In the Will Trent TV series, Will Trent’s biological father is Sheriff Caleb Roussard (also spelled Broussard in some coverage).

Quick Scoop

  • In Season 3, during a case in rural Georgia, Will clashes with a local lawman, Sheriff Caleb Roussard.
  • After blood from everyone at the crime scene is tested, a DNA match reveals Caleb is Will’s biological father.
  • This twist is especially painful for Will because he feels his father effectively abandoned him, reopening old childhood wounds.

TV Show vs. Books

  • In Karin Slaughter’s books , serial killer James Ulster is presented as Will Trent’s father.
  • The ABC TV series changes this significantly and makes Sheriff Caleb Roussard/Broussard his father instead, creating a new storyline around their tense, morally complicated relationship.

Character Dynamics

  • Caleb is portrayed as a morally complex sheriff who has been working on the opposite side of Will in a contentious case before the reveal.
  • After learning the truth, Will rejects the idea of a father–son bond, telling Caleb he did not raise him and has no right to call him “son.”

TL;DR: Will Trent’s father in the TV show is Sheriff Caleb Roussard/Broussard, revealed via a DNA match in Season 3, while in the original novels his father is the serial killer James Ulster.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.