Georgia’s most Georgia TV show is back at work. Will Trent, ABC’s crime drama based on Karin Slaughter‘s bestselling novels about a Georgia Bureau of Investigation special agent, has been filming its fifth season in metro Atlanta since August — and on November 6, ABC announced it will premiere Tuesday, January 5, 2027 at 8/7c, keeping the show’s tradition of kicking off the year on the first Tuesday in January.
For a series that has the GBI in its DNA, there’s something satisfying about the fact that it’s actually made here. Season 5 is based at Eagle Rock Studios in Norcross, with location shoots around the city.
Where Season 4 Left Things
If you’re caught up, you know the Season 4 finale on May 5 hit the show like a wrecking ball. GBI Deputy Director Amanda Wagner — Will’s mentor and the closest thing he had to a mother, played by Sonja Sohn — was killed, and so was Angie’s husband, Dr. Seth McDale (Scott Foley). Angie, meanwhile, is a new mother. Season 5 picks up with Will grieving, the GBI leaderless, and the team dynamic fundamentally rearranged.
The premiere is titled “Wouldn’t Want to Take My Work Home,” written by co-showrunner Karine Rosenthal and Inda Craig-Galván and directed by series star Ramón Rodríguez himself.
The Cast
Ramón Rodríguez returns as Will Trent, the dyslexic, impeccably dressed GBI agent with a traumatic past in Atlanta’s foster system — and he’s taking on more behind the camera, directing the season premiere and serving as executive producer.
Erika Christensen is back as Angie Polaski, now a widow and a new mom, which the producers have said will be a major thread this season. Iantha Richardson returns as Faith Mitchell and Jake McLaughlin as Michael Ormewood. Kevin Daniels, promoted to series regular last season as Franklin Wilks, is back — and shared the first behind-the-scenes photos from the Season 5 set on Instagram, including the cover page of the premiere script.
The big new addition is Alexandra Metz, who joins as a series regular playing Birdie Palmer, the new deputy director of the GBI. Birdie is described as confident, ambitious, and razor-sharp, but guarded by a life-altering event in her past. Metz is pulling double duty in early 2027 — she also plays trauma surgery fellow Yolanda Garcia on HBO Max’s The Pitt, which returns around the same time. Stepping into the space Amanda Wagner left is the hardest job on this show, and the casting signals the writers aren’t trying to replace Sohn so much as change the chemistry entirely.
And yes, Betty — Will’s chihuahua, played by Bluebell — is back.
The Creative Team
Liz Heldens, Daniel T. Thomsen, and Karine Rosenthal are the showrunners, with Karin Slaughter as executive producer. Slaughter, who lives in Atlanta, has become one of the show’s most vocal boosters — and her other Georgia-shot adaptation, Peacock’s The Good Daughter, premieres November 12. It’s a good month to be Karin Slaughter.
The show is produced by 20th Television in association with 3AD, and airs on ABC with next-day streaming on Hulu. One more wrinkle worth knowing: the first four seasons reportedly landed on Netflix in early November, which means a whole new audience may be binging all 59 episodes in the nine weeks before Season 5 starts.
Where It's Filming in Georgia
Eagle Rock Studios in Norcross is the home base — four 30,000-square-foot stages under one roof on Best Friend Road, which has hosted the show since the beginning. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported the August start date, citing crew union IATSE Local 479, and the production has been running location days around the city ever since. Fittings for background are typically held in Norcross, with shoot days in Atlanta proper.
One of the things that makes Will Trent fun to watch as a local is that it doesn’t fake Atlanta. The show is set here, shot here, and filled with real neighborhoods — so when a scene is in Grant Park, it’s usually in Grant Park.
Want to Be a Background Extra?
Central Casting Georgia is handling background for Will Trent Season 5, as it has in past seasons. Recent calls have paid $168 for 12 hours, with a quarter-check for fittings, and have ranged from general Atlanta-type background to specific featured roles — a recent call sought two men in their 30s and 40s to play a same-sex couple with an 11-to-13-year-old daughter. Register on Central Casting’s site and watch their Georgia social pages; with the season shooting into the spring, there will be plenty more calls.
When Can We See It?
Will Trent Season 5 premieres Tuesday, January 5, 2027 at 8/7c on ABC, streaming the next day on Hulu. Production is expected to continue in Georgia well into the new year.
Watch the Season 4 Trailer below:
