Will Trent Renewed For Season 5 – What Can We Expect From Karin Slaughter’s GBI Genius?
Will Trent has officially been renewed for a fifth season at ABC, with Season 5 expected to arrive in the U.S. in early 2027 and follow on Disney+ in the UK later that year.
For cozy crime fans, it is a grounded procedural that blends Karin Slaughter’s bestselling novels with a very television-friendly take on Atlanta’s darker corners.
In case you have never heard of or watched the show, let me give you a little recap…
The series follows Special Agent Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, a meticulous investigator with the highest clearance rate in the GBI.
Abandoned at birth and raised in Atlanta’s overstretched foster care system, he brings a survivor’s eye to every crime scene and a strong personal need to make sure no one else is discarded the way he was.
The show has a relatively familiar set-up in that we get a case of the week alongside a strong serialized thread around Will’s backstory as well as his working relationship with partner Faith Mitchell, complicated on‑off love interest Angie Polaski, and GBI leadership.
There’s also a pretty good mix of episode styles, so some can be quite light-hearted with a lot of fun, while others can get quite dark, especially as Trent discovers more about how his mother died.
Overall, though, it’s a great show with Ramón Rodríguez bringing this iconic character to life.
Will Trent Season 5 And Release Timing
ABC renewed Will Trent for Season 5 on April 13, 2026, adding it to the 2026‑27 schedule alongside other returning crime dramas.
The pickup came while Season 4 was still airing (it wrapped on May 5, 2026), which indicates strong confidence from the network.
Following a similar pattern to previous years, season 5 is expected to premiere in the U.S. as a midseason title in January 2027, again in its Tuesday 8 p.m. slot on ABC.
In the UK, Will Trent streams on Disney+, and Season 4 debuted there on June 3rd, 2026, with episodes rolling out weekly.
What Has Happened So Far?
The show premiered in January 2023 with a 13‑episode first season that established Will’s background, the dynamics within the GBI, and the series’ tone.
Season 2 followed in February 2024 with 10 episodes, then the episode count expanded, with Season 3 in early 2025 and Season 4 in January 2026, both running to 18 episodes.
Across these four seasons, the show has balanced case-of-the-week storytelling with ongoing threads about corruption, institutional failures, and the emotional cost of investigative work.
Season 4 pushed that further, including a major shock when a major character met their end (no spoilers), signaling a reset for the GBI going into Season 5.
Fidelity To The Karin Slaughter Books
The series is based on Karin Slaughter’s long-running Will Trent novels, which also intersect with her Grant County books through shared characters such as Sara Linton.
The book series starts with Triptych and Fractured, then expands across multiple titles where Will, Faith, and Angie investigate cases that are as much about victims and families as they are about the perpetrators.
Slaughter has written more than 10 Will Trent novels and novellas, and the TV adaptation does not follow a single book in order, though the pilot drew heavily from Fractured.
Instead, the show lifts plots, character beats, and Easter eggs, such as Will’s three-piece suits and his chihuahua, Betty, and reworks them into standalone episodes and season arcs.
Ramón Rodríguez plays Will Trent and also serves as an executive producer, bringing a quiet, sometimes socially awkward interpretation that aligns with the book version’s guarded nature.
Erika Christensen plays Angie Polaski, while Iantha Richardson, Jake McLaughlin, and Sonja Sohn appear as Faith Mitchell, Michael Ormewood, and Amanda Wagner, respectively, alongside recurring characters like Franklin Wilks, Nico, and the dog Betty.
Karin Slaughter has described the adaptation as careful with her plots and attentive to the tone of the books, even when the series adds original storylines.
For readers, the show feels like an interpretation rather than a strict retelling, close enough to reward familiarity, but distinct enough to stand alone.
Where To Go Next?
Will Trent has become one of ABC’s most-watched scripted series in live same-day viewing, and it performs strongly on Hulu, where it recently crossed a major streaming milestone and made double-digit gains on the charts.
That combination of steady broadcast numbers and solid streaming performance is a key reason for its renewal into the 2026‑27 season.
But, if you’re all caught up and fancy watching something along the same lines, here are a couple of options for you…
Firstly, we have The Rookie, another ABC crime drama with a lighter tonal balance, and then we also have Murder in a Small Town, which is set in a rainy, coastal village in the Pacific Northwest.
This show leans more into community dynamics, local relationships, and is closer to classic village cozies and Canadian/British-style local policing dramas.
Both pair well with Will Trent because they keep the emphasis on investigators, victims, and communities rather than spectacle, which is what I look for when I am putting together recommendations for my readers!
