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SPOILER ALERT: This interview comprises main spoilers from “Listening to a Heartbeat,” the Season 3 finale of ABC’s “Will Trent,” streaming on Hulu on Might 14.

For the Season 3 finale of their hit ABC crime drama, “Will Trent” creators and showrunners Liz Heldens and Daniel Thomsen wished to create an epic two-part occasion, within the vein of “ER,” which might put all of its most important characters in jeopardy. They’ve definitely delivered on that promise, leaving the lives of two beloved characters hanging within the steadiness.

Tuesday’s season finale marked the conclusion of a bioweapons assault on town of Atlanta, orchestrated by a home terrorist group often called the Founder’s Entrance. As protagonist Will Trent (Ramón Rodríguez) and the remainder of his group on the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Atlanta Police Division raced to include the menace and save tons of of 1000’s of lives, Will was compelled to confront the advanced dynamics of his personal organic household — particularly his connection to Caleb Broussard (Yul Vazquez), a sheriff who had been revealed within the penultimate episode to be Will’s organic father.

“It felt like a enjoyable problem for us to do a very huge episode with quite a bit happening, with Will having to go in opposition to his instincts and transfer away from his discovered household in jeopardy,” Heldens tells Selection.

After Will’s canine sitter Nico (Cora Lu Tran) started to fall ailing at a hospital, Will and Caleb went to analyze the encampment of a deceased homeless man, they usually found that plastic takeout containers within the space had been intentionally contaminated with Clostridium botulinum, a poisonous micro organism that assaults the central nervous system. Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin), Religion (Iantha Richardson) and Franklin (Kevin Daniels) have been tasked with escorting the primary batch of CDC-approved antitoxin from a warehouse to the hospital, however a corrupt cop, who was a part of the Founder’s Entrance, led them straight into an ambush in an space with no GPS or radio sign.

To make issues worse, the terrorists then took Deputy Director Amanda Wagner (Sonja Sohn) hostage in her personal workplace on the GBI and demanded the discharge of one other member from police custody in trade for her life. Regardless of the menace to Amanda’s life, Will was compelled to depart with Caleb to search out the lab the place the micro organism was being aerosolized. Fortunately, Angie (Erika Christensen), the detective who was hidden within the toilet on the time of the assault, hatched a plan to efficiently kill the terrorists within the places of work — however she was unable to react in time to cease certainly one of them from capturing Amanda within the chest.

In the meantime, Ormewood, Religion and Franklin efficiently fought off a bunch of Founder’s Entrance members, with the assistance of a van stuffed with junior nationwide archery champions on the crime scene (!) who have been in a position to shoot flaming arrows into enemy territory. And simply when it appeared that one final gunman was going to shoot Ormewood level clean, Will, who had compelled a employee within the makeshift lab to disclose the placement of the ambush, hit the terrorist together with his automotive and saved the day. The antitoxin was then efficiently transported to the hospitals. However later that night, Ormewood, who had lately been recognized with a mind tumor, unexpectedly collapsed in his kitchen.

“The most important problem for us was ensuring that we didn’t lose the feelings that now we have come to actually love from this present,” Thomsen says. “It was all about teeing up all of those character tales that may be blossoming — or wilting — on the identical time, in order that you possibly can have a bio assault after which, within the midst of it, all of these items happening that also retains you actually tethered to the person character journeys.”

As they put together to reopen the writers’ room for Season 4, which can premiere in early 2026, Heldens and Thomsen break down these two emotional cliffhangers, what Angie’s being pregnant with Dr. Seth McDale (Scott Foley) will imply for her future with Will — and why they’ve chosen to introduce a model new character as Will’s father however not a pivotal one from government producer Karin Slaughter’s novels.

Within the closing minutes of the finale, Amanda is left in a coma after barely making it via her surgical procedure, with Will pleading together with her to get up, and Ormewood suffers a seizure on the residence he shares with Religion. How did you decide on these two cliffhangers?

Liz Heldens: For Will, I feel that having his father come into his life and having his surrogate mom be threatened felt proper to us. I used to be on set when that [final] hospital scene was being shot, and I used to be so moved. It was 2:00 within the morning, however he’s by no means mentioned any of this stuff to her. They’re each so bizarre about emotions and a variety of stuff is left unsaid with them, which, as a author, I actually like. Nevertheless it was the primary time you see him actually say what she means in his life and that he understands that she’s a stabilizing pressure for him, and there’s a lot change occurring in his life proper now and he can’t lose her. So it simply appeared like an actual, emotional cliffhanger — and hopefully, he can say these issues to her when she will get higher and she will be able to hear him.

Daniel Thomsen: On the Ormewood facet of issues, as a result of the large revelation of his tumor occurs on the finish of Episode 14, we wished to try to thread the needle of, on the one hand, he’s taking steps [to get his affairs in order]. However however, he’s just a little bit in denial and he’s not fairly able to get the surgical procedure as a result of he’s not able to go. He’s not prepared for the surgical procedure to have an surprising complication. He’s not able to get probably actually dangerous information about what the tumor is.

So we thought that it could be attention-grabbing that when he tells his youngsters — which was a very highly effective second for me — there’s just a little pre-scene that was Liz’s thought, that I assumed was extremely well-done. As he’s psyching himself as much as go in to speak to his youngsters about his tumor, he’s within the different room listening to them play and provides one another shit, and he’s like, “These are my youngsters. I like them a lot. They’re part of me. And I’ve to go change their world proper now.” So all of that stuff is de facto powerful. However I feel there’s one thing dramatically very attention-grabbing about how this whole crew has simply saved the world, and now he deserves a beer after which … clunk. He can’t keep away from his destiny any longer.

You launched Greg Germann as James Ulster, the convicted serial killer who claimed he was Will’s organic father, on the finish of Season 1, however you then launched Sheriff Caleb Broussard as Will’s actual organic father in Season 3. Did you at all times know that you simply have been going to play out a unique sort of father-son story than what you had initially introduced to viewers? What impressed that change?

Thomsen: We did introduce Ulster first, and his story is far nearer to the way it unfolds within the books. I feel at a sure level, we have been feeling like that possibility was simply laying there and it felt just a little anticipated, so we have been leaning away from it for that purpose. But in addition, there’s no redemption for Ulster. We get pleasure from him when he’s in scenes with Will; after we’re writing for him, it’s a lot enjoyable. We wish him again on the present, however there’s no emotional territory that might rival introducing a brand new character who’s nearer to him.

We wished to ensure to introduce Caleb as a unique sort of legislation enforcement officer, someone who had a unique method to the job and a few completely different philosophies for what justice is and what his obligations are. However you may see that they’re just a little bit like two peas in a pod. One of many issues about Yul that took me abruptly is after we initially conceived of the character, I assumed that there can be much more friction between them. As Yul inhabited the character, I simply wished to see them collectively a lot extra. So, if something, I feel our problem subsequent season is simply looking for a option to ensure that there’s stress and that they don’t fully fall in love with one another.

Heldens: I feel James Ulster will most likely have a perspective on Will discovering his precise organic father, and that’ll be a narrative effectively for us.

Angie being pregnant with Seth’s child will definitely throw a wrench in her on-again, off-again relationship with Will, who, regardless of being thrown for a loop by the information, nonetheless agrees to accompany Angie for her first ultrasound. On the identical time, turning into a mom may very well be a possibility for Angie to heal a number of the childhood trauma that she had suffered by the hands of her personal late mom. Why did you resolve to proceed with this storyline, figuring out that it’s going to fully shift Will and Angie’s dynamic perpetually?

Heldens: I feel that relationship is the beating coronary heart of our present. They’ve identified one another since they have been youngsters. They’re, in some ways, the one individual that actually, really understands the opposite one. In [their] final scene once they’re trying on the ultrasound, Will has a variety of emotions about it, Angie has a variety of emotions about it, they usually have that dialog the place they’re ending one another’s sentences. They don’t have to talk in full sentences to one another; they each know what the opposite one’s feeling proper now.

We haven’t discovered the factor that can drive a wedge between them but. Even when he arrested her [at the end of Season 2], they didn’t speak for a very long time, after which they began working a case collectively. We actually wished them to, with out fascinated about it, joke round just a little bit earlier than Angie remembered how indignant she was. So I feel that can at all times be true. All of us love writing scenes with them; all of us love the 2 of them collectively. We don’t know the place it’s going to land. However having Angie embark on that journey appeared like story for her, and having Must see it and nonetheless discover himself displaying up for her — it’s that scrumptious awkwardness that all of us actually love to search out in life in our writings, so it simply appeared like it could bear fruit for us.

Is your writers’ room as divided because the viewers in terms of whom Angie ought to find yourself with?

Heldens: It’s query. I feel for us, life is going on to those characters. You simply change. You’re not frozen in amber. So everyone loves them collectively; everyone loves them individually. I feel all of us simply wish to see development and alter, and see them proceed to have friction. So I don’t know. We’ve by no means taken a ballot, have we, Dan?

Thomsen: I don’t assume now we have. However I’ll decide a second this season. Once they’re making the plans to ship Will off to the cult to go undercover [in Episode 12], there was a very nice scene the place Angie is rather like, “It is a dangerous thought. I’m the one individual saying this. Amanda, you’re his mother. Step in right here.” Regardless of all of the shit that they’ve gone via and all that she has vocalized in earlier episodes about how “you blew up this relationship,” there’s nonetheless that love. So there’s been a variety of questions on: Does that change into an endgame, romantic love? I might be shocked if we may discover one thing that breaks them up as two people who undergo life collectively, however I don’t know precisely what the ultimate type of their relationship appears to be like like but.

Wanting forward, what are you hoping to perform with Season 4?

Heldens: You might be catching us in our time to relaxation and attempt to get impressed, however now we have set some issues in movement. Will has this chosen household, and he’s going to search out out what it feels prefer to take care of the household that the universe offers you. Angie’s going to be on this journey with being pregnant. I’m excited to see her out to right here [gestures a big belly] pregnant and being a badass.

Thomsen: Liz and I like broadcast TV. We grew up watching broadcast, so we all know what the project is. We all know that it is a present the place the ecosystem’s gotta keep just a little bit the identical, however we love looking for essentially the most quantity of metamorphosis inside that the place you don’t break aside what folks love in regards to the present. We’ve been speaking about that scene between Will and Amanda, and what Will’s in a position to say to Amanda whereas she is underneath anesthesia. But when that had occurred in the midst of Season 1, even with Amanda out, I don’t assume he would’ve been in a position to say that. I feel that he has modified a lot, and this was the appropriate time for this occasion to occur as a result of we’ve skilled, together with Will, a large amount of change already. I do assume that in Season 4, we’re in search of new methods to kick that change even additional for everyone on the present.

Gina Rodriguez’s District Legal professional Marion Alba was a welcome addition to the forged, and I discovered myself genuinely rooting for her and Will earlier than they determined to hit pause on their tender romance. Is the door open for her to return subsequent season?

Heldens: We love her. She’s a spectacular actor and human. I don’t know the reply to that, however the door completely may very well be open. There’s no story purpose why she couldn’t come again.

Thomsen: I feel Will has stuff that he desires to say to her, and we simply hope we get a shot. She’s busy! She’s a star.

Sara Linton is a very vital character within the “Will Trent” e book sequence, and you’ve got presumably had dialog about whether or not to introduce that character into your display screen adaptation sooner or later down the road. How are you navigating these artistic conversations about what you want to incorporate from the books into the present and what adjustments you are feeling have to be made to serve the story that you simply wish to inform?

Heldens: A part of what occurred for us is that we forged Erika Christensen as Angie, after which when you see how a lot vary and depth you’ve in that character, it’s just a little bit arduous to not begin placing your cash on that character. I suppose my reply to that’s, I don’t know.

Thomsen: I do really feel like our Angie on the present has change into sort of a hybrid of Angie and Sarah, simply when it comes to what the emotional relationship with Will is able to. Angie within the books is a harsher character who isn’t pretty much as good for Will and doesn’t stand on her personal as effectively, and we decided very early on that our Angie had to have the ability to do extra. We wished the viewers to actually put money into that character on her personal, not simply as Will’s girlfriend. So I don’t have something concrete so as to add about Sara, apart from I really feel just like the present wasn’t calling out for it this season. Between the actually sophisticated state of this relationship with Angie, and Gina having the ability to do 10 episodes with us, I don’t assume we felt like that was a bit that we wanted so as to add.

This interview has been edited and condensed.