After delivering a rare “A+” premiere, expectations for Will Trent Season 2 were sky-high. But through the first two episodes (of 10 total), the ABC crime drama showed no signs of the dreaded second-season slump.
If anything, the Feb. 20 season opener (which earned the show another “A” from TVLine readers) had a certain style—an overt confidence in the performances and writing that suggested a show firing on all cylinders.
“You’re sensing our excitement about being back,” executive producer Daniel Thomsen told TVLine. “Having been on strike, having been on the picket lines and not being able to work, part of it was because we were so excited that the strikes were over. Let’s go back, let’s have Will go straight to the crime scene, we’re back and here’s all the things we love. Here’s Will’s tape recorder, here’s his handkerchief, here’s Betty.”
Having firmly established their main character in Season 1—a 13-episode series that included some shocking revelations about Will’s childhood—Thomsen and executive producer Liz Heldens were keen to expand the world in Season 2 and build out the storylines for the rest of their incredibly talented cast. For starters, the EPs wanted to see what it would be like if Will and Angie (played by Ramón Rodríguez and Erika Christensen) had less to do with each other’s lives.
“We wanted to start the season with Will working on himself,” Thomsen explains. “He has a lot to explore with his new relationship with his family, and whether he can find a living relative to talk to, so I think that puts him in a place where he’s not as codependent as he normally is.” And when it comes to Angie, Heldens believes “people are ready to follow her and her own story,” independent of Will.
Season 2 picks up six months after Detective Polaski was brutally beaten by serial killer James Ulster. Since then, she’s been itching to get back to work. “She’s a workaholic,” Thomsen admits. “Her job means a lot to her, and when that’s gone, she really feels like she’s on edge,” and struggling to find purpose in her sobriety. “That’s why [in Episode 2] she dives into being a sponsor.”
What Angie wasn’t necessarily prepared for was the return of Crystal (Chapel Oaks), the teenager who was exploited by Angie’s former abuser, Lenny Broussard, in Season 1. After Crystal killed Lenny, Angie confessed and defended herself against the pedophile.
“I thought it was a really beautiful and moving story,” Thomsen says. “It’s also a story about unintended consequences. They tried to take matters into their own hands, outside of the system, and see where that led them.” Crystal was abandoned by her mother, Lenny’s ex, and in Episode 2, she was taken into GBI custody.
“The point of bringing Crystal back was to show the consequences, not just pretend that it never happened,” the EP explains. “Now that Angie has more free time, Crystal is coming back into her life,” and future episodes will explore “what that looks like. How can she take care of this girl?”
Polaski’s partner, Detective Michael Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin), also finds his life turned upside down at the beginning of Season 2, when he discovers that his wife Gina (Sara Antonio) has been unfaithful. “The idea of things going in the opposite direction was really interesting to us,” Heldens tells TVLine. “It felt like a way to throw a problem at him that he didn’t see coming, and then watch him recover from that — to discover what’s going on with his wife and force him to play a bigger role in his kids’ lives — and see how that plays out over the course of the season.”
“We also [wanted] to do an affair story that felt different,” Thomsen adds. “We’re watching Ormewood realize that his wife may have done this for different reasons than why he [cheated on her] in the past.”
A decidedly lighter storyline involves Will’s crime-solving partner, Faith Mitchell (Iantha Richardson), who is currently romantically involved with local reporter Luke (Ser’Darius Blain). “I don’t think Faith has ever had a serious relationship in her adult life,” Heldens speculates.
Previously, it was only established that Agent Mitchell had a relationship with her son’s father at some point, a few years ago. “It was easy for her, when her son was grown and had a full-time job that she was really committed to, to put her personal life first. Now, she
