In the wake of Will Trent Season 4 Episode 15’s explosive ending, showrunners Liz Heldens, Daniel T. Thomsen, and Karine Rosenthal have explained the shocking death of Amanda Wagner (Sonja Sohn) in the chapter. The trio broke down the fan-favorite character’s passing in a recent interview, all the while detailing the massive impact it will have on the show.

Will Trent showrunners break down Amanda’s Season 4 death

The three series bosses revealed that they decided to kill off Amanda to introduce new dynamics for all major characters, given how close the GBI chief was to everyone.

Talking about her death in Will Trent Season 4, Karine Rosenthal noted to Variety, “Amanda has been the character who has protected Will for as long as she has known him. So this gives us the opportunity for a completely new dynamic in the GBI, because her replacement will not have that same relationship with Will. Her death had the most impact on the most amount of characters. It really sets everybody reeling from this enormous loss. So it’s such a reset for our characters in a way that is painful but exciting for Season 5.”

In Season 4 Episode 15, Amanda joins hands with the FBI to investigate the Commander, a mysterious entity with links to Adelaide Trevens (Mallory Jansen). However, her pursuit soon takes a lethal turn when an unidentified assailant ends up stabbing her to death.

Interestingly, Will Trent creators had contemplated killing Amanda when she had a close encounter with death in Season 3. However, “no one had the heart to do it. I don’t think we were ready, honestly,” revealed Liz Heldens.

While Amanda may have met her maker in the latest Will Trent episode, it is still possible for Sonja Sohn to reprise the role. The titular detective often imagines characters who had died while going through a tussle, which could pave the way for Sohn’s return. And according to the three showrunners, they haven’t closed the door on such a possibility as of yet.

Heldens added, “That’s always a little of a comfort that we have a mechanism by which we could bring people back if Will needs to work something out.”