Will Trent is a 2023 Detective Drama series produced by American Broadcasting Company. It's also streamed by Hulu. Based on the Karin Slaughter novels, it stars Ramón RodrÃguez, Erika Christensen, Iantha Richardson, Jake McLaughlin and Sonja Sohn. The show has aired two seasons. On April 2024, ABC renewed the show for a third seaseon.
Will Trent is a foster child who grew up in Atlanta, being abandoned by his parents. He's also known to be a dyslexic. In spite of this, Will's recruited into the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). He worked alongside the Atlanta Police Department (APD) despite Jurisdiction Friction, partially because both LEOs work from a single building.
Will works alongside Faith Mitchell, an APD officer who's reassigned to the GBI; Angie Polaski, Will's friend who grew up in the Atlanta foster care system and an APD plainclothes officer with Michael Ormewood, also a detective who sometimes butts heads with Will. But when push comes to shove, they'll put their differences aside to solve a case.
This series includes examples of:
- Bulletproof Vest: The APD and GBI use ballistic vests, not wanting to take a chance that they'll be shot in a case.
- Category Traitor: Most of the APD views Will as a rat because he exposed corruption within the department.
- Everyone Was In The Group Home Together: Will and Angie both grew up in the same group home, as did the father of the kidnapping victim, Paul Campano, in the pilot.
- Framing the Guilty Party: "Capt. Duke Wagner's Daughter" reveals that Amanda framed Chuck Murray for drugs after he tried to rape her in a traffic stop. She mentioned that he was involved in other rape cases.
- Jurisdiction Friction: There's no love between the APD and the GBI, partially 'cause Will was involved in a GBI-led case that led to the arrest of several Dirty Cops working in the APD.
- Myth Arc: Angie's been trying to investigate one of her ex-foster fathers who sexually abused her in order to prevent him from doing the same thing. He's killed in "Bill Black".
- Prison Riot: In "It's the Work I Signed Up For", Will and James are locked up in prison due to a riot that started.
- Secret-Keeper: Faith eventually learns about Will's dyslexia and promises to keep it a secret. In return, Will keeps mum about her diabetes diagnosis.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Will and Angie constantly fight, and Angie regularly insists they won't work out as a couple, but always come back to each other.
- Stupid Crooks: The triplets from "Don't Let It Happen Again" ultimately reveal which one of them killed a security guard by getting into an argument over splitting a Twix bar with the
Serial Numbers Filed Off. If that's what it took, it appears the three brothers have maybe a 1/12th of a brain between them. - Shout-Out: "It's Easier to Handcuff a Human Being" has references to Freddy Kruger and the (various) Ex-Wives reality shows.
- SWAT Team: The APD and GBI utilize their tactical units whenever they get a case that would lead to confronting armed suspects.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: Once an Episode, a quick montage of witnesses providing less-than-helpful information plays, usually followed by a dumbfounded reaction from the police characters.
- Wham Episode:
- "Bill Black": One of the foster kids Angie spoke to killed the same foster father Angie knew, who sexually abused her, by stabbing him in the neck. Angie covers up her act.
- "A Bad Temper and a Hard Heart: Will finds out that James Ulster, the lawyer who helped female prostitutes in the 80s/90s, was the serial killer who operated at the time and killed Will's biological mom, Lucy. She was a prostitute at the time.
- "Capt. Duke Wagner's Daughter": Amanda is stalked by Chuck Murray for playing a role in arresting him in 1995 by framing him for drugs after he tried to rape her in a traffic stop.
