ABC’s “Will Trent” is not any extraordinary police procedural.
“There’s a thousand cop shows,” mentioned Ramón Rodriguez, who portrays the present’s major character, Will Trent. “How do you make this one stand out?”
The published drama collection, which additionally airs on Hulu, facilities particular agent Trent: a dapper investigator whose instinctual crime-solving expertise render him important to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. However beneath the three-piece go well with, there’s a extra advanced aspect to Trent, who navigates the residual trauma from being deserted at delivery and rising up within the Atlanta foster care system. He’s additionally dyslexic.
“One of the exciting things when I came onto the show was not knowing where this character was from,” mentioned Rodriguez, 45. “Trent was very much [written as] a colorless character.”
Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Rodriguez greeted me on a Zoom name from his current residence in Southern California, whereas carrying a New York Knicks cap. Earlier than “Will Trent,” he beforehand performed the primary major Hispanic character on the HBO collection “The Wire,” and appeared in movies resembling 2009’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” and “G20,” a thriller that includes Viola Davis, which premiered April 10 on Amazon Prime Video.
Because the 2023 premiere of “Will Trent,” Rodriguez has molded his beloved character in some ways; he’s a hard-nosed detective with a mushy aspect, which is most evident in scenes along with his pocket-sized chihuahua named Betty. Based mostly on Karin Slaughter’s New York Occasions-bestselling novel collection “Will Trent,” showrunners Liz Heldens and Daniel Thomsen organically tailor-made the titular position to replicate Rodriguez’s real-life Puerto Rican id. It’s a serious win for Latinos in an trade that in any other case lacks Latino-led programming.
“Once we run out of feeling fresh, creative, excited and inspired, then I think we start phoning it in,” mentioned Rodriguez. “But that’s something I’m not interested in and I know my partners aren’t either.”
Rodriguez has taken on roles behind the digital camera as nicely. He directed “I’m a Guest Here,” the primary episode of Season 3, which wrapped earlier this month; he was additionally named an government producer. “I really wanted to be a part of the creative collaboration of creating this character in this show,” mentioned Rodriguez.
When Season 3 dropped a bombshell concerning Trent’s organic father, it paved the best way for a nail-biting Season 4, which was confirmed earlier this yr.
This interview has been edited and shortened for readability. It additionally reveals Season 3 spoilers.
Within the books, Will Trent isn’t Puerto Rican, however this collection is peeking into your personal Puerto Rican id. What are your ideas on that?
It was a subject that they had been interested in exploring. The place does Will come from as an orphan who grew up within the foster care system? Id turns into a focus for somebody like that. Once more [him being Puerto Rican] isn’t within the books, which is form of thrilling. We’ve been in a position to separate and say that the books are the books.
It wasn’t one thing that we had been attempting to type of examine a field and say, “Great, Will’s heritage is Puerto Rican.” It was a really natural rationalization of this character discovering who he’s.
If you had been solid for the lead, did you ever image the present as what it’s immediately?
You by no means know what’s gonna work and why it’s gonna work. You don’t have management of loads of issues on this enterprise. The one factor I do have management over is my work, what I can deliver to it, what I attempt to do. That is the primary time I’ve been on a present that’s gone on for this lengthy from the pilot.
If you happen to would’ve requested me that, is that this gonna be the present that goes previous one season? I most likely would’ve mentioned, “I don’t think so.” And it’s nothing towards the present, you simply don’t know. It took a minute for me to be absolutely satisfied, however I’m so grateful that they had been prepared to proceed having conversations with me and that they had been actually prepared to have me on as a companion as a result of that was necessary to me.
It doesn’t really feel just like the present hinges on these parts of id. Why is it necessary to maintain that stability on this procedural present?
[Solving cases is] one other facet of the present that I do know audiences love. I simply assume the issues that have a tendency to tug our hearts to the issues which are emotional and private issues, what somebody’s battling or how are they overcoming it.
In Season 3, we have now a extremely pivotal second the place Will unintentionally shoots a foul man, however finally ends up killing a younger boy accidentally. That case ended up altering the remainder of the season — he was not in a position to recuperate from that occasion of getting the boy die in his arms. That was Episode 11 and that can doubtless go into Season 4.
Your canine Betty additionally shines in Season 3. We get to listen to her voice for the primary time which occurs throughout a enjoyable hallucination scene. What was it prefer to movie that episode?
That was two episodes after this tragic episode I simply described, which is loopy, proper? We wished to combine levity and humor with our heavy drama and emotional stuff.
In order Will was coming into this case that concerned a cult, he will get caught undercover and in that course of he will get drugged. Liz Heldens, one in all our showrunners, had been dying to discover a solution to get me to bounce on this present, and I used to be like “Listen: Will Trent is an awkward individual, he’s not someone that’s out here dancing.” She was like, “Well, what if that’s a hallucination?” I used to be like, “That’s brilliant!” Something can occur whereas he’s tripping.
I keep in mind I used to be strolling on set and one in all our manufacturing assistants, Tim, had learn the script and mentioned, “What if Betty talks?” So I pitched that to Liz and he or she topped it and went, “Well, what if Betty’s British?”
You made your directorial debut in Season 3. How was that have for you?
I felt like a child in a sweet retailer. By Season 3, I actually understood the character and what works with our present, the place our strengths are. I simply obtained to be me in sure scenes, as a result of initially of the [third] season Will has left the [Georgia Bureau of Investigation], he’s obtained a beard and he’s in a T-shirt, denims and curly hair.
It was additionally enjoyable to direct new solid members. We launched Gina Rodriguez, who performed Marion Alba, and Antwayn Hopper, who performed Rafel Wexford. Which was actually enjoyable. I’d be like: “No notes.” [Laughs.]
Will you be directing in Season 4?
I’ll undoubtedly be directing at the least one episode subsequent season. It makes essentially the most sense for me to direct the premiere as I did this previous season. I really like that stress of getting to set the bar for a season.
What can audiences anticipate for the upcoming season?
We’re about to start these severe conversations. There have been some fairly severe cliffhangers on the finish of Season 3, the place we discover out Angie Polaski (Erika Christensen) is pregnant, and Will is certainly not the daddy, in order that’s gonna be one thing to discover. Amanda Wagner (Sonja Sohn), who’s a maternal determine for Will, is within the hospital mattress. We simply found his dad, [Sheriff Caleb Roussard], which we don’t know an excessive amount of about, so I’d wish to know extra concerning the character and what occurred with the mother. There’s simply so many questions that we’ll get to discover — I imply, is there new love in Will’s life?
