Ramón Rodríguez has found a new will to thrive…
The 42-year-old Puerto Rican actor has been cast in the lead role of ABC’s drama pilot Will Trent, which now has been officially cleared for production.
Rodriguez will also be a producer on the project, which hails from 20th Television.
Rodríguez was approached just a couple of weeks after the series had received a cast-contingent pilot order in early February. Trent’s casting, which comes after lengthy negotiations, removes that contingency.
Rodríguez most recently starred opposite Aubrey Plaza and served as producer on the Hulu pilot Olga Dies Dreaming, which isn’t moving forward.
In Will Trent, written by Liz Heldens and Dan Thomsen based on Karin Slaughter’s bestselling book series, Special Agent Will Trent (Rodríguez) of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations 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, Trent has the highest clearance rate in the GBI.
Rodríguez’s Will Trent is a gifted GBI agent and a loner within the law-enforcement community who hides the severe dyslexia that went untreated during his traumatic childhood in foster care. But with the Bureau’s best clearance rate, he couldn’t care less if people don’t like him.
Heldens and Thomsen executive produce along with Slaughter and 3 Arts’ Oly Obst.
Rodríguez’s television series credits include Showtime’s The Affair and Netflix/Marvel’s Iron Fist and The Defenders. In features, he next will be seen starring in the horror film Lullaby from Annabelle director John R. Leonetti. He recently starred in Disney’s The One and Only Ivan alongside Bryan Cranston.
