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.
Contents
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
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
Episodes
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."
