Warning: SPOILERS lie ahead for Will Trent season 3, episode 18, "Listening to a Heartbeat"!
After the past few episodes delivered some emotional updates for its characters, his team at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Scott Foley's Seth race to save lives, their efforts will be hindered by a deadly hostage situation from the terrorist group.
The Will Trent season 3 finale also saw some of its characters dealing with changes in their personal lives, particularly Erika Christensen's Angie, who has been grappling with whether to keep the child from her and Seth's surprise pregnancy, and Will also processing the reveal of Yul Vazquez's Sheriff Caleb Roussard being his biological father. By the end of the episode, Angie has decided to keep the baby, leaving Will conflicted amid his ongoing feelings for her, while also giving Caleb a chance for an emotional conversation. However, it also saw Sonja Sohn's Amanda in the hospital after being shot and Jake McLaughlin's Ormewood fainting due to his brain tumor.
In honor of the episode's airing, ScreenRant interviewed Liz Heldens and Daniel Thomsen to break down the Will Trent season 3 ending. The showrunners offered cautious updates on the fates of Wagner and Ormewood from the cliffhanger finale, as well as why Angie elects to keep hers and Seth's baby, how that will impact her relationship with Will going forward, and how his and Caleb's conversation will affect their dynamic going into season 4.
Wagner & Ormewood's Ambiguous Fates Should Not Be Taken Lightly
"...I Think You Should Always Be Worried."
ScreenRant: You guys have left me kind of worried at the end there, I'm not feeling super great after that Will Trent season 3 finale. Wagner's life is on the line, how worried should we be?
Daniel Thomsen: I think we tried our best to really remind the audience how much she means to Will, and that, in a world where a lot of stuff is changing in his life, she might be the only constant, so it would be the worst possible time to lose her. So, in that sense, I think you should always be worried.
You didn't stop there, though, as we got Ormewood collapsing on the floor, and we don't know if he's going to be okay. If he does survive, how is this event going to make this tumor, and what's happening to him feel more real going into next season?
Liz Heldens: We're still creatively figuring things out. He is a character whose strength and physicality are a big part of his identity. So, it's interesting to think about him trying to recover, trying to get back to a version of himself that he recognizes. But yeah, we started this notion of a brain tumor in an episode that Dan wrote, and then we wanted to bring it to a real crisis.
Daniel Thomsen: I think, for me, what I'm excited about with Ormewood is in losing some things about himself that he thought were core to himself, he's going to discover some new parts of himself. And the other thing that I'm really excited about is all this season, and going back to last season, he's had to adjust to being a single dad, and he's kind of taken that on as a soldier would. It's a duty, and he's not going to drop the ball, and he's really been doing his best, but he's had some emotional intimacy game with his kids a little bit.
But I think this is going to be a seismic change for how he's going to have to deal with his kids, and can't just be super dad. I think that's a really interesting way to take a cop who kind of started his journey with us as a very closed-off, almost performative masculine dude, and now, he can't do that anymore. He's got to be somebody different. I like exploring that.
Angie Keeping Her & Seth's Baby Is Going To Lead To Some Major Changes For Her
Will Is Also Going To Be Plenty ive For Her
I also want to talk about Angie. Obviously, it seems like she is keeping the baby. What would you say really solidified that decision for her during the finale?
Liz Heldens: We had a line that we took out where she's in the airshaft, and she's crawling along. We only took it out for time, but she's like, "Alright, your little reverse psychology worked." I think, when presented with the idea of losing the baby, it just made it very clear to her that she wanted the child. Even though it was not necessarily something she planned, or is going to be perfect in any way, she just decided that she wanted the child. And I am personally really excited to go on that journey with her.
Is it possible that this will bring her some happiness going forward?
Liz Heldens: I think it'll bring her something different going forward. I have two children. It's a big, messy, hard, wonderful journey, and I am interested to see Angie's life change and open up in a way that she can't control as much as she can. She has her little way she relates to the men in her life, but I think having the story with her mother, and shining a light on what that relationship was like, and I think her resolving to do better by this child is really interesting. It's a big challenge.
Daniel Thomsen: It's outside my personal experience, obviously, but just as a viewer of the story, one thing that I hang on to, and really resonates with me, is that when we met the mom, and we saw the story of Angie's childhood, you understand why Angie doesn't feel worthy of motherhood. But the other thing that you just feel viscerally is that she's already broken [the cycle]. She's like, "I'm going to break the cycle."
She thinks that she has all this more work to do, and I feel like she already has. I think that she is so worthy of having this kid, so when she made that decision, I was like, "Yes, let's go. Let's take on this next challenge, because you're ready for it." To me, the end of the season was just kind of catching Angie up to what everybody already knew, which is like, "Yeah, do this. You can be a mother. You're not broken just because your mother was broken." It was very moving.
Will Trent Season 3 May Have Quietly Written Out Angie's Supposed Replacement
As Will Trent season 3 gets closer to its finale, one character, who was supposed to be Angie’s replacement, will be missing from the episodes.
Now, Will also seems to be pretty affected by her having a baby with Seth. What exactly was going through his head in that scene? Because there's a lingering shot before he leaves.
Liz Heldens: I think so much wistfulness. Their relationship is a big beating heart on our show, and it's unique on television. I think it goes back so far, they have so much history together, in many ways. They're the only people that truly understand each other, and it's not perfect. It's always going to get in the way of other relationships, potentially. But it is also really strong.
And, as Dan said earlier in another interview, they're still present. He's pretty conflicted about it, but he's there for her, and I think that that's not going to be easy. But also, I just think she's never not going to be in his life. So, for us, sometimes storytelling is about throwing up obstacles, so we just want to see what this is like for them to navigate this.
Daniel Thomsen: I think in that moment, too, it's funny because it's like you're at Editing, and you're trying to figure out, "Okay, how many seconds do we hang on Will?" We gave it a lot, because it was so good. For me, what he's thinking about is, like, Will and Angie are a couple that a lot of bad stuff has happened to them, but also Will's made choices. I think that, in that moment, he's evaluating how much of where we are right now is because of stuff that he chose.
I just saw Rilo Kiley the other day for their reunion tour. It's an indie band, and there was a very famous Jenny Lewis lyric from one of the songs they played, which was, "You say I choose sadness, that it never once has chosen me." And I think that there's a little bit of that probably going through Will's head in that moment.
I guess then the question would be, is that meant to leave the door open on a romantic relationship for them, or do you want to close the Will and Angie chapter?
Liz Heldens: I don't know if we were making a choice either way. ILife is happening to these characters. Life is happening, whether you want to or not, and whether or not they can eventually be together is certainly an open question. But we weren't trying to necessarily say yes or no. We're just trying to say, "What if this happened to Angie?" And part of it was casting Scott Foley in this part. It was just like, "Oh, that's a legit choice." And we had Gina Rodriguez, who was so wonderful on the show for 10 episodes this season.
She had a 10-episode arc, and I think the smart money would be on those two working out, and Angie somehow managing to sabotage this relationship for herself. But that's not what happened, which I think is kind of a surprise unto itself. So, it's just life is happening to these characters, and we'll see where they land, but I don't think they're not going to be friends, and I love them in scenes together. I don't think there's a version on the table where there can't be in scenes together, because it's too hard for them. I think they always surprise themselves by how much they enjoy each other's company.
Will Is Ready To Give Caleb A Shot In Season 4
"...Caleb, In Will's Mind, Has Earned His Way To The Table..."
Before I let you guys go, I obviously want to ask about Caleb and Will, because they had a much-needed talk during quite a hectic moment, which was such a great scene. What can you say about how that may have changed his perception of his biological father, and what that relationship could look like going forward to Will Trent season 4?
Daniel Thomsen: There are still a lot of decisions we have to make. I think that we think Caleb, in Will's mind, has earned his way to the table in the sense that he's going to give him a shot. They're going to go and sit down and break bread, and Will's going to meet the other people. It's not just Caleb. There's a little bit of a family ecosystem, as Liz has been saying. It's like Will is going from his chosen family that he's created to the family that he just gets now, and how that's going to be a different type of trauma. Yeah, we have a lot to figure out, but it just feels like Will's ready to try.
More About Will Trent Season 3
Based on Karin Slaughter’s New York Times bestselling “Will Trent” series, Special Agent Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) was abandoned at birth and endured a harsh coming-of-age in Atlanta’s overwhelmed foster care system. Now, Will uses his unique point of view in the pursuit of justice and has the highest clearance rate in the GBI.
Check out our previous Will Trent season 3 interview with Ariana Madix!
The Will Trent season 3 finale will begin streaming on Hulu tomorrow, along with the rest of the season.
Will Trent
- Release Date
- January 3, 2023
- Network
- ABC
- Writers
- Daniel T. Thomsen, Liz Heldens, Karin Slaughter
Cast
Ramon Rodriguez
Erika Christensen
WHERE TO WATCH
Will Trent is a 2023 crime drama series based on Karin Slaughter's bestselling novels. Ramón Rodríguez stars as Will Trent, an Atlanta-based Special Agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Renowned for his impeccable clearance rate, Trent uncovers complex crime cases while grappling with his own personal challenges. The series explores his dedication to justice against the backdrop of his troubled past and the intricate world of criminal investigations.
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