Will Trent

Will Trent is an American police procedural crime drama television series based on the series of novels by Karin Slaughter (who also co-created the series along with Liz Heldens and Daniel T. Thomsen). The series premiered on January 3, 2023, on ABC. In April 2023, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on February 20, 2024. In April 2024, the series was renewed for a third season.

Premise
Will Trent was found abandoned as a child, and had to grow up in the Atlanta foster care system, which has had a lasting effect on him. Despite being dyslexic, he has become 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. His boss at the GBI, Amanda Wagner, 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 his childhood friend from the foster care system, APD Detective Angie Polaski, who is partnered with APD Detective Michael Ormewood. Will and Angie's cases sometimes overlap, bringing the two and their partners into ongoing contact.

Main

 * Ramón Rodríguez as Wilbur "Will" Trent, GBI special agent
 * Erika Christensen as Angela Polaski, Atlanta PD Homicide detective
 * Iantha Richardson as Faith Mitchell, GBI special agent
 * Jake McLaughlin as Michael Ormewood, Atlanta PD Homicide detective
 * Sonja Sohn as Amanda Wagner, GBI Deputy Director, former Atlanta PD officer
 * Bluebell as Betty, a chihuahua Will adopts in the pilot.

Recurring

 * Jennifer Morrison as Abigail Bentley Campano
 * 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 (S1, two episodes).
 * John Ortiz as Antonio Miranda, Will's uncle (season 2 starting in episode 6).
 * Christina Wren as Caroline

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. On April 3, 2024, ABC renewed the series for a third 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.

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.

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."