Will Trent Season 4 Ends In Tragedy: Erika Christensen Talks Angie's Loss, Path Forward

The Season 4 finale of "Will Trent" doesn't just change Angie's life. It forces her to start over.

After what Franklin joked in the penultimate episode felt like "three years," Angie finally gives birth to a healthy baby girl, Edith, aka Edie. But the moment is immediately undercut by tragedy: On the way to the hospital, Angie and Seth are involved in a car crash, and while Seth initially appears unharmed, it quickly becomes clear he's been running on adrenaline. Moments after getting Angie safely inside to deliver their daughter, Seth collapses from internal bleeding and dies. (Read our showrunner Q&A here.)

The loss leaves Angie in a state of shock, and in no position to care for a newborn. So Will does what he has to do: He takes a leave of absence and steps in to help raise Edie, a stark contrast to two years earlier, when his sense of duty tore them apart. What follows is a montage spanning the first full year of Edie's life, during which Angie remains at Will's home as she slowly pulls herself out of a deep depression, eventually reaching a place where she can fully care for her daughter again and, alongside Will, return to work.

By the time the dust settles, the status quo has shifted in a major way. Angie, Will, Faith, Ormewood, and Franklin are heading into Season 5 with a new dynamic, as Faith leads a joint APD-GBI task force targeting a sex trafficking ring, while the imminent arrival of a new deputy director looms over the GBI.

In conversation with TVLine, Erika Christensen unpacks Angie's emotional whiplash, how motherhood reshapes her in the wake of unimaginable loss, and how that shift at work will redefine the team moving forward.

TVLINE | We've seen Angie at both her highest and lowest this season — from marrying Seth to losing him so suddenly. What has it been like for you to play those extremes, especially for a character who's used to bracing for the worst?
I think when things were getting really good, Angie actually tried to shut down that part of herself that was suspicious of it. I think she was even more blindsided because you're right — she's used to being blindsided by life. She's used to seeing the worst in people — and being on the receiving end of the worst of people and the vagaries of life — and so she really allowed herself to believe in this thing. 

She really allowed herself to start a completely new chapter in her life. A huge part of her identity had been her baggage and her willingness to own it, and that being the driving force behind her purpose of wanting to help other people in perilous situations who had no one to advocate for them. And so being really present with who she is in this kind of hopeful moment — this opportunity for redemption of raising a girl in a loving home, being a good mother the way that she didn't have... all of that was so hopeful, and I think she really allowed herself to believe that this is her life now.

It's one of those things that the writers had to deal with once they made this decision [to kill off Seth]. How do we even move forward from here and what does that look like on a television show timeline? How do we give this character some time to grieve? And I think that it was handled really beautifully where the parts of her grief and recovery that we see, we just get a little glimpse inside what's happening there ,and a little bit from Will's outside point of view. As close as he is, he's not in there. He's really supporting her in the only way that he knows how, and giving her some space.

I know it's going to be so hard on the fans because Seth is amazing. And even everyone who was naysaying the relationship at the beginning, he's won them over. It's really rough. And Scott is amazing. But to use Scott Foley's words, "the show is called 'Will Trent.'"

TVLINE | I couldn't help but think about the contrast between the Season 2 finale montage — where Will imagined this future he was giving up with Angie — and this finale montage, where he steps in to help raise Edie while Angie heals. Romantically linked or not, do you see this experience leading them towards some sort of some form of co-parenting moving forward?
I would say that's a safe assumption, yeah. They have always only had each other to count on in their lives. The romantic relationships aside — and as much as they have been lovers — they have been family to each other. So that makes sense to me. I don't think that they would — from where we leave them, having him step in to help Angie and Edie — I don't think they distance themselves from each other after that. 

I think what he did for her is incredible, what he did for them is incredible. And they probably will continue on in that fashion, if not [get] closer. We'll have to see. I don't know.

TVLINE | When Angie finally picks up Edie, it feels like a turning point, like she's choosing to stay present. Do you think Angie would have processed Seth's death differently, if she didn't have Edie in her life?
Absolutely. That's an amazing question. It's really interesting... I think we all have probably observed that people tend to step up when there's someone else they have to be there for, and becoming a parent can really change people. And having that to hang on to, knowing that she has to get through this and she can't fall off the wagon — that's not an available solution to how to make it through this — I think that that is huge. As disconnected as she feels at the beginning, I think that knowing that she's there really helps to draw her forward.

TVLINE | We've talked before about Angie wanting to break the cycle of how she was raised. Does becoming a mother under these particular circumstances — and also wanting to honor Seth — deepen that drive for her?
Absolutely. It's more real than ever. Because it was this idyllic moment of, if she had parents, they would be like, "Marry a doctor!" He's a doctor, and he's so incredibly supportive and amazing. And this relationship just blossomed in this really organic way. And it was all going to be the closest thing that she ever would have experienced to [life being] easy. So for her to stick to her plan — which is just to love this person and be there for her and show her real love — it makes her overall situation harder.

But I think in a way, it makes perfect sense that the foundation of their whole lives, not just their relationship, but their whole lives will be her love for her daughter. It becomes the thing that Angie can hold on to, and the thing that her daughter can hold on to. Because there's nothing else. I mean, there surely will be a big force in both of their lives. But it makes this bond between mother and daughter even more special and even more important.

TVLINE | The finale sets up a joint task force between APD and GBI to take down a sex trafficking ring — a case that I imagine would hit especially hard for Angie, given her history of childhood sexual abuse. What excites you most about exploring that storyline next year?
You know, we've never really seen the feminine energy aligned. And Faith is also incredibly emotionally invested. Her emotional investment kind of blindsided her when the case first came across her desk [in Season 4, Episode 15]. They had that conversation where Angie stayed late at work to help Faith identify the missing girl, and Faith was saying, "This one's really getting to me." Like, "this one's getting in my bones." So to see these kind of mama bears team up, it's super exciting. 

I am so interested to see how this whole paradigm shift affects the show. Obviously, there will be a new deputy director of the GBI. I don't know what that relationship is going to look like. And then Will and Ormewood have an amazing dynamic. I'm going to miss the Angie and Ormewood dynamic. We'll see how much we get of that. But I'm really excited to see Angie and Faith tap into their strength and their passion jointly, and just really dig in.

I don't know... It's such a heavy and relevant [topic] now, especially, and hopefully not eternally. But certainly, as far as humanity has thus far proven, it's a relevant problem. I don't know how much they can win this war, but they have to take what wins they can get, so I'm excited to see what they can do, what headway they can make. Because Atlanta being such a travel hub genuinely has a big problem.