‘Will Trent’ creatives explain those big differences from the book

If you’ve been watching Will Trent (Tuesdays, 10 p.m., CTV), you may have fallen in love with Ramón Rodríguez’s portrayal of the charismatic investigator. (And you definitely fell in love with his chihuahua sidekick, Betty.)

If you were a fan of Karin Slaughter’s 11-book series featuring the special agent first though, you may have some questions. After all, expectations are always high when you take a beloved work and adapt it for the screen. Recently at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in California, however, creatives addressed the reasons for some of the changes from the books to the show, and how they make for a stronger TV series.

Will’s physical appearance

One thing viewers noticed immediately is that Rodríguez doesn’t physically look like the tall and lanky blonde character Slaughter described in the book series. But it is clear the actor embodies Trent’s quirky persona from the moment we meet him, trying to pawn off the dog he’s found.

“I'm Puerto Rican, but it's not about ethnicity,” Rodríguez said. “I love that he's just who he is and as Karin established him, so you're not gonna see me coming in and showing off my Puerto Rican flavour. We're honouring this character—and I'm honouring this character—as he is. And that, to me, is a great delight.”

Showrunner Liz Heldens agreed, but added how by making the character’s background more specific onscreen, it opens up storytelling potential as the series progresses.

“I think we absolutely can make [a] story out of him looking into his background and questioning who he is and where he came from. So, for us, it's a story opportunity down the line,” she said.

Michael Ormewood’s behaviour

As book fans knows, Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin) is not a good guy. In fact he’s a violent dude with shady methods and is overall bad news. But in the TV series, at least so far, there are only traces of that guy. According to executive producer Dan Thomsen, that’s because they wanted to develop the character over a longer arc.

“Every moment that Michael Ormewood is in that pilot, we made a deliberate choice to have him do some things that I thought were transgressive,” he explained.

“I thought he mistreated that college student [by not using the correct pronouns]. He said some things that were inflammatory, and those were very specific choices. And the decision is to evolve that character in the direction that is not exactly like he is in the books, but he's not going to be on a journey that is completely detached from the book.”

Sara Linton is missing

One of the most important people in Will Trent’s book life is notably missing from the TV series—at least for now. Sara Linton, Trent’s longtime girlfriend, isn’t around in the first season. Instead, his romantic entanglements involve Angie (Erika Christensen), although the pair don’t quite define what it is that they’re doing.

“Sara's not in the first two books, and so we wanted to explore Will's relationship with Angie. The plan is that we will bring Sara in, but not this season,” teased Heldens.

Slaughter’s stamp of approval

At the end of the day even Slaughter, who is an executive producer on the show, is happy with the creative changes so far, and admits that sometimes story needs to take a different trajectory in film or television.

“The book is the book, and the show is the show,” she added during the panel. “Keep in mind, in the books, you don't know Michael Ormewood is a bad guy. You spend half the book before the switch happens, and you realize, 'Wait a minute. I've been rooting for someone who's awful.' … This show gives all the things that I wanted to do always in the books, which is just deliver a fantastic story that's well-told. And they've done that.”

Catch Will Trent Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CTV, the CTV App or at CTV.ca