ABC Renews Ramón Rodríguez’s Drama Series “Will Trent” for Third Season

Ramón Rodríguez’s latest project Will continue…

ABC has renewed drama series Will Trent, starring the 44-year-old Puerto Rican actor, for a third season.

Ramón RodríguezBased on Karin Slaughter’s New York Times bestselling Will Trent books, the series follows the titular special agent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation who 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 to pursue justice and has the highest clearance rate in the GBI.

Will Trent also stars Erika Christensen as Angie Polaski, Iantha Richardson as Faith Mitchell, Jake McLaughlin as Michael Ormewood and Sonja Sohn as Amanda Wagner.

Liz Heldens, Dan Thomsen, Slaughter, Oly Obst and Howard Deutch executive produce. Rodriguez serves as co-executive producer on Season 2.

The pilot episode was written by Heldens and Thomsen, and directed and executive produced by Paul McGuigan. The series is produced by 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios.

The show’s renewal isn’t surprising, given the series’ ratings success.

Season-to-date, Will Trent is a top performer across both linear and streaming, and is gaining ratings momentum among adults across all platforms, up each week since its second-season premiere on February 20.

The sophomore drama recently reached its highest rated episode ever on March 5, delivering 9.02 million total viewers in seven-day metrics. Since Season 1, the show has reached nearly 70 million total viewers across platforms.

Will Trent received an early Season 2 renewal last year on the heels of Season 1’s promising performance. The series led the ABC freshman pack as the No. 1 new drama in total viewers (9.9 million) and adults 18-49 (1.65 rating) after 35 days of viewing across linear and digital platforms.

Will Trent airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on ABC.

ABC Renews Ramón Rodríguez’s Drama Series “Will Trent” for Second Season

Ramón Rodríguez’s latest project will (trent) see another season…

ABC has renewed its drama series Will Trent, starring the 43-year-old Puerto Rican actor, for a second season.

Ramón RodríguezThis marks the first ABC freshman show to get a renewal decision this season and comes ahead of the show’s Season 1 finale on May 2.

The early pickup doesn’t come as a surprise.

Will Trent has been leading the ABC freshman pack and was considered a shoo-in for renewal.

The series, from 20th Television, is ABC’s No. 1 new drama this season in total viewers (9.9 million) and adults 18-49 (1.65 rating) after 35 days of viewing across linear and digital platforms. It’s the strongest series in the Tuesday 10 pm hour in total viewers — a longtime weak spot for ABC — since Big Sky during the 2020-2021 season.

The series is improving its time slot over comparable weeks last season by 143% in total viewers and by 25% among adults 18-49 this season. It also gains a massive 6.8 million total viewers over its initial Live+Same Day average after 35 days of multi-platform viewing, according to Nielsen and the network.

Based on Karin Slaughter’s bestselling Will Trent series, the series stars Rodríguez as Special Agent Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI), who was abandoned at birth and endured a harsh coming-of-age in Atlanta’s overwhelmed foster care system. But now, determined to use his unique point of view to make sure no one is abandoned like he was, Will Trent has the highest clearance rate in the GBI.

“We’re so thankful to our ABC and Hulu fans for joining us on this wild ride and watching Will Trent, said Rodríguez. “When we set out to bring the series to television screens, we wanted to do justice to the gritty, thrilling world that Karin Slaughter created with her bestselling book series. Liz Heldens, Dan Thomsen and the creative team have developed complex and nuanced characters that people are relating to on a human level — and it hasn’t hurt having our little star, Betty, on the call sheet. We’re so excited for the opportunity to dive deeper into these stories with season two.”

Will Trent also stars Erika Christensen as Angie Polaski, Iantha Richardson as Faith Mitchell, Jake McLaughlin as Michael Ormewood and Sonja Sohn as Amanda Wagner.

The series is produced by 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios.

ABC Picks Up Ramón Rodríguez’s Drama “Will Trent” to Series

Where there’s a Will (Trent), there’s a way for Ramón Rodríguez.

ABC has picked up the drama pilot Will Trent (working title), starring the 42-year-old Puerto Rican actor, to series for a midseason launch.

Ramón Rodríguez Will Trent is one of four 2022 ABC drama pilots whose production was targeted for off-cycle and the first of the bunch to land a series order.

Will Trent emerged as an early front-runner in what ABC calls “second cycle” as part of its year-round development strategy. There was a small hiccup in the final stretch, which was reportedly over the nature of storytelling, but the pilot remained on track for a pickup.

In anticipation of a series order, writers have been working on scripts for the past three weeks.

Based on Karin Slaughter’s bestselling “Will Trent” series, the series stars Rodriguez as Special Agent Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI), who was abandoned at birth and endured a harsh coming-of-age in Atlanta’s overwhelmed foster care system. But now, determined to use his unique point of view to make sure no one is abandoned like he was, Will Trent has the highest clearance rate in the GBI.

The series is expected to be a procedural.

In addition to Rodriguez, Will Trent also stars Erika Christensen as Angie Polaski, Iantha Richardson as Faith Mitchell, Jake McLaughlin as Michael Ormewood and Sonja Sohn as Amanda Wagner. Liz Heldens, Dan Thomsen, Karin Slaughter and Oly Obst executive produce.

The pilot episode is written by Liz Heldens and Dan Thomsen, and directed and executive produced by Paul McGuigan.

Xolo Maridueña Signs with United Talent Agency (UTA)

Xolo Maridueña has new representation…

The 19-year-old Mexican, Cuban and Ecuadorian American actor, who portrays Miguel Diaz on The Karate Kid sequel series Cobrai Kai, has signed with United Talent Agency (UTA).

Xolo Maridueña

The news comes as Maridueña is set to star in season three of the karate drama, which has moved from YouTube to Netflix. The series, in which he plays Diaz, the top student at the Cobra Kai Dojo, recently debuted its first two seasons on Netflix following the shift and will launch the third season in January.

On Parenthood, which aired for six seasons on NBC between 2010 and 2015, he played Victor Graham, the adopted son of Erika Christensen’s Julia Braverman-Graham and Sam Jaeger’s Joel Graham.

His other television credits include guest roles on Major CrimesTwin PeaksRush Hour and Mack and Moxy

In film, he featured in Dealin’ with Idiots, directed and starring Jeff Garlin alongside Gina Gershon and Kerry Kenney and has also performed on stage in Light in the Darkness and Little Red

Luna to Star in ABC’s Drama Pilot “L.A. Crime”

Gabriel Luna is going on a crime spree…

The 31-year-old Latino American actor, the star of El Rey Network’s short-lived original series Matador, has been cast as the co-lead opposite Adam Rothenberg in ABC’s drama pilot L.A. Crime, from ABC Studios and Mandeville.

Gabriel Luna

The character-driven “true crime” procedural, written by Steven Baigelman and directed by Tom Shankland, explores sex, politics and popular culture across various noteworthy eras in Los Angeles history.

In the first installment, L.A. Crime: The Sunset Strip, L.A. cops Jack Roth (Rothenberg) and Paco Contreras (Luna) will be searching for a Bonnie & Clyde-esque serial-killing team amid the coke-infused rock ‘n’ roll, revelry of the 1980s Sunset Strip. Paco is Jack’s newly transferred partner who struggles to fit in with the unit, since he was responsible for the demise of Jack’s old partner.

Erika Christensen, Taissa Farmiga, Darrell Brit-Gibson and Karolina Wydra co-star.

Following his breakthrough run as the lead on El Rey’s Matador, Luna also recently landed a recurring gig on the second season of HBO’s True Detective. His feature film Freeheld has been picked up by Lionsgate.