Will Gina Rodriguez Be Will's New Love Interest on 'Will Trent' Season 3? (Exclusive)

With the addition of ADA Marion Alba (Gina Rodriguez) to the cast of Will Trent in Season 3 of the hit ABC series based on the novels by Karin Slaughter, Will (Ramón Rodríguez) has found a new ally who can contribute to cases in ways the GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) team previously didn’t have before.

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“What is really strong is how Marion’s position as a DA could fill out the puzzle piece of what they need to make certain cases move forward and to help certain people,” Rodriguez tells Parade. “What I love so much about Marion is that she comes and she contributes. She is somebody that definitely has a different position, somebody that has different resources for the team, and she’s able to fill it out in that way.”

Rumor has it that Marion may also be a new love interest for Will. Since he felt compelled to arrest Angie (Erika Christensen), his one true love, at the end of Season 2, it’s clear that they’re not going to get back together any time soon, if ever.

“They definitely have sparks; let’s see what evolves,” Rodriguez says of a potential romance. “She and Will are both strong-headed, and they’re both very capable. They know what they are, they know what they’re capable of and they don’t shy away from it, they like to help people, and they could vibe on those things. We’ll see.”

Even though Rodriguez is only 40, she has a long list of credits. She's most well known for starring as the title character in Jane the Virgin, and recently made her ABC debut as Nell Serrano on Not Dead Yet. Of the two roles, the Golden Globe-winning actress says that Nell was more like her than Jane. There isn’t much she has in common with Marion, who is a realist, while Rodriguez says she’s still in the clouds.

Related: Ramón Rodríguez Reveals Gina Rodriguez's New Role on Will Trent Season 3 (Exclusive)

“Marion is a massive departure from myself, and I really enjoy that,” Rodriguez continues. “Just like Jane, Jane was a massive departure from myself. Marion is focused and calculated, she has unpacked her baggage, she has boundaries and knows what she wants. She is highly educated. Well, I would say I’m educated [with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree]. But she is highly educated and continues to surpass probably the expectations that were set on her. She is driven.”

Drive is the one trait that Rodriguez shares with Marion. It’s just that her drive is expressed in the art space rather than the law. But an attractive part of playing Marion for Rodriguez is that when she was growing up, her father wanted her to be a lawyer.

“My two older sisters, one is in private equity and the middle sister is a doctor. And I was supposed to be the lawyer,” she says. “I remember saying to my father, ‘Well, I’ll play a lawyer on TV one day,’ and it only took me about 15 years to get that role, but it has been so funny to be like, ‘Oh, I finally did what my dad asked. I finally became the person my dad wanted me to be.’ I’m excited for him to see this character.”

Related: Will Trent Season 3 Adds Three to the Cast Amid Major Changes for Will and Angie

To take the role of Marion, Rodriguez, who normally lives in Los Angeles, had to relocate to Atlanta, where Will Trent films, along with her husband Joe LoCicero and almost 2-year-old son Charlie.

“It was an adjustment because my son is in such a transformative age range where he misses his cousins and loves his grandparents. So everybody’s very far from him. But Atlanta’s a very family-friendly city for sure,” she says. “There is so much, so he is very much enjoying his Atlanta life. He’s got the aquarium and the zoo, and he’s got our neighbors, our whole neighborhood is filled with other 2-year-olds. It’s going to be sad when we leave Atlanta for sure, but we’ve created friendships that we’re going to keep with us forever, so that’s been a gift we didn’t know we were going to get.”

Will Trent airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Episodes are available to stream next day on Hulu.

Next, Will Trent's Ramón Rodríguez on How Denial Plays a Big Part in Season 2 for the GBI Agent