Caleb’s character changes lead to emotional conflicts

Warning: some SPOILERS await us for Will Trent season 4, episode 1, “…Speaking Of Sharks”!Although he appears to be entering the new season on a more optimistic note, Will Trent season 4 quietly shakes things up with Yul Vazquez’s Caleb to create additional emotional beats for the main character. Introduced in Season 3 of the hit ABC series, Caleb Roussard is a sheriff working in a small Georgia town who is revealed to be Will’s long-lost biological father, a drastic departure from Karin Slaughter’s source novels which feature Greg Germann’s James Ulster.

Thanks to their few interactions, Will Trent Season 3 saw Ramón Rodriguez’s protagonist giving a lot of pushback to Caleb’s efforts to get to know him, pointing to his foster upbringing as proof that he didn’t need his father in his life. However, by the end of the season, Will seemed open to the possibility of developing a relationship with Caleb, even agreeing to have dinner with him and his family, which did not happen as the season was left on a cliffhanger.

Now, in anticipation of the series’ return, ScreenRantGrant Hermanns interviewed Karine Rosenthal, Liz Heldens and Daniel Thomsen to discuss Will Trent season 4. When asked whether the return to a tense dynamic between Will and Caleb came from a personal concern about the former’s safety during the manhunt for Ulster or a personal concern about not getting emotionally involved in it, Rosenthal confirms that it is “both” but also “mostly“the old.

Pointing out that the new season begins five months after Season 3’s cliffhanger, the showrunner then expressed the belief that Caleb and Will had “I had these somewhat awkward family dinners“Since then, but I was “trying to get to know each other in a very taciturn way“. Recognizing that there is a full circle in them being on a case again after the audience saw them meet on a previous case, although this time, in which “Caleb thinks Will is in very danger“, this created a complex new chapter for the couple:

Karine Rosenthal: Caleb doesn’t say, “Oh, my God. You’re my son that I’ve only had for less than six months, I can’t lose you,” but that’s the subtext of what’s happening. I think it’s hard for Caleb to accept that this is important to Will and that he can’t stand by and not go looking for this man responsible for his mother’s death. This is where the conflict arises between these two, as both have incredibly emotional reasons for what they do, how they approach the case and the investigation. But they won’t talk about the emotional reasons. It’s more like, “I don’t agree with what you’re doing procedurally,” and that’s what’s going to come up on the surface.

Thomsen later stated that he “grew to really appreciate Yul Vazquez’s performance as Caleb,” And even sharing some of the ways the showrunners “changed the character a little” enter Will Trent season 4. Having initially considered a “very impetuous“character, Thomsen admitted a desire to avoid”poor execution of this idea“.

Teasing the existence of a larger working relationship between Caleb and Will in Season 4, Thomsen shifted his attention to the Breakup alum for being able to capture “this truly calm confidence which is not showy“, especially regarding his work. The feeling that he is “at a time in his life when he doesn’t want feedback on what he does,” the showrunner indicated that this would lead to some “truly dramatic moments“between the two, because there will be cases in which “Will gives him shit“but Vazquez will only do it sometimes”get rid of it with good humor“:

Daniel Thomsen: It leads to some really dramatic moments where they’re yelling at each other, and as the season goes on, that’s going to develop. Their conflict may at some point become physical, but the question is, “Can you still have a loving father-son relationship when Dad doesn’t want to listen to the son’s comments about his life and the son also doesn’t really agree with the way the father lives his life?” It was fun and it’s more nuanced. I thank Yul for helping us understand this.

Heldens agreed that part of the origin of their conflict is that Will and Caleb are “alpha males in their own way,” with each character being “used to being in charge“and therefore have some”natural friction“. She then highlighted Thomsen’s discussion of father-son relationships, believing that it will be the “relevant core at the heart of their relationship“throughout season 4 for all viewers to feel”Yeah, okay, I understand“.

THE Will Trent The Season 4 premiere kicked off with some of the awkward feelings between the two that Rosenthal referenced, most notably with the opening montage showing Rodriguez’s character spending more time with Caleb and his family and bonding with his younger half-brother. However, the biggest point of conflict appears to come from the handling of the manhunt in Ulster, with Caleb essentially arriving and taking over from Will and his team.

Given that not only did the premiere end without the two men resolving any of their differences, but Will also seems to be held hostage by Ulsterhe and Caleb will have a lot to sort out in the coming weeks. It’s likely that surviving the ordeal could soften one or both to the point of becoming more vulnerable to each other as Season 4 progresses, although much of this will also depend on how the situation with Ulster ultimately resolves.

Caleb left Will in a very agitated state in the Will Trent premiere of season 4 by killing Ulster’s accomplice, even as Rodriguez’s character managed to demean him. If this quick mentality leads Caleb to kill Germann’s fan-favorite antagonist, the rift between the two men could widen even further if Will ends his obsessive drive to hunt down Ulster and wants to bring him back alive.

New episodes of Will Trent Season 4 airs Tuesdays on ABC at 8 p.m. EST and streams on Hulu.

Release date

January 3, 2023

Directors

Howard Deutch, Eric Dean Seaton, Holly Dale, Lea Thompson, Patricia Cardoso, Sheree Folkson, Bille Woodruff, Erika Christensen, Gail Mancuso, Geary McLeod, Jason Ensler, Mark Tonderai, Paul McGuigan

Writers

Inda Craig-Galván, Henry ‘Hank’ Jones, Karine Rosenthal, Adam Toltzis, Antoine Perry

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  Ramon Rodriguez

  Will Trent

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  Erika Christensen

  Angie Polaski