The complicated, decades-long relationship between Will Trent (Ramón Rodríguez) and Angie Polaski (Erika Christensen) has been at the center of Will Trent since the very beginning of the show. The first two seasons built up to the two trying to finally make it work as a real couple for the first time, but it was short-lived when Will soon arrested Angie for covering up Crystal’s (Chapel Oaks) murder of Lenny Broussard (French Stewart). Season 3 saw the two come to an understanding that there was no coming back from this in their relationship, as they started to move on with other people.
As of the end of Season 3, Angie is dating Seth (Scott Foley) and is pregnant with his baby, and the two seem optimistic about their future together. Still, Angie has expressed to Seth that Will will always be in her life, and Will seemed to have a hard time letting go of her in the Season 3 finale. In a recent interview, Ramón Rodríguez spoke about some of the storylines that the show will tackle in Season 4. He said, “There’s just so many questions that we will get to explore – I mean, is there new love in Will’s life?” This is a vague hint, but it may be setting up another obstacle for Will and Angie – as well as the possible inclusion of a major character from the Karin Slaughter series on which Will Trent is based.
How Does Will Trent Know Sara Linton in the Books?
In Season 3 of Will Trent, a new love interest was introduced for Will: ADA Marion Alba (Gina Rodriguez). Marion was the first serious love interest for Will outside of Angie (with the exception of Cricket (Susan Kelechi Watson), who was killed by a bomb before her romance with Will could begin). Will and Marion’s relationship developed naturally, and seemed serious by the end of Season 3, but it never quite felt like the relationship would last. The two broke up when Will was struggling after accidentally killing Marco (Tony Aparicio). Their relationship still doesn’t quite feel finished, but even if Will and Marion reunite, she doesn’t seem like she will be his permanent love interest. Even when he was serious about Marion, Will still couldn’t stop thinking about Angie, especially when he needed to lean on someone the most.
In the Will Trent books, Will’s primary love interest is named Sara Linton. Sara Linton is a main character in Slaughter’s Grant County series, and she and Will cross paths and enter a serious relationship later on in both of their stories. It is only a matter of time before Sara is brought into the TV adaptation, and Season 4 would be the perfect time to introduce her character even without a Grant County adaptation. Will already spent Season 3 entering a new relationship and being unable to move on from Angie, and it would likely feel redundant for him to enter a new romance with anyone other than Sara at this point.
Sara Linton’s ‘Will Trent’ Debut Could Mean the End for Will and Angie for Good
Will and Angie have always had an intense connection due to growing up in the foster care system together. For a long time, they only had each other, and they both know everything that there is to know about each other’s pasts. That said, they just don’t fundamentally work as a couple, and their past and their jobs are the only things they have in common. There are numerous examples of this, but two stand out from the course of their relationship. The first is from Season 1, Episode 2, “I’m a Pretty Observant Guy.” To get a woman (Taylor Shurte) to turn on a kidnapper (Jay Huguley) who’d manipulated her into helping him, Will asks Angie to rehash her most personal childhood trauma to this stranger. It works, and Will is able to save the latest kidnapping victim, but this breach of trust pushes Angie away from him.
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Later, towards the end of Season 2, Will and Angie are starting to get serious again, and he’s been spending more time getting to know his uncle, Antonio (John Ortiz). Will is nervous about letting Antonio and Angie meet because he feels more comfortable keeping those two major parts of his life separate. Angie tries to ease Will’s concerns by cracking jokes each time that he opens up to her about Antonio, but this ultimately has the opposite effect. Will and Angie care very deeply about each other, but he will always put the job first, and she will always rely heavily on her own instincts first and foremost. This is why it made perfect sense that the reveal of Angie’s involvement in the cover-up for Crystal broke Will and Angie up: it got to the root of their differences.
Will and Angie’s breakup was not so simple as one being right and the other being wrong. Angie had to protect Crystal and even lie about it, because that is fundamental to who she is as a character. She will do everything in her power to protect other girls from going through what she went through, and she will break any law to do it. Will, on the other hand, needs the rigidity of rules and of the law. This extends beyond Angie as well. When Will learned that Amanda (Sonja Sohn) had planted evidence on a dangerous predator (Michael Papajohn) to get him put away, he was initially very conflicted. When Jeremy (Deion Smith) was arrested in Season 3, Will made him an informant, even knowing how much this would hurt Faith (Iantha Richardson), because he just cannot bring himself to break the law. Will and Angie’s breakup was necessary, and the best thing for both of their characters is to let them continue to move on from each other. As Angie builds a life with Seth, Season 4 is the perfect time to introduce Sara as Will’s love interest.
- Release Date
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January 3, 2023
- Network
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ABC
- Directors
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Howard Deutch, Eric Dean Seaton, Holly Dale, Lea Thompson, Patricia Cardoso, Sheree Folkson, Bille Woodruff, Erika Christensen, Gail Mancuso, Geary McLeod, Jason Ensler, Mark Tonderai, Paul McGuigan
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Ramón Rodríguez
Will Trent
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Erika Christensen
Angie Polaski
