Will Trent Season 2 Premiere: [Spoiler] Weighs In On That Explosive Twist
We hope you weren’t already too attached to Susan Kelechi Watson’s Cricket Dawson.
In the final minutes of Tuesday’s Season 2 premiere — which also saw the return of serial killer James Ulster — Will Trent’s new love interest was reduced to ashes. In order to prevent a bomb from detonating and taking GBI headquarters down, Agent Dawson ran off with the incendiary device, lobbed it into a nearby office, and slammed the door behind her.
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Unfortunately, time was up. The bomb went off and Cricket was incinerated. Poor Will stood there and watched as his new friend, a fellow agent, was engulfed by the flame. (Suffice it to say, when Watson told us her role was “da bomb,” she meant it!)
Series star Ramón Rodríguez, who also serves as a producer on the ABC crime drama, reveals to TVLine that there were early discussions about having Cricket appear in more than one episode. So, why kill her off so soon? “What we ended up realizing is that maybe there’s more value in [her death] being another thing that Will doesn’t deal with — another layer, another traumatic situation that he doesn’t come to terms with,” he explains. “How does that effect everything else?”
Below, Watson weighs in on her untimely demise.
TVLINE | Cricket, unfortunately, does not survive the hour. Have you had a chance to see how it all ends for her?
I haven’t, but I remember being there and filming that moment, and getting quite specific about what we wanted that ending to feel like — what her motivation was, knowing that she was likely going to die as she ran to contain the bomb, and what that must feel like for her. I likened it to being a firefighter or a police officer. It’s a job where, worst case scenario, your life is at stake, and that was the way I had to approach it. There is a part of her that has reconciled the fact that worst case scenario means she could lose her life, and that she has chosen to do this.
TVLINE | Take me back to what it was like to shoot that scene. Cricket tosses the bomb, slams the door behind her, then you turn, you face Ramón, and someone yells “Cut!” All you can do as an actor is internalize what Cricket is going through in that moment and express that in her stare, yeah?
Right, and I don’t know that any of us knows what that would feel like. So I let that be a surprise for me, as well.
TVLINE | Was a part of you excited to have this big death scene?
You know, it’s interesting. A part of me was like, “Wow! Does she have to die?” I kept saying that — “Does she have to die?” — because it just felt so brutal at the end, and I’ve grown to love her so much, but it makes for a really great episode.
TVLINE | Any part of you wish you were sticking around for a few more? Or do you like that you came, you made this indelible impression on Will, then left this world — all in the span of 30+ minutes?
No. I love that she leaves an impression. Sometimes, there’s just a beginning, a middle and an end, and it all plays out in one episode. It’s in service to Will, and I’m excited to see how that affects him for at least another episode or two. I was just so happy to have the opportunity to play in this world for a little while.
Will Trent Scoop: What’s Ahead in Season 2
For Part 2 of TVLine’s post mortem with Rodríguez about the return of James Ulster, go here.
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