Will Trent Season 5: Everything We Know (So Far)

"Will Trent" is heading into Season 5 with a new baby, a new boss, and a whole new team dynamic.

ABC renewed the Ramón Rodríguez-led procedural for a fifth season ahead of its May 5 finale, which fundamentally reshaped the series following the deaths of GBI Deputy Director Amanda Wagner (Sonja Sohn) and Angie's husband, Dr. Seth McDale (Scott Foley).

By the time the finale's year-long montage came to an end, Angie (Erika Christensen) had begun to emerge from her grief and embrace motherhood, Will had spent the better part of a year helping raise her daughter, Edie, and both of them had returned to work — but they weren't exactly returning to the same jobs they left behind.

Faith (Iantha Richardson) was heading up a joint APD-GBI task force targeting a sex trafficking ring, with Angie, Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin), Franklin (Kevin Daniels), and Will all involved. Meanwhile, the GBI was awaiting the imminent arrival of Amanda's still-unnamed successor.

With Season 5 now officially in production, TVLine has rounded up everything we know so far about the return of "Will Trent" — including when it will premiere, where the story picks up, what's next for Will and Angie, and which familiar faces could return.

"Will Trent" Season 5 will premiere in early 2027 on ABC.

An exact date has not yet been announced — though the past two seasons premiered on the first Tuesday of January, making Tuesday, January 5, a likely return date. TVLine will keep you posted once we have concrete news to share.

Production on Season 5 officially got underway Monday, August 24, in Atlanta, Georgia. The premiere, titled "Wouldn't Want to Take My Work Home," is directed by series star Ramón Rodríguez, and written by Inda Craig-Galván and co-showrunner Karine Rosenthal. The episode marks Rodríguez's latest turn behind the camera after previously directing the Season 3 and Season 4 premieres, as well as two additional Season 4 episodes.

As with previous seasons, new episodes will also be available to stream next day on Hulu.

Unlike previous seasons, "Will Trent" Season 5 may not feature a significant time jump. The Season 4 finale already followed Will, Angie, and baby Edie across roughly one year in the aftermath of Seth's death. By the end of the episode, Angie and Will had both returned to work, and Faith's newly formed APD-GBI task force was up and running.

When TVLine asked co-showrunners Rosenthal, Liz Heldens, and Daniel Thomsen in May whether Season 5 might therefore pick up closer to where the finale left off, Heldens said that while the writers had not yet made a final decision, "it has occurred to me, in my brain, that this might be a year where we pick up right where we left off because of that."

Added Rosenthal: "We're leaning towards a lot closer. We did the time jump early."

The Season 4 finale brought Will and Angie closer than they'd been in years — but not romantically. After Seth died from internal bleeding sustained in a car accident, Angie fell into a deep depression and initially struggled to care for their newborn daughter. Will responded by taking administrative leave and stepping in to help raise Edie while Angie recovered.

The decision deliberately mirrored the Season 2 finale, when Will prioritized his job over the future he might have had with Angie. This time, he chose her. "We wanted to... bring the two of them to a new place in their relationship," Rosenthal told TVLine.

Added Heldens: "They've been each other's family since they were children. They help each other through things all the time. That's just what they do for each other.... We'll see when we get into Season 5 if they're coming toward each other romantically or not."

Christensen similarly told TVLine that it was a "safe assumption" Will and Angie would continue some form of co-parenting arrangement. "I don't think they distance themselves from each other after that," she said. "I think what he did for her is incredible, what he did for them is incredible. And they probably will continue on in that fashion, if not [get] closer."

As for how motherhood will affect Angie on the job, Rosenthal doesn't expect her to suddenly start playing it safe. "I think that she's going to feel that she needs to set an example for [her] daughter of being a survivor," she said. Heldens, meanwhile, raised the question of whether having Edie will force Angie to reconsider her tendency to throw herself into danger: "How hard do I go? How much harm do I put myself in?"

Amanda's murder late in Season 4 leaves the GBI without its longtime deputy director — and the showrunners plan to use her successor to shake up the series.

"We're all very excited about who the new boss is going to be at the GBI," Thomsen told TVLine, pointing to both the casting opportunity and the chance to bring "completely new energy" into the show. Added Heldens: "What happens if you remove [Amanda] and replace her with somebody who doesn't have all that history with both of them?"

At the time of our May interview, the writers had not yet decided whether Amanda's replacement would ultimately become a trusted member of the team or function more as an antagonist. "We're wide open to both things," Rosenthal said.

Richardson agreed that the new deputy director can't simply be Amanda 2.0. "They're not going to have the same background as her. Obviously, the way that they approach the job [will be different]," she told TVLine. "The character will be completely different. It will feel very new, and that will shape what the next season looks like as well."

Season 4 ended with Faith heading up a joint APD-GBI task force targeting the sex trafficking ring introduced late in the season — an investigation that promises to put her front and center in Season 5.

"We've been... really craving giving Faith and Iantha [Richardson], who plays this part so beautifully and so subtly, a real work case that consumes her," Heldens told TVLine. "Faith was thinking about leaving, but let's see what it looks like when she's obsessing — when she can't sleep at night because of something — and so we really wanted to give her something that she could tear into."

The storyline will also pair Faith more closely with Angie, whose history as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse gives her a deeply personal stake in the investigation. "I always love when Angie and Faith are in scenes together, so it seemed like a fun partnership," Heldens said.

Christensen is equally enthusiastic about that pairing. "We've never really seen the feminine energy aligned," she told TVLine, describing Angie and Faith as "mama bears" united by a case in which both are deeply emotionally invested.

Amanda may be gone, but her influence will continue to shape Will Trent in Season 5.

Rosenthal believes becoming part of Edie's life gives Will an opportunity to process Amanda's death from a new perspective — particularly as he begins to understand what Amanda must have felt toward him.

"I think now that he's holding a little baby in his hands, he's feeling like, 'Oh, she felt this way about me,'" Rosenthal told TVLine. "I think it's very healing for him, for his relationship with Amanda, and feeling her presence."

At the same time, losing his longtime boss and surrogate mother removes the person who had protected him throughout much of his career: "Now he really has to stand on his own two feet in a way that perhaps he hasn't realized was a next level of growth for him."

Added Heldens: "His work has always been the place where he feels safe and protected. To remove that protection is interesting from a story point. It's interesting as far as setting up some new dynamics in Season 5."

Two recurring characters remain possibilities for Season 5... though the odds of seeing them again varies.

First, there's James Ulster. Greg Germann's serial killer died after taking a bullet for Will in Season 4, Episode 2, but continued to haunt Will throughout the season, appearing as a manifestation of his darker thoughts. After Will killed Ulster's previously unknown daughter, Adelaide Clemens (Mallory Jansen), and rescued Antonio, the showrunners felt they had reached a natural endpoint for the character.

"As we were ending the story this season, we all kind of had the feeling that we were turning the page," Thomsen told TVLine. Still, he isn't ruling out another appearance: "If we could find... a fresh way that Ulster could reappear on Will's shoulder and bring something to the story that is unexpected, I would always love to bring Ulster back."

Then there's Paul Campano, who returned in Season 4 for the first time since Season 1. Mark-Paul Gosselaar reprised his role as Will's childhood foster brother in Episode 7, which reframed their complicated history and ultimately brought the two men to a new understanding of each other.

Heldens called the installment "one of my favorite episodes," adding, "I love [Mark-Paul] and I love Paul [Campano]." And according to Rosenthal, the writers have already discussed bringing Gosselaar back: "Believe me, we already have ideas for him... It's just a matter of whether we can get him for enough episodes."

After a season that saw Amanda and Seth die just four episodes apart, could Season 5 finally give the characters — and viewers — a chance to heal?

"I think we deserve it," Christensen told TVLine in May. "I think the fans deserve it. They've stuck with us and they're so invested. They need to be rewarded for their loyalty, and for their strength, during these times."

Daniels agreed, while pointing to Edie's arrival as a source of hope amid the tragedy. "It was really rough and it was really traumatic," he said. "But also, with the new baby — with the hope, with the feeling that we found something worth fighting for — I feel like that's going to be rewarding for the fans next year, honestly."

"Will Trent" returns for Season 5 in early 2027 on ABC. All four seasons are currently streaming on Hulu.