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The GBI will be one main personnel down when Will Trent returns in season 5.
Ever since debuting in 2023, Will Trent has always felt like a separate show from its peers. The Karin Slaughter book-based show remains a major hit for ABC, becoming one of its top perfromers for Live + Same Day DVR. This is besides its popularity on streaming, as new episodes become available on Hulu the next day. Will Trent has been able to keep its main ensemble intact for years, allowing the show to fully capitalize on their chemistry, but that changes in the 2025-2026 TV cycle.
As Will Trent season 4 enters its final stretch, personal stories reach major moments while overarching narratives start to culminate. In “The Blank Expanse of Nothing,” Wilbur’s hunt for Adelaide came with a deadly result, as he finally came to face with her following weeks of hunting her down. Apparently, Amanda Wagner was also secretly working with the FBI to find information on the Commander, the mysterious figured linked to James Ulster’s cult. Unfortunately for her, that ended in tragedy, as Wilbur found her with multiple stab wounds on the street.
In a new interview with Variety, showrunners Liz Heldens, Daniel T. Thomsen & Karine Rosenthal confirm Amanda’s deadly fate, as well as the exit of Sonja Sohn from the show ahead of Will Trent season 5. The creatives behind the procedural admit that it’s difficult to say goodbye to the chief of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, especially since she has been on the series since it kicked off. However, they point out that this sets up an interesting future for WIlbur and the rest of the agency. Read their full quotes below:
Rosenthal: “Amanda has been the character who has protected Will for as long as she has known him. So this gives us the opportunity for a completely new dynamic in the GBI, because her replacement will not have that same relationship with Will. Her death had the most impact on the most amount of characters. It really sets everybody reeling from this enormous loss. So it’s such a reset for our characters in a way that is painful but exciting for Season 5.”
Thomsen: “Nobody gets to always exit their shows — even on the writing side — on their own terms all the time. It’s hard to do that with grace. So it was just very impressive. She is a total pro.”
Heldens: I also don’t want to get through this interview without really honoring the work that Sonja Sohn has done on this character. At the beginning of this season, I went back to watch the finale of Season 1, and her work is impeccable. That’s always a little of a comfort that we have a mechanism by which we could bring people back if Will needs to work something out,”
Not too long ago, Amanda also had a brush with death in the Will Trent season 3 finale. By then, the ABC procedural left fans waiting to learn about her fate all through the summer break and into the fall, considering that the series premiered during the winter period, alongside The Rookie. Will Trent season 4, episode 15 ended with a non-definitive revelation of Amanda’s fate, as the hour wrapped with Wilbur merely hugging his injured boss and quasi-mother. There were hopes that she would survive the stab wounds, but this new interview effectively confirms her dark fate.
Amanda’s death episode went down just mere days after ABC officially renewed Will Trent for season 5. Admittedly, the chances of the network not bringing back the Ramón Rodríguez-led procedural were very slim, considering how popular it has been. That said, the fact that it took a while to make it official still made some uncomfortable. It’s curious if the decision to publicize the news had something to do with Sohn’s farewell episode airing on the same week.
ABC Officially Spoils Wagner’s High Potential Season 3 Fate After Fatal Cliffhanger
High Potential season 2 finale left Nick Wagner’s life hanging in the balance, but ABC doesn’t wait until next fall to confirm Steve Howey’s fate.
This marks the second time in a couple of weeks that ABC implemented this kind of storytelling. High Potential season 2 finale also ended on a deadly cliffhanger involving Nick Wagner. After the hour, it was confirmed that Steve Howey was stepping down as a series regular, suggesting that his character might eventually die. The only difference is that for Will Trent, Amanda is definitively dead.
https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/ramo-n-rodriguez-s-will-looking-upset-with-the-camera-tilted-in-will-trent-season-4.jpg?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop
https://screenrant.com/will-trent-sonja-sohn-amanda-wagner-leaving/
Ana Dumaraog
Almontather Rassoul
