Did Will Trent Just Go Up In Flames? EPs Break Down James Ulster's Return In The Season 4 Premiere

"Will Trent" opened Season 4 with a charged premiere that found its title character still reeling from the biggest developments at the tail end of Season 3 — gaining a father in Caleb, nearly losing Amanda, and letting go of Angie, who's now expecting her first child with Seth and is engaged to be married by episode's end. But towering over everything was the return of the man who murdered his mother.

Will is clearly unsettled. He revisits his and Angie's abandoned group home and lashes out, while therapy with Dr. Roach forces him to confront the anger he's spent his life suppressing — along with his fear that he doesn't deserve the family he's suddenly inherited. Overwhelmed by Caleb's loud, multi-generational household, Will forms a quiet connection with his shark-obsessed nephew, Calvin.

Lynsey Weatherspoon/Disney

As Will struggles to find his footing, APD and GBI are adjusting to new realities of their own. Amanda remains out on leave, while Ormewood is undergoing chemotherapy and reassigned to desk duty. But both are on hand when a prison break hits close to home: James Ulster engineers an escape, manipulating fellow inmate Reid Hobbs — a troubled young man he convinces is his son — into killing a guard before Ulster kills another. Caleb arrives at the GBI to run point on the manhunt, and Will is removed from the case at Amanda's insistence — not that it stops him and Faith from investigating.

On the run and increasingly desperate, Ulster murders a former client and everyone inside a steakhouse before calling Will directly. He insists he only wants freedom, tells Will he will "always be his boy," and challenges Lucy's son to catch him. At the crime scene, Will begins seeing Ulster — a projection that taunts him about the rage he's kept buried and the control the serial killer still exerts over him.

Will later corners Reid outside his grandmother's nursing home and nearly talks him into surrendering, only for Caleb to shoot Reid first to protect his son. In the morgue, Will insists Ulster created him and that he has to end this. Then Ulster calls again. He has Calvin, and Will agrees to surrender to Ulster if he lets Caleb's grandson go free. By the hour's end, a burned vehicle containing two bodies and Will's tape recorder convinces authorities that Will Trent is dead. This is Ulster's latest manipulation — but for everyone on the ground, it looks like the GBI's top investigator just went up in flames.

After screening the premiere, TVLine spoke with executive producers Daniel Thomsen, Liz Heldens and Karine Rosenthal, who broke down Ulster's return, what's actually going on inside Will's mind, the fallout from Caleb's split-second decision, and the emotional fault lines that will drive Season 4.

TVLINE | Is Ulster appearing in Will's mind purely an extension of Will's fear that Ulster still controls him, or is there any truth to the idea that Will longs for an outlet for the anger he's spent his whole life suppressing?

HELDENS | Good picking up on all the possibilities. Yes — yes to all of it. I think he's a little afraid of what he might turn into.

TVLINE | Ulster resurfaces just as Will begins to form a real bond with his father. Why was now the right time to bring Ulster back, and how intentional is that contrast between Will building something healthy with Caleb and confronting the man who shaped his trauma?
THOMSEN | Part of it is just that it took Ulster time to get his [escape] plan together. But also, in a season where healing brings you to new, uglier parts of yourself that you have to get under control, Ulster is the person who best personifies that. When he appears in Will's head, that presence can continue. It can mean something dark to Will in a way no other character could.
HELDENS | From the beginning, the challenge of Will Trent is that he's not a character who talks to people or speaks subtext. We've always had to find ways to get his inner monologue out. This is an extension of that. And we're playing with the idea of a tug‑of‑war inside Will. Also, Greg Germann is delightful.
THOMSEN | And his performance evolves.... When he appears as Will's manifestation — as opposed to himself — he's playing that very specifically. It's really fun to watch.

Daniel Delgado Jr./Disney

TVLINE | Caleb shoots Reid to protect Will, but in doing so he overrides Will's instincts — instantly straining this new relationship. How will that moment complicate their dynamic moving forward, and what does it say about Caleb's ability to truly understand Will?
HELDENS | That moment is a real "everybody's got a side." We don't know — Reid could have shot Will. But it's great because these two men don't understand each other and are trying hard to. Caleb is trying really hard. Will is uncomfortable with the whole thing — his father being a constitutional sheriff, having this wholesome life Will didn't get. There are resentments mixed in that are fun to play with later. It gives us room to grow.

TVLINE | Plus, Will's never had a father step up to protect him like that. I'm not convinced he knows what to do with that.
HELDENS | Yeah. Will works for Amanda, who knows him so well; she gives him a lot of agency. Caleb is used to being in charge. That's a recipe for conflict.

TVLINE | Why do you think, of everyone at Caleb's dinner table, Will connects with his grandson?THOMSEN | Calvin is probably the closest to Will in terms of social development. When you grow up with quiet dinners, loud rooms feel overwhelming. So Will would clock the kid in the corner with the shark obsession and gravitate toward him. It felt very true to Will.

Lynsey Weatherspoon/Disney

TVLINE | At one point, Angie admits she sometimes imagines the version of her life where Will is her partner and the father of her baby — just minutes after accepting Seth's proposal. How pivotal is that confession for Will and Angie's continued relationship, and how do you see it shaping the emotional stakes of Season 4?
ROSENTHAL | It's a very truthful moment. Nothing is simple in these characters' lives — or most people's lives. Even though she and Seth are so happy, there's that flash Erika gives when Angie accepts the proposal — "If I say yes, what am I saying yes to? What am I saying no to?" It's not a simple choice. Angie wants to understand the truth of her relationship with Will moving forward. And it gives the series a real honesty about how connected Will and Angie are. They'll be navigating that connection forever.