Will Trent is coming back to kick off ABC's new year.
The procedural starring Ramón Rodríguez will open its fifth season on Tuesday, Jan. 5, at 8 p.m. ET, leading off the network's 2027 midseason schedule, TVLine reported. Season 5 also introduces Alexandra Metz, of The Pitt, as new GBI Deputy Director Birdie Palmer.
Rodríguez is behind the camera again
Rodríguez directed the season premiere, titled "Wouldn't Want to Take My Work Home," according to TVLine. Inda Craig-Galván and co-showrunner Karine Rosenthal wrote the episode. It continues the star's run as a director: he also helmed the Season 3 and Season 4 premieres, plus two more Season 4 episodes. Production on the new season began Aug. 24 in Atlanta.
Season 5 follows a finale that reshaped the show. GBI Deputy Director Amanda Wagner (Sonja Sohn) and Angie's husband, Dr. Seth McDale (Scott Foley), both died, and a year-long montage showed Will helping Angie (Erika Christensen) raise her daughter, Edie, before both returned to work. Faith (Iantha Richardson) was left leading a joint APD-GBI task force targeting a sex trafficking ring, with Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin) and Franklin (Kevin Daniels) also involved.
Metz's Birdie Palmer fills the post left open by Amanda's death, and the showrunners told TVLine they plan to use her arrival to shake up the series. Co-showrunner Rosenthal told TVLine in May that the writers were leaning toward picking up much closer to where the finale left off.
New episodes will stream the next day on Hulu. Will Trent serves as the lead-in to Kaitlin Olson's High Potential, which returns at 9 p.m. ET the same night. The following evening, The Rookie Season 9 and Jay Ellis' spinoff The Rookie North premiere, and Abbott Elementary returns Jan. 13.
