The Will Trent Season 3 Finale Left Fans in Suspense: What’s Going on with Michael Ormewood’s (Jake McLaughlin) Brain Tumor and Why Did He Suddenly Collapse?
TV Insider caught up with the actor at Disney’s Upfronts premiere and red carpet on Tuesday (May 13) and asked him that.
“I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know. They’re not going to tell me what’s going to happen next season,” McLaughlin admitted before offering his own theory. “I think [Michael] is going to be okay… but like I said, we just finished the season, so I don’t know what my fate is, what’s in store for me… maybe a road to recovery, maybe not. I don’t know.”
McLaughlin said he wasn’t too surprised by what happened in the finale, explaining, “Liz [Heldens, co-showrunner of the series] told me pretty much a couple of episodes in advance what the outline would be. So I knew I was going to have a tumor in the show. I didn’t know how severe it was or how late in the season it would come up, [but] I think I was forewarned. So I wasn’t too shocked when I read it because I knew that was going to be the case.”
Of course, the finale isn’t just about Michael’s health concerns. The episode sees him standing up for himself, Faith (Iantha Richardson), a group of teenage archers, and, of course, a precious supply of antidotes that could save all of Atlanta from a group of domestic terrorists intent on using a biological attack to destroy the city. Surrounded by armed attackers on a remote road, Michael used his military combat skills to save the group, and McLaughlin relished the opportunity to be a true action hero for the scene.
“It was fun,” McLaughlin said of the sprawling action sequence. “I think we shot that… over three days, and we just shot it one take at a time. And then obviously there were some little logistical issues where you have to figure out how to interpret each step logistically with where you’re going to move to and do all that. And in the end, it worked out really, really well. That’s my thing. That’s fun for me. I’d do it all day.”
Another aspect of Season 3 that McLaughlin enjoyed playing was the stronger relationship between Michael and his two children, Max (Owen Trumbly) and Cooper (Jophielle Love), following his contentious divorce.
“I love the kids. They’re great,” McLaughlin said of spending more time with his character’s brood. “Owen’s great. He has a really big, beautiful monologue to the Shakespeare thing, which is really fun. I think he was a little nervous about it, but it’s such a relaxed setting that we have such a great time, that everyone feels so comfortable… It’s just a neat little onion to peel back and see Ormewood in a lighter light with his kids and see what happens when he navigates that path, the role of parenthood, which he hasn’t really focused on before, so it’s great.”
Hopefully, for Michael and the kids, the dizziness was just a false alarm.
(As co-creator Daniel T. Thomsen shared with TV Insider a bit about their plans for Michael’s future after the events of the finale, he explained, “One of the things that I think is really interesting is that we’ve made Ormewood an action hero in this episode, which is like showing [him] at his best. Like he’s always thinking, he’s incredibly strong, he’s brave and he’s willing to go into danger and sacrifice himself. He’s a soldier.
And then at the end, all of that is called into question. And I think what we’re hoping for going forward is if all of those things that we’ve just seen as Ormewood’s brightest moments disappear, or change in some way, how does he react? What does he discover about himself that might be new, that might make him feel special in the future?”)
