“Will Trent” Star Iantha Richardson Wants Hollywood to Turn This Alyssa Cole Novel into a Movie (Exclusive)
“Will Trent” Star Iantha Richardson Wants Hollywood to Turn This Alyssa Cole Novel into a Movie (Exclusive)
Sabienna BowmanSat, March 28, 2026 at 4:00 PM UTC
0
Iantha Richardson (left); Alyssa ColeCredit: Disney/Pawel Kaminski; Courtesy Alyssa Cole
Key Takeaways
Iantha Richardson plays Special Agent Faith Mitchell on ABC's Will Trent, based on Karin Slaughter's book series
Richardson hopes Alyssa Cole's thriller When No One Is Watching gets adapted for the screen and would love to star in it
A passionate reader, she shares book recommendations on TikTok and plans to start her own book club in the future
Iantha Richardson is no stranger to bringing book characters to life for the screen.
On Will Trent, Richardson plays Special Agent Faith Mitchell, who was created by best-selling author Karin Slaughter in the book series on which the ABC show is based. The actress, 35, has both captured the spirit of book Faith, while also making the TV version of the dynamic character her own.
The ease in which Richardson has embodied Faith could be in part due to her being an avid reader herself. In an interview ahead of her Will Trent directorial debut, she opened up to PEOPLE about her love of books, and shared there's an Alyssa Cole novel she's says has been "slept on" that she's hoping Hollywood will adapt. And if she gets a call to star in the adaptation, well, then that's even better.
"When No One Is Watching. It is by Alyssa Cole," she says. "It's so good. It is basically Get Out meets Rosemary's Baby with a woman of color lead, set in Brooklyn. It's really fun; it's dynamic, it's cool. I love stories about gentrification. I love New York, the backdrop."
She also feels a personal connection to the book, noting that it's "a very maternal story" as the main character, Sydney Green "loses her mom and that's kind of the backdrop of everything that's happening." Richardson shares, "I've lost my mom, so I think that would be really, really fun."
Released in 2020, Cole's Edgar Award-winning thriller follows Sydney as she begins to notice her longtime neighbors disappearing as more white people move into her Brooklyn neighborhood. The story explores racism, gentrification and the erasure of Black history, while also being an intense ride that even makes room for a dash of romance.
Advertisement
'When No One Is Watching' by Alyssa ColeCredit: HarperCollins
— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
In addition to When No One Is Watching, Richardson would also like to see Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray catch the attention of someone in Hollywood.
"That was a book that I really love that is historical fiction about this woman named Jessie Fauset, who was the right-hand man to W.E.B Du Bois, his mistress," Richardson explains. "And I just love highlighting the woman behind the veil, because there are so many men that are highlighted in history and we never know those people who actually catapulted their lives. And she actually was one of the pioneers of the Harlem Renaissance's literary community."
Iantha Richardson on 'Will Trent'Credit: Disney/Daniel Delgado Jr.
Richardson wants to start her own book club in the future, but for now, she's sharing her current reads with her followers on TikTok whenever she can. As for the books she can't stop recommending right now, she wants everyone to check out The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins, Set Piece: An 831 Stories Romance by Lana Schwartz and Audre & Bash Are Just Friends by Tia Williams, which she says is "so sweet and heartfelt and nostalgic."
The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!
New episodes of Will Trent premiere Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. EST on ABC and are available to stream the next day on Hulu.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
