As star, executive producer, and now award-winning director, Ramón Rodríguez has shaped “Will Trent” into one of the most emotionally resonant and tonally dynamic shows on network television. Season three marked a major milestone for Rodríguez, who stepped behind the camera for the first time on the series to direct the premiere in the show’s expanded 18-episode run.
That directorial debut earned Rodriguez the ASTRA Award for Best Directing in a Broadcast Drama and set the tone for a season that would stretch the boundaries of the show’s structure and tone.
“I really understand our show and what works,” shares Rodríguez. “It was exciting to put my imprint on it and help shape the look, the style, the energy.” His knowledge of the character and deep connection with the crew made the process personal and creatively fulfilling. “It felt like playing in the best sandlot with amazing collaborators who could help bring every detail to life.”
While directing the premiere was a highlight, the season’s most devastating turn came in episode 11, in which Will accidentally shoots a teenage boy during an investigation. “We knew it had to be a moment that changed Will forever,” Rodríguez explains. “We wanted to slow everything down and let the silence and aftermath speak for itself.” The haunting hour, written by Rebecca Murga and directed by Crystle Roberson Dorsey, became a turning point for the season — and, Rodríguez says, possibly for the series. “It’s the kind of thing that ripples across a person’s life. We didn’t want to move past it too quickly.”
The actor-director credits the writers, cast, and crew for leaning into bold choices, from that emotionally charged episode to an unexpected musical hallucination sequence two episodes later. “We’ve learned that the show can hold both heavy drama and unexpected levity — and it still feels like “Will Trent”,” he says. “What matters most is that we keep it honest and stay inspired.”
In our third conversation since the show premiered, Ramón Rodríguez spoke about the lessons of season three, including the unique task of directing himself, the collaborative spark that led to a surprising line in the musical hallucination sequence, collaborating with co-stars like Erika Christensen and Gina Rodríguez, and why silence sometimes says more than any piece of dialogue.
Awards Focus: Last season had ten episodes, and this season had eighteen. What conversations went into maintaining the show’s freshness coming into the expanded season?
Ramón Rodríguez: It really was a marathon. The conversation, creatively, was how to sustain and keep the show interesting and exciting for us. Then, obviously, we want to try to keep audiences engaged. So, one of the things that was really fun, based on how season two ended, was that Will had gone away, and we wanted to make him feel different. Typically, we see him in his suit, and so coming in after he’s been in Tennessee, he’s not in his three-piece suit, and he has a beard and curly hair, and it’s just him and Betty. That was a very exciting way to sort of launch the season, knowing that we’re going to get him back in his suit and get him back doing what he does and what we love to see. It was finding these moments throughout the season where we can stretch things emotionally and visually that keeps us engaged and excited.
I got to direct that premiere to try to launch us off in a way that felt fresh, but obviously familiar, and to show the repercussions of Will’s decisions and what happened at the end of season two. That was really exciting. We kept talking about what is this season? What’s the middle of the season like? And we were always talking about trying to find ways to really pull the rug out from underneath Will.
One of the other things that was exciting was introducing a healthy relationship for Will and for Angie that was not their historic trauma-bonded relationship. What would a healthy relationship look like for these two characters? Bringing in Gina [Rodriguez] to play Marion Alba and bringing in Scott Foley to play Seth was bringing a freshness to the show and to these characters that hopefully gives us some runway to play with, knowing that eventually we were going to pull the rug out from under Will. That ended up being episode 11, where Will accidentally shoots this young boy, and that became something that lasted for the remainder of the season as he tries to recover from this really awful event. We also had a hallucination scene and these different moments that we were working towards and goal posts that we felt creatively might allow us to stretch it out for eighteen, which is a real challenge, honestly.
AF: You just touched on everything I want to talk about today.
Rodríguez: [laughs] It’s a real answer of how do you stretch that out? That becomes a real creative conversation of what are the peaks and valleys that we get to try to explore to make it stretch that long?
AF: What surprised you about stepping into the director’s role for the first time on the show?
Rodríguez: I was grateful because I really understand the character by season three. I really understand our show and what works. It was exciting to try to put my imprint on this in some way and creating a visual language and a theme. I know this crew, and I love my crew so much. We’ve been together now for three seasons. I’m a big fan of prep in anything because of my sports background. The preseason is critical to the season and so prepping for me was a way that I got to connect with these crew members on a different level, in those van rides when you’re going in scouting locations. Talking with my DP, Fernando Reyes, and our production designer, Gabor Norman, it was such an exhilarating experience to create with incredibly talented people.
I have such an appreciation for them and the specific skills that they bring, and it was just amazing to have early conversations before ever getting to step on a set about the look, the style, the feel, the energy of the scenes, and the general theme for the episode. I think another little detail is that my script supervisor, Lauren Buehlerm, is incredible. You realize how much you rely on them because they see everything. They’re the constant throughout a season, and they’re working with every director and all the writers, and they’re always seeing all the performances. So, it was cool to be able to understand that dynamic and that relationship, and she was a wonderful asset.
AF: I found it interesting as well that you and Erika [Christensen] bookend the season with your direction. What was it like directing Erika and then being directed by her in episode 17?
Rodríguez: It’s really fun because sometimes there’s scenes that I don’t get to be in the room and see Erika do her thing with Jake [McLaughlin]. They know these characters so well, and so then it just becomes about levels, and is there something new we can explore in a scene? But they inherently have these characters in their bones, which is really fun to watch. I’m by the monitors, almost like the audience, and I’m enjoying the scenes, and then I would try to sprinkle something on it that might inspire an idea.
It was also great on the other end, being directed by her. She had a real game plan, which is critical. I could feel how much she had those conversations with the DP about certain locations and our conference rooms, which are tricky locations to shoot in. I could see how they were problem-solving, and she was fantastic.
The other thing that’s interesting is directing yourself, which I did in the premiere. That was new for me. I think it was new for Erika as well. You have playback. You can look at it, but you don’t want to use it too much because of the time suck and things have to keep moving.
AF: Episode 11 is one of my favorites of the year. It was a bit of a departure from the standard episodes, but it was also similar enough that it felt like “Will Trent”. What were the conversations around those structural changes, and how the investigation would unfold?
Rodríguez: It was a conversation that Liz [Heldens], Dan [Thomsen], and I had where we were trying to figure out what is going to be this pivotal moment in the season that really changes Will forever. It’ll likely go into season four because it’s such a monumental moment. I’ve had law enforcement officers come up to me and tell me that’s something that’s very real. They thought it was pretty well represented. Just the experience of what it is to be in that sort of situation, accidentally do a horrific thing and how that ends up really impacting how you are even able to proceed doing your job. What is your relationship to that weapon? What is your relationship with yourself psychologically?
That episode is written by Rebecca Murga, and it was so solid and wonderfully written. Literally everyone on set when they read it were, they were talking about it. It made everyone bring their best game. They always do, but even more so just because they saw the potential of what this episode could be. So, then it just became about how do we visually represent this, and our director, Crystle Roberson Dorsey, had a lot of conversations about pacing.
We wanted to really slow things down and just be with Will in moments of silence and reflection, and just be with him in this awful state of mourning. What was great, structurally, is how we built in this mystery of what happened to him. We don’t know what happened until almost the end of the episode. We kind of see the aftermath of the grief and the blood, and he’s being interrogated, and he’s being told he needs an attorney. We were able to do flashbacks and jump time, and I think this one was executed really brilliantly in terms of the structure of how we wanted to share and tell the story, and held off on telling you exactly what happened.
I thought the ending of the episode was a great twist. Will’s not able to connect with Marion, and Angie is the one who shows up at his doorstep. That was another great scene where we exploited silence because of the history. There was at one point more dialogue written, and we realized less was more because these two know each other, they don’t have to say anything at all. It’s the act of her showing up, which is the thing that’s probably been historically, for them, that they show up for each other in their darkest moments.
AF: I did actually cheer when that moment happened. It felt like the whole episode that Will really needed Angie by his side, more than anyone.
Rodríguez: Okay. I was curious. We were all wondering how people would feel about it. It was a great reveal and twist, obviously. That became when things started to dissolve with Will and Marion because he couldn’t step up and be the person she needed him to be following this horrific event. It really changed him.
AF: The scene in episode 11 where Marion coaches Will on the answers he should be giving in the investigation is really powerful. What was that like to shoot with Gina?
Rodríguez: Gina’s a dear friend. I was honored that we were able to bring her on this season, and I got to direct her in the first episode where we introduced the character, and we got to shape what that character would be. She did such a fantastic job.
That scene and those scenes that you’re talking about just says so much about her. She comes in and, I think for the first time, we see the assistant district attorney in her, where she pivots and she’s like, “listen, here’s what’s coming, whether you’re prepared for it or not.” She prepares him in such a caring way that she’s able to sort of remove herself, but we know that she’s so invested personally. It was such a loving, caring, sweet moment, the way she tries to connect to him and tell him about the reality that he’s facing, that I think he’s just unable to process at that moment.
It was really lovely, and it was also sad and heartbreaking because at the end of it, even though he’s back on the job and he gets his gun. She’s excited for him. He doesn’t feel that she truly understands what he’s just done. That, regardless of him being back on the job, a boy is dead. And the line is, “There is no such thing as a clean shoot.” Every shot has a repercussion. I love that because it says a lot about how heavy this stuff weighs on him and what it means to him.
AF: It’s such a heavy episode, and then two episodes later, Will is leading an extended dance sequence. What was it like to shoot that hallucination scene, and how did you keep the energy for the shoot?
Rodríguez: That was an exciting episode following what happened two episodes prior. Liz had been texting me for a while, wanting me to dance on the show. I’ve been very reluctant because Will is a very specific weird. If he dances, it might not be what you are hoping. It might be a very strange-looking dance. But then she pitched it as what if he’s in the hallucination. I loved that because then we could do whatever we wanted, right? And so, what was fun is it’s coming off the heels of everyone not liking Will. He goes into the cult, and then we’re in this hallucination where everyone loves him. Betty speaks with a British dialect, and so it was really refreshing.
I’m really proud of what the writers can do and what the cast is able to handle in terms of tone that we can do something like that and still keep it grounded somehow, but the prep was tough because it wasn’t a lot of time. I had one Zoom with the choreographers, and we met once in person for two hours, and that’s how I had to learn the choreography. Then, on the day on set, I was practicing and rehearsing, and we shot it in pieces. That allowed me time to learn it.
It was funny, the day we were shooting, we were going to shoot the scene inside the conference room where everyone’s dancing, and Will does salsa with Marion. I had a thought that what if, during this whole buildup of this song and dancing, Will stops everything and looks at Marion, and says something like, “What if you just wait two years while I get my stuff together?” Liz loved that idea. It’s kind of the beauty about our relationship and the dynamic that we’ve been able to really develop in this trust of sharing ideas and collaborating in a genuine way, and feeling heard and felt. And they’re not all great ideas, but sometimes they lead to something interesting, and that was one that they really responded to. We incorporated it immediately, and it gave us a breath for a moment in this whole dance.
AF: What were the biggest creative lessons you are taking with you from season three into season four?
Rodríguez: There are a few things. We learned the ability that this show has, again, tonally, to explore heavy drama and pretty light comedic elements, and we’re able to keep it under the same roof. That’s not an easy task. I think we are probably going to continue trying to do that as much as it makes sense and to keep it within the realm of the show. I think we’ve learned things like the reconstructions, when Will sees things and puts it together, that that’s something that really speaks to audiences. They like seeing Will’s point of view and how he’s able to read the narrative at a crime scene and put together theories. It’s fun when we’re in his head. It’s fun when we see him uncomfortable.
The key thing for all of us is that we want to continue to feel inspired and fresh, and we don’t want to get bored or comfortable. We’re looking to try to find new ways to keep ourselves excited, you know? So, when we get certain scripts, we start buzzing. That starts right now. The writer’s room just opened this week, so we’ll be having a lot of creative conversations.
