Ramón Rodríguez is best known for his roles in premium TV series like HBO’s The Wire and Showtime’s The Affair, but it’s his work as executive producer and star of the hit ABC network procedural Will Trent that catapulted the Puerto Rican native to another level.
While Rodríguez admits he was hesitant in the past to take roles on network television, he realized that a project like Will Trent, done with passion and with a powerful creative team to collaborate with, could make high-quality TV that’s accessible to all. And it’s a bonus for his Latino community to see themselves represented through his contributions, and in supporting roles played by many of the community’s most respected names in Hollywood: John Ortiz, Yul Vazquez, and Gina Rodriguez.
This season, the procedural put Will through the wringer, tearing down many of his dreams with the hope that something fresh and exciting will blossom when the show returns with its fourth season.
Rodríguez discussed his love for the show, from the writing, acting, and directing, to sharing a project he is so proud of with the show’s existing fanbase, and all the new people who are finding the series on ABC and Hulu, below.
Ramón Rodríguez as Will Trent in Season 3
DEADLINE: Looking back to the beginning of your journey with Will Trent, did you ever imagine you’d be here right now with one of the biggest shows on TV?
RAMÓN RODRÍGUEZ: This business is so wild. You can’t tell when something’s gonna work and why. You can’t predict it, but it’s proven because we continue to grow our fanbase year after year, both on ABC and Hulu. That’s unheard of today with the state of the industry; it’s a unicorn. I don’t know how this happens, but we work hard to create something special and elevated, especially for a show on linear TV. I used to have a stigma about that. I was always a little reluctant about network and broadcast television. When I still had time to watch TV, I turned to HBO or other premium channels. So I thought, if I was going to work on a broadcast show, we would push the envelope with high quality in every aspect, which is what we’ve done. My partners and I are committed to putting in the work creatively, and I’m proud of what we’ve done so far with Will Trent.
DEADLINE: Is it ever a challenge for you when playing Will, navigating his heartbreaks and sad origin story?
RODRÍGUEZ: It can be heavy and emotional. The character takes me through some tough, emotional stuff, yet the show can also be really light with a comedic element to it, which is not an easy balancing act to execute. I give a lot of respect and props to our writers, who I know are in the trenches because I get deep in it with them. I take the title of executive producer very seriously. It’s not a vanity title. It becomes challenging, of course, especially when I’m acting in a lot of scenes, but I’ve been able to work it out. The relationship between me and the showrunners, Liz Heldens and Daniel Thomsen, is special. It’s a partnership built on trust and constantly finding new and exciting ways to keep the show fresh. That’s an exciting part of the process for me.
DEADLINE: We did a not-so-scientific study on the popularity of the show, and all roads lead to Betty. What say you?
RODRÍGUEZ: Hey, it can’t hurt when you have a beautiful, adorable dog that’s the best-behaved chihuahua I’ve ever met. Chihuahuas can be little terrors. My sister had one like that. But we found the most professional, well-behaved one to be my co-star. You know, when I read the pilot, the scene where Will adopts Betty from the shelter, that’s what hooked me in. It told me so much about this character, who can be kind of off-putting, and so compartmentalized and square. Beneath all of those layers, he showed he has an immense amount of heart. He wasn’t going to let this dog be abandoned like he was. It helped me hook onto that and understand him. That to me is a huge part of this character.
DEADLINE: Even with all his challenges, Will keeps going, even if sometimes he needs a break to process. This season, Will accidentally shoots and kills an innocent child, and it comes close to breaking him. How did that experience change his life?
RODRÍGUEZ: That was devastating for him. I’ve heard from law enforcement about that episode, and they share how much it affected them, because this sort of thing happens in real life. Everything from his experience: the heaviness, the doubt, not wanting to touch the gun again, and what that does to you psychologically. I give credit and appreciation to our Puerto Rican writer, Rebecca Murga, and director Crystal Robertson; they crushed it.
That moment was about the rug being pulled from under Will’s feet, which he hasn’t been able to recover from this season. I imagine it’s going to take us into the next season, as well. It was tough for Will as someone who’s always trying to be on the right side of the law. He’s somebody who morally and ethically does the right thing, but it happened, and it was a mistake. This was extra hard on Will because of his history and the baggage he carries from his childhood growing up in foster care. He just wants to help people and kids, so taking a young life was devastating for him.
To balance the heaviness of an episode like that, we see him two episodes later in a hallucination where he’s in a cult and he’s drugged, and is now dancing. Everyone loves him, and Betty has a British accent, which was ridiculous.
Erika Christensen as Angie, Ramón Rodriguez as Will, and Bluebell the Chihuahua as Betty
DEADLINE: This season, Will and Angie move on to other relationships. While things didn’t work out for Will and Marion (Gina Rodriguez), Angie and her new love interest, Dr. Seth McDale (Scott Foley), are having a baby. How does Will fit into this new reality?
RODRÍGUEZ: It feels like real finality [for Will and Angie]. That will be a fun conversation we’ll get into in Season 4, about where they’re at now. I love that we ended it showing that Will shows up for Angie, even when it crushes and absolutely devastates him. He wants to be there for her even though it was a really tough moment. Everyone on set was emotional. It was a very tense and tough thing because he sees the thing that Will has always wanted be so close, but out of his reach.
DEADLINE: It was particularly sad because Will also met his father. There was a bit of a focus on fatherhood this season. What can you share about working with Yul Vazquez?
RODRÍGUEZ: Yes. I’ve always been curious about who his father would be. We had alluded that it could be James Ulster, but we never closed that loop. So I brought up the conversation for Season 3. We know who Will’s mom is, Lucy Morales, who is from Puerto Rico, but who’s his father? So we decided to bring in the character of Sheriff Caleb Roussard, and we were fortunate enough to cast the incredible Yul Vazquez. Standing next to each other in full hair and makeup, we could pass for family. I believed it. It was really tough for Will to accept, receive, and understand that reality. I love that scene when they’re in the hallway and they’re arguing while simultaneously trying to keep the door closed to keep out the bad guys. They kind of make amends, but the level of energy never changes; they kept yelling at each other. We still don’t know a lot about that character, which will be exciting and interesting to explore in Season 4.
So yes, finding that information out, coupled with finding out that Angie’s pregnant and that he’s not the father, it’s all very, very, very loaded. And to tip it over the edge further, the season ended with Amanda (Sonja Sohn), Will’s only maternal figure, in a hospital bed, not knowing how that will end. We wanted the finale to have everyone Will considers his family and close friends, be pulled away from him. He was left basically alone in the finale, but he did have Betty by his side.
The interview was edited and condensed for length and clarity.
