The first look at Will Trent’s season 3 is here — and fans are finally getting a glimpse at Gina Rodriguez‘s debut on the hit ABC series.
In Us Weekly‘s exclusive first look, Ramón Rodríguez shares the screen with the newcomer, who is a series regular on the third season. The promotional video starts out with Ramón, 45, and Gina, 40, looking at a laptop, which shows positive reviews of Will Trent.
Viewers can look forward to “new cases” and a “new crew” when the show returns on January 7, 2025. Meanwhile, the official key art for season 3 teases that there’s “a time to cross the line,” which could have something to do with Gina joining the show.
The promo ends with a glimpse at the dynamic between Ramón’s character Will and Gina’s Marion.
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“Should we strategize?” Will asks, to which Marion replies, “No. We are going to improvise — freestyle.”
Gina plays the new Assistant District Attorney, who is charismatic, confident and new to Atlanta. According to Marion’s character description, her first encounter with Will “falls flat” and they are surprised to learn that they have to work together to investigate a crime in the world of Atlanta gangs. The hope is that Will and Marion are able to get over their initial bad first impression as season 3 continues to play out.
Based on Karin Slaughter’s book, Will Trent follows a special agent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who was abandoned at birth and grew up in Atlanta’s overwhelmed foster care system. Will now relies on his unique perspective in pursuit of justice, which leads to the highest clearance rate in the GBI.
“I was not familiar with Karin Slaughter’s book series prior to receiving the script, but once I dove into the book — I started with Fractured, then went into Triptych — I met this character who I pretty quickly found very compelling,” Ramón told Entertainment Weekly in 2023. “He’s been through a lot in the foster care system down here in Georgia. I love that through everything he’s been through and living with, because he’s dyslexic, that he is able to find a way to look at crime and the world in a pretty unique way. That is what has allowed him to be pretty successful as a Georgia Bureau of Investigation [agent].”
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In addition to Ramón and Gina, Will Trent also stars Sonja Sohn, Erika Christensen, Iantha Richardson and Jake McLaughlin. It has also been previously revealed that reality star Ariana Madix is making an appearance during season 3 of Will Trent.
Before joining the main cast, Gina rose to fame for her role in The CW’s Jane the Virgin. She has since starred — and been an executive producer — on Not Dead Yet and Diary of a Future President. More recently, she cohosted ABC’s Lucky 13 game show with Shaquille O’Neal.
“It was vastly different from making a TV show. You are in front of a live audience,” Gina shared with Us in August. “It’s like there are 200 strangers that don’t know the industry that are kind of getting a sneak peek into the skeletal process of making anything really artistic in front of the camera. It can be a little nerve-wracking.”
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The actress said she was still thrilled by the experience.
“I am standing for 12 hours in heels, and my feet are broken. When you’re doing a TV show, there’s a lot of downtime. You set up a shot, shoot it and then you can go work on lines or you can relax or decompress,” she noted. “With this, you are on from the start throughout the whole day in front of a bunch of strangers, and you do not stop. It’s like the train is out of the station and you’re holding on for dear life.”
Will Trent returns to ABC on Tuesday, January 7, at 8 p.m. ET. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Hulu.