Warning: Major SPOILERS lie ahead for Will Trent season 4, episode 2, “Love Takes Time”!After terrorizing its titular character in a recurring fashion since the first season, Will Trent season 4 has officially killed off one of its most iconic villains, and the showrunners are now offering some insight into their death. The ABC series, based on Karin Slaughter’s novel franchise, has followed Ramón Rodriguez as the highly observant Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent and deals with his past with the help of those around him, including on-again-off-again romantic partner Angie.
Will Trent season 4 kicked off in a big way as Greg Germann’s James Ulster, the man who previously claimed to be his biological father, escaped from prison with the help of an impressionable, and violent, younger inmate. As the manhunt for Ulster’s capture ensued, Will found himself clashing heads with his true biological father, Yul Vazquez’s Sheriff Caleb Roussard, and his friends questioning his emotional attachment to the case. After Ulster kidnapped Caleb’s youngest son — and Will’s half-brother — for a hostage exchange, he also staged their deaths in an effort to throw the GBI off their trail.
The latest episode, entitled “Love Takes Time,” saw Will succeed in overpowering Ulster, albeit heading in a dark direction as he contemplated not bringing him in for arrest, and instead potentially killing him. Before he could fully make a decision, however, Will and Ulster were both kidnapped by a secret third accomplice, Susan, played by Heart Eyes‘ Michaela Watkins, in an effort to complete the escape and teach Germann’s antagonist a lesson for having other so-called “wives,” culminating in a tense shootout that left one of them dead.
In anticipation of the show’s return, ScreenRant‘s Grant Hermanns interviewed showrunners Liz Heldens, Karine Rosenthal and Daniel Thomsen to discuss Will Trent season 4. The group broke down episode 2’s surprise character death, as well as offering a tease of how it will impact the titular character going into the rest of the season, and how they found the perfect person to play Susan.
Ulster’s Death Is The “Beautiful Face Of Will’s Unraveling”
For much of Will Trent season 4, episode 2, Will and Ulster were forced to put aside their differences while being held hostage by Watkins’ Susan. As the episode neared an end, the pair finally found a potential path to freedom, all while the GBI closed in on their location, resulting in a hunt through a warehouse in which, just before the titular character is shot, Ulster instead jumps in the way of the bullet, resulting in his death in Will’s arms.
Given how much of an emotional pull he had on the character with their past, Ulster’s death is one of the biggest he’s had to deal with yet, and Thomsen teased that it’s only the start. Pointing to the final conversation between Will and Caleb in season 2, in which the latter asks, “How do you feel now that he’s gone?“, the showrunner expressed that “I don’t know that it’s clear that Ulster really is gone.”
Daniel Thomsen: It’s a very underwritten scene, as is the case for Will and Caleb. There’s still some stuff in there, and Will and Caleb aren’t the tightest yet, so it just felt like a great way to make Ulster’s smiling, beautiful face the face of Will’s unraveling.
With some of the season premiere also showing Will having hallucinatory conversations with Ulster in his mental breakdowns of crime scenes, there also seems the possibility of Germann’s villain returning in a similar fashion in future episodes. When asked about any plans for his return, Thomsen denoted he didn’t want to “say exactly what shape it’s going to take,” but did say the subtle ringing in Will’s head near the end and Ulster’s final words have left “unfinished business” between them.
Affirming Ulster is dead, the showrunner went on to explain that “there’s a lot more to process” for Will and those around him. Thomsen also teased that the team is taking “advantage of the fact that we’re filmmaking” with their show compared to other procedurals that can be a little more straightforward in their visual language. As such, “we can do sequences that break reality” and can “push boundaries” to not “make everything literal.”
The Will Trent Team Were Big Fans Of Michaela Watkins Going Into Her Season 4 Casting
While Germann’s return is one of the bigger for the episode, the introduction of Watkins as Susan is a major catalyst for the story. But even as she proves problematic in her treatment of Will and Ulster — fitting them with electric shock devices powerful enough to kill a horse — the former also recognizes the hurt she’s been put through, and attempts to bring the situation to an end peacefully.
Reflecting on writing the separate arc involving the trio, Heldens credited Thomsen with being the one “who really tapped into this idea” of Will, Ulster and Susan sitting in a faux dining room together for tense family dinners. Describing it as Will’s “worst foster kid nightmare come true“ as he finds himself with “a serial killer and a crazy lady,” the showrunner praised the unique nature of the scenes as giving them the ability to “push a lot of Will’s buttons in a great way.”
When it came to landing on Watkins as being the perfect foil to Rodriguez and Germann, Heldens began by expressing that she and her co-showrunners are “fans” of The Groundlings vet and have “loved her forever,” while also citing her own history working with her on Hulu’s The Dropout. Recalling putting together the list of casting ideas for Susan, and her name being introduced as an idea, the group very quickly agreed “that would be so much fun” to have her onboard.
Liz Heldens: I think it’s important on ABC, but maybe more specifically to our show, that there be little release valves when we go to dark places. We can find a little bit of humor here, or a little bit of crispiness there — just something that makes the show feel at once more grounded. Because I think that when you find a little bit of human specificity, it does make things more grounded and also just more fun and delicious. That’s something we’re always trying to balance on this show.
Heldens further agreed that Watkins has a unique ability to mix the extremes of a character with a genuine pathos for them, praising her for having “such range” as she can go “from sympathetic to terrifying in a moment.” The showrunner went on to express her hope to “figure out how to see her again,” before clarifying she was making “no promises” of her return in Will Trent season 4.
Rosenthal further praised the show’s casting director, Jessica Daniels, for suggesting Watkins to play Susan, as the group “needed someone who we really believed was a formidable partner for Ulster.” Pointing out how Germann’s villainous character had multiple wives during his time in prison — who are “delightful in their own way” — Rosenthal explained that “you could see [Ulster] being in control” of the others, unlike Susan. Instead, Watkins’ character is “someone who he thought he was controlling,” but is able to turn the tables on him by being “much stronger than he gave her credit for.”
Karine Rosenthal: You could believe the vulnerability and the neediness that maybe got her into this relationship with Ulster, but then you also completely believe the strength that she had to change the terms of their agreement and to say, “No, this will not stand.” The idea of Michaela and Greg at a table together just tickled us completely.
Thomsen went on to share that one element of Susan the group were really considering in both the writing and the casting was “what it would look like in that space that the character created for them to live in,” referring to the portion of the facility she’s transformed into a kitchen-like space. In his mind, the showrunner was looking to make “something that felt heightened,” but also wanted to ensure it was something that could reasonably be achieved by the character.
He wasn’t entirely averse to something that “broke reality a little bit,” as the core idea of the room was “somebody’s fantasy come to life.” Once they found themselves committing to the concept and the overall production design, “we felt that was the genius of Michaela,” as she was someone who could capture both sides of the spectrum they wanted.
Daniel Thomsen: Her combination of grounded acting and expert comedy, and then just her extra thing, make it so you 1000% believe that she went into that family warehouse, and she made that place.
Check out some of our previous Will Trent season 4 coverage with:
New episodes of Will Trent season 4 air Tuesdays on ABC at 8 p.m. EST, and streams on Hulu.
- Release Date
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January 3, 2023
- 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
