“Will Trent’s” Iantha Richardson on Faith’s Growth, Career & Love Life!

Will Trent, our favorite Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime drama, is back! Based on Karin Slaughter’s New York Times bestselling series, season two started with an explosive season premiere, leaving us unsure of what lies ahead for Will, his colleagues, or his love life. While Will (Ramón Rodríguez, The Wire) & Faith (Iantha Richardson, This Is Us) are as solid as ever as partners, there’s much more ahead for Faith and her ever-evolving journey this season. Nerdophiles had the pleasure of chatting with Iantha about what lies ahead for Faith’s growth, career, and love life. Check out our conversation!

On Faith’s authenticity and the catalyst for the growth we’ll see in her this season, she shared: “I always say a large catalyst for her growth currently is her son not being in the house anymore. Being a single teenage mom, she spent most of her years thus far taking care of another human, so to not have to do that and to be an empty nester at the age of 33 sounds kind of wild. I think she’s relearning herself, what she wants, and the people she wants.”

She continued: “I think this season we will catch her committing a little bit more to other people but as well as herself trying to figure out what works for her job because, first and foremost, she is married to her job. But I think we see her evolve and grow in how she navigates life now, not having to answer to this little human as much.”

On her love life and if we can expect to see more of the new edition we saw tonight, Luke, she told us: “Yes, this is very reflective of modern-day life, right? We’re all just trying to wing it out here, but we will see more of Luke. He will be in the picture a little bit longer. How long? I don’t know, but for now, he’s here, and she’s happy with him and navigating this relationship with somebody who is not in the GBI. We’ll see how she navigates the reporter-cop relationship because that’s not something you see often or would think would even work out, but I think they’re trying to make it work, and we’ll see where it goes.”

On whether we will see Faith’s Mom, Evelyn, back this season and the ramifications of her actions on Faith in the workplace, she mentioned: “I don’t know how much of her mom will see in season two, but I can say we will see the trickle-down effect of what her mom did resonating in every part of her life and career. It impacts how she chooses to work and how she chooses to respond to people. You know, the trauma continues and trickles down, and what her mother did her being a fallen angel in the GBI affects how everybody around her now looks at Faith. So, she has to pay the price for that in some instances.”

She said on the duality of Faith & Amanda’s complexly beautiful relationship: “Audiences will see a beautiful shift in at least one of the episodes. I won’t divulge too much, but Faith shows Amanda love in the same way that Amanda consistently looks out for her people in her way. So, we’ll see how Faith rides for Amanda not just as a fellow detective but as someone who is her family. Amanda is her family, and we can only get hurt or impacted by certain people in the world, and that’s usually family. Amanda can affect these emotions. So, you will see just how connected they are; even when they get on their nerves, they always love each other and do anything for each other.”

She shared the ever-growing trust between Will & Faith: “In this season, it is a continued opening of trust that happens for them. I think the walls both of them have up are slowly coming down. This season, rather than the two of them clashing, there’s a bit of listening that seeps in, and understanding comes from that. I think that is beautifully orchestrated and evolved because you can only fight back for so long on the same subject, so we love the evolution.”

On what viewers coming into season two as newbies can expect and what she hopes they connect with the most, she told us: “I hope that they connect with the cultural relevance that many of these cases tend to bring forward because I have learned a lot through them. I also hope they realize that none of this is fictional, like these are real stories, and the writers take the time to go through these cases and make sure that they’re telling something that needs to be said through this medium. I also hope they resonate with the relationships and humanity because they are real. It’s hard to balance a job like being in the GBI plus family and being a human in general because we’re flawed, but we’re all trying to help do something good in the community and this world, so I hope they resonate with that the most.”

New Episodes Of Will Trent Air On Tuesday Nights On ABC!