‘Will Trent’: Iantha Richardson Says ‘Faith’s MacGyver Episode’ Was ‘Like a Dance’

This was the first time — in a while, at least — that it was single-handedly up to her to save the day. What does it mean for her that she rose to such a massive challenge? 

I think this is her. I think she’s done that throughout life — not only being a single mom but a teen parent, consistently making sure that she makes the best impression, and every single thing that she does in work. She’s also surrounded by a few fallen angels, including her mother and [Amanda], as we got to see in some previous episodes. And we see that they hold her to a very high standard. So I think to see her save the day is not very far off from her personality and the way that she goes about life — maybe not in such strenuous situations, but on her day to day, she definitely makes sure that she’s up to par and standard and saving a lot of people in their pitfalls oftentimes.

In the past when she has saved the day, one of the times involved taking a life on the job, and she struggled with that for a while. Here, she doesn’t hesitate quite as much, but do you think there will be any post-traumatic ramifications for this experience as well?

I think anytime you take a life, there is some sort of posttraumatic ramification and part of this is her son was involved. And I think there’s a mama bear instinct that comes out in this episode that you see that is justified by the fact that her son’s life is in danger. And so anybody could get it at that point. Although it is devastating to see that happen, I think the choice between that is, “It’s either you or my son, and it absolutely is going to be you.” So it’s a little less hectic because of those circumstances, but she is definitely going to grapple with that moving forward.

Do you think that her ability to kind of understand and come on board with her son’s choice of career and to leave college, that this experience kind of sped up that process?

I think anytime you are faced with life and death, you see what actually matters, right? And so he is in a space in which his life is threatened, and she gets to fight for that. In actuality, like, in layman’s terms, she’s fighting for her son’s life. She gets to say like, yeah, college is important. All these things. I want you to have the best out of life like any parent does, but also, this is your life and I want you to enjoy it because we only get one and so I think that realization does get hyper. It goes into hyperspeed throughout this episode, for sure.

Yeah, and something you mentioned before was Amanda let Faith down, like you said with expecting the highest standards. But at the end of this one, she seems to be willing to offer an olive branch. Do you think she’s fully forgiven her now? And has she really gained her trust at all?

Trust was regained. I don’t know that there’s full forgiveness. It hasn’t been a very long time. And I think also there’s a compiling of situations which have shown that these people that she’s admired are not living up to what they have made her live up to her entire life. So there’s a lot of hypocrisy around her. I don’t know if she’s fully forgiven it because I don’t think anything has fully been fleshed out. But I do think there is a realization that you are human and so I can understand, and I can empathize and I can be there while she probably I would say she probably has a little bit more therapy to go through for sure.

Speaking of forgiveness, obviously, Faith has had a little bit of an arm’s length relationship with Will sometimes, just because of what happened with her mother. But in this episode, we really get to see them be a team and work together on many, many levels. Where is that teamwork coming from, and what does it mean for their relationship going forward?

I think honestly, since the beginning of the season, what has been a beautiful arc is their relationship shifting to partners from Faith having to earn his respect or him having to earn her respect, but on both ways, I think that we have seen her up until this episode and including this episode, then actually function as full human beings who understand each other a little bit more. I think moving forward, we just get to see them do that as much as they can because they both have a shield and armor up to the world, not just each other, but obviously each other, too. But I think there’s a trust being built. I think there’s a bond, and I think there’s an actual partnership that is really lovely to see.

Is there anything else you can tease about the remaining episodes for this season?

Ooh, I can’t tell you too much. But I can say that they will be shocking and pearl-clutching — an emotional roller coaster for sure is what I will say.

The show was recently renewed for Season 3. What’s your reaction to the renewal, and then second, what kind of hopes do you have for the show to tackle in the future?

I’m very excited — very, very excited for Season 3 to come. I think that there’s so much room for what is to be tackled in the future. I think that there’s endless possibilities. I think the relationship of Will and Faith to grow more expansive, for Faith to see where she is as a human not only as a mother who is dating but also an empty nester who is finding her footing and her own voice and where she wants to go. We’ve seen her tackle the GBI and become a partner, but now what is her end game? And I think I’m really excited to see that for her. I’m really excited to see more relationship dynamics evolve like Will and Angie, what they look like in the future, all these things. I’m really excited for that.

Will Trent, Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC