Big news for Will Trent fans: season four has a new series regular.
HELLO! can confirm that Kevin Daniels, known as Detective Franklin Wilks, the steady presence in the Atlanta Police Department, has been upped to a regular after three seasons as a guest star.
Wilks has been an instrumental character in the show, as he is also Angie's AA sponsor and is known for his comedic quips; in season four he will take on a more active role in cases.
The decision to make Wilks a regular has been a long-time coming, and as an early fan of the series, I think it will also shake up the dynamics to the team, which will be a welcome change.
It also hints at the potential conclusion of several season three arcs, which ended with Ormewood having a seizure due to his brain tumor, while home alone, and Amanda left critically injured after being shot.
Wilks becoming a more prominent member of the team could suggest that both Ormewood and Amanda may be absent from season four in part.
© DisneyBased on Karin Slaughter’s bestselling book series, Will Trent was the surprise hit of the 2022/2023 TV season, ending as the network's third most-watched show that year.
It stars Ramon Rodriguez as Special Agent Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
© DisneyAbandoned at birth, Will was raised in the foster system alongside best friend Angie Polaski, now an Atlanta cop (played by Erika Christensen). Using his harsh upbringing alongside his neurodiversity, Will now tracks down killers for the GBI.
My favorite thing about the series is how it cleverly balances a silly sense of humor alongside the dark drama the team face each week, something Ramon agreed with in 2024.
"That's the thing the show does really well, honestly," Ramon told HELLO!
"There's really heavy emotional stuff and then at other times it's silly, ridiculous fun. When the whole band gets together, it's a lot of wrangling."
© Disney- Season three ended with Angie discovering that she was pregnant and realizing that she wanted to keep the baby, while Will was left to confront the fallout of the reveal of his biological father, white at the same time dealing with the emotions as Amanda, Will's mentor and boss, was shot and left critically injured during a bioterrorism attack.
© DisneyFans had wondered if James Ulster, Will's longtime adversary could have been his father, but instead it was revealed that it was Sheriff Caleb Roussard, played by Yul Vazquez.
"We’d always had the idea out there that James Ulster could be the father," co-creators Liz Heldens and Daniel T. Thomsen told TV Insider of the finale.
© Disney"But what’s exciting is you’ve got [Caleb] who’s more nuanced, who lives in the gray, who, by design, we really wanted him to share a lot of DNA with Will — no pun intended, I guess," they added.
"But he is in law enforcement, but he’s a different kind of law enforcement guy. He has different beliefs in what his responsibilities are to a community, and we hope that that will put them in conflict going forward, that they’re gonna have to figure some things out about each other and maybe change each other a little bit."
