Posted in: ABC, TV | Tagged: Will Trent

Will Trent Author Slaughter Talks Season 5, Book/Series Differences

Author Karin Slaughter shared an update on Ramón Rodríguez-starring Will Trent Season 5 and discussed book-television series differences.

Though the fifth season of ABC and Showrunners Liz Heldens, Daniel T. Thomsen, and Karine Rosenthal's Ramón Rodríguez-starring Will Trent won't be hitting screens until 2027, it's never too early to get a little insight into how things are looking. And who better to get that from that bestselling author and executive producer Karin Slaughter? Checking in with the Women in Entertainment podcast (which you can check out above), the author had some very kind words about how things are looking with Season 5. "I'm super happy with it, and as we're going into the fifth season, everybody's coming back to Atlanta now to start filming it. The first scripts have come in, and I think it's just going to be another terrific series." While the entire conversation is worth checking out, we've got two highlights that we wanted to pass along. First, Slaughter explains why the ABC series doesn't impact her writing. Following that, the author shares an early note she had for Heldens that made it clear how different the literary and live-action series universes would be.

Slaughter on Why "Will Trent" Doesn't Impact Her Writing: "That's one of the things that's great about the show being so different from the books. I mean, it's ABC, so the tone is much lighter. They couldn't have Angie [Erika Christensen] be a heroin addict with scabs — light spoiler alert there — but when I was writing the second book that comes after Pieces of Her, Girl Forgotten, Toni Collette did such an amazing job on Pieces of Her on Netflix that she really defined the character, and I found myself sort of competing with Toni's version of Laura and my book version of Laura, and I was just like, 'You know what? She can't be a big character in this book.' I'm just going to have to put her in the background because I don't want to write what they wrote for the television; I want to stay true to the character I wrote. So, with Will, I don't have that issue at all because he looks so different, and the cases are so different, and the tone is so different. So, in a lot of ways it's a gift."

Slaughter Shares an Early Note She Had & Liz Heldens' Response: "One of the comments I had when Liz Heldens gave me the script, the first pilot for Will Trent, was, 'He talks too much.' And she was so nice, she said, 'Karin, it's television. They have to talk.' I mean, it's just such a different format, so I think if you let someone take inspiration from your work, you should let them be artists and let them do what they're going to do, and if you have a problem with it, shut up. That's my take on it. And it's probably easy for me to say because I've been so happy about the adaptations, but still, don't whine."

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. The ABC series stars Ramón Rodríguez as Will Trent, Erika Christensen as Angie Polaski, Iantha Richardson as Faith Mitchell, Jake McLaughlin as Michael Ormewood, Sonja Sohn as Amanda Wagner, Kevin Daniels as Det. Franklin Wilks, and Gina Rodriguez as Marion Alba. Executive producers are Liz Heldens, Daniel Thomsen, Karin Slaughter, Oly Obst, Howard Deutch, Ellen Marie Blum, and Ramón Rodriguez. Heldens and Thomsen also serve as showrunners.

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