Will Trent Star/Director Ramón Rodríguez Says Ulster Twist And Search For Antonio Serve As 'Springboard For The Rest Of The Season'

As if visions of James Ulster weren't bad enough, Will Trent now has to contend with Ulster's daughter, too.

"Will Trent" Season 4, Episode 11 — the third hour directed by executive producer and leading man Ramón Rodríguez — sends the titular GBI agent back to Puerto Rico after a man who shares his Uncle Antonio's name is murdered, his nails painted and lips sewn shut in a manner reminiscent of Ulster's victims. Believing his uncle to be in danger, Will immediately hops a flight to the commonwealth, where Lucy's brother (once again played by John Ortiz) initially shoos his nephew away to continue his torrid affair with a married woman. But when Will returns to Antonio's flat, he finds the mistress dead — and his uncle nowhere to be found.

What follows is a journey through the forest alongside someone Will initially believes to be FBI Agent Elkie (played by "Galavant" and "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." alum Mallory Jansen), but who is later revealed to be Ulster's estranged daughter, Adelaide. Along the way, she torments Will, leading him to a deserted cabin where she has recreated the scene of his birth, complete with a bloodied doll resembling his late mother, Lucy, before leaving him for dead, his body covered in venomous spider bites.

As he begins to lose consciousness, Will has a vision of Lucy, his first since his last visit to Puerto Rico in Season 2. Believing he's about to die, Will asks Lucy if they'll be together on the other side, then tells her he wanted "more than this," namely a family of his own. She urges him to fight, telling him to scream. His guttural cry ultimately leads Faith and Ormewood to him in the nick of time. But Adelaide has escaped, and Antonio is still missing.

TVLine spoke with Rodríguez about Adelaide's arrival, Antonio's abduction, and how Tuesday's episode sets the stage for the rest of Season 4.

TVLINE | It was bad enough having James Ulster in his head. What do you think is going through Will's mind when he connects the dots and realizes that the copycat killer is Ulster's own daughter?

It's been an ongoing torment for Will. Even after Ulster's death, he's still haunting this guy. What was interesting creatively was exploring how far Ulster's reach goes — these acolytes, this family dynamic. We discover he has a daughter, and her sole mission is to torture Will because of everything she went through.

It just becomes this continued haunting. He can't get rid of this guy. Ulster has caused him so much trauma, starting with his mom, and it just continues. So when Will finds out about Adelaide — that she's been pretending to be an FBI agent — it becomes something much deeper and more personal. Now she's kidnapped his uncle. It's a real emotional trigger, and Ulster continues to impact Will's personal life and family in a very dark way.

TVLINE | Will says he knew Ulster's daughter wasn't who she claimed to be as soon as she referred to Lucy by name. What does it say about Will that he was willing to keep up the charade — putting his own life in danger — to see the case through?

Will doesn't have a lot of family, and that's something that's very near and dear to him. This episode really highlights how far he'll go to protect that. From the jump, when he sees the first victim is Antonio Morales, he gets on a plane to Puerto Rico immediately. That's pretty spontaneous.

Even in that moment with Adelaide, once she says Lucy's name — which he didn't say — he knows something's off. But she's also the only person who can lead him to his uncle. So for someone like Will, who doesn't have many family ties, the lengths he'll go to are unlimited. He'll do whatever it takes to maintain that sense of family. It's a huge motivating factor for him.

TVLINE | Will tells Dr. Roach that he knows Ulster isn't actually there — that he's just a figure of his imagination — but we later see Will confronting that manifestation on the streets of Puerto Rico from a passerby's perspective. What does that reveal about the state of Will's psyche?

It's been fun to explore those conversations with Dr. Roach, where she'S trying to give him tools to manage these visions. One of the big things she gives him is the idea that he has some control — that Ulster is in his head, so in a way, he has the power.

For most of the season, Will has felt completely out of control when these manifestations happen. But now he's starting to take some ownership of it. You see that when he turns Ulster into an elf and has him pop out of the tree — it's the first time Will really has the upper hand in that relationship.

Ulster has always dominated him with mind games, and that's still there, but it's nice to see Will start to implement what Dr. Roach is teaching him and realize he does have some control.

TVLINE | The last time Will visited Puerto Rico, connecting with Lucy's roots brought him a measure of peace. This time, he's facing the possibility that her brother could be seriously hurt, maybe even dead, while reliving the trauma of Lucy's death all over again. If he couldn't save Antonio and stop Adelaide, do you think Will could ever truly recover?

I don't know. That would be another massive trauma event for him. I'm not sure how he'd handle that, especially because he'd feel completely responsible — this is all tied to him through Ulster.

We've put this character through a lot, and we continue to explore his breaking points and how he navigates them. What we do know is that he's resilient. But something like that would be a pretty major event. Unlike Lucy, where he was just a baby, he's an adult now, and he would feel responsible for what happened to Antonio. That would be a big deal. I'm not sure how he'd recover — probably a lot of therapy at the very least.

TVLINE | Will takes Lucy's advice, screaming for his life — and for a chance at a future that includes a family of his own. Throughout this season, we've watched him try to live by Ava's advice and not take everything so seriously. Could this trip — and this near-death experience — push Will to regroup and reprioritize once he's back in Atlanta, in pursuit of the future he wants?

I think having what feels like a second chance at life makes you reflect. But what's probably top of mind for Will coming out of that is, "Where's my uncle?" The importance of family is front and center.

At the same time, he's navigating so much — his relationship with Angie, what's happening with Faith. This season, we've seen him start to accept new versions of those relationships and settle into new normals, new family constructs. Bringing in his mom is always special, too, because of that spiritual influence, especially in Puerto Rico.

So yeah, I think there's definitely reflection. But there's also a real urgency to find his uncle and stop the person who caused all this.

TVLINE | What can you tease about what's next — how much longer are we in Puerto Rico, and how does this story carry forward?

Moving forward, there's going to be a real hunt on Will's part — for his uncle and for Adelaide, the person who caused all this chaos. This episode really serves as a springboard for the rest of the season. What happens here absolutely has legs and carries through. Those are always exciting episodes — the ones that become a catapult for everything that follows.

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