scott Foley as Dr. Seth McDale (seasons 3–4), Angie's new love interest

Kyrie McAlpin as Sunny (season 3), a smart and resourceful tween who finds herself in the uncommon position of being the daughter of a criminal who now finds herself in the care of the deputy director of the GBI

Antwayn Hopper as Rafael Wexford, Will's friend and Sunny's father

Douglas Smith as Special Agent Gross (season 3)

Yul Vazquez as Sheriff Caleb Roussard

Guests

Ariana Madix as herself

C. Thomas Howell as Warden Sturgill Hawley

Clark Gregg as Arthur Highsmith

French Stewart as Leonard "Lenny" Broussard

Jason Wiles as Officer Tate Grillo

Jenna Elfman as Edie Reynolds

Jennifer Morrison as Abigail Bentley Campano

Jennifer Westfeldt as Erin Carrey

Jose Pablo Cantillo as Gabriel

Julia Chan as Ava Green

Kathleen York as Babs Carter

Mallory Jansen as Adelaide Ulster

Margaret Cho as Dr Roach

Michael Fairman as Dale Merrick

Michael Papajohn as Chuck Murray

Phaedra Parks as Adela Blakely

Ric Reitz as Director Armstrong, GBI state-wide director

Ricardo Chavira as Councilman Victor Carrey

Rotimi as Charles

Roxanne Hart as Kathleen Marigold

Shalim Ortiz as Dante Vasquez

Susan Kelechi Watson as Cricket Dawson

Sydney Park as Young Amanda Wagner

Yvette Freeman as Bonnie

Kurt Yaeger as Rudy Fritchman (season2)

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2023)

Season 2 (2024)

Season 3 (2025)

Season 4 (2026)

Production

Development

In February 2022, ABC ordered a pilot for Will Trent, based on Karin Slaughter's Will Trent novel series, with Liz Heldens and Daniel Thomsen set to write and executive produce, and Slaughter also to executive produce, with 20th Television as the studio. In August 2022, ABC ordered the series for 2022–23 mid-season. On April 18, 2023, ABC renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on February 20, 2024. On April 3, 2024, ABC renewed the series for a third season, which premiered on January 7, 2025. On April 3, 2025, ABC renewed the series for a fourth season. On April 13, 2026, ABC renewed the series for a fifth season.

Casting

Ramón Rodríguez was cast in the lead role in April 2022, with Erika Christensen cast as Angie Polaski. In May 2022, Iantha Richardson was cast as Faith, Jake McLaughlin as Michael, and Sonja Sohn as Amanda. In August 2024, Gina Rodriguez joined the cast as a new series regular for the third season. In August 2025, Kevin Daniels was promoted as a series regular for the fourth season.

Filming

Production for the first season of Will Trent started in Atlanta on October 10, 2022, and concluded on February 20, 2023.

Broadcast

Will Trent premiered on January 3, 2023, on ABC. The second season premiered on February 20, 2024. The third season premiered on January 7, 2025. The fourth season premiered on January 6, 2026.

Reception

Critical response

For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 89% approval rating based on 9 critics' reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 71 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter, wrote that it "quickly emerges as an above-average broadcast TV procedural". Reviewing the series for The A.V. Club, Max Gao gave a B− and stated, "It will welcome viewers who have never read the source material, but it risks alienating longtime fans of Slaughter's books."

Ratings

Overall

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Accolades

References

External links

Official website

Will Trent at IMDb