‘Found’: Brett Dalton Teases Trent’s Reaction to Heather’s ‘Ultimate Betrayal’

“That’s just the way it goes for old Detective Trent,” Brett Dalton says of the latest twist on Found involving his character.

Trent just discovered that the lawyer he’s been seeing, Heather (Danielle Savre), is now representing Sir (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) — the man who kidnapped Gabi (Shanola Hampton), his previous love interest/woman he clearly still loves, as a teen. What also hasn’t been easy for him? An old case of his father’s resurfaced involving missing kids (who ended up being reunited with their family as adults), thanks to Sir; his dad made some poor choices during his investigation.

Below, Dalton reacts to that Heather twist, teases what it means for Trent’s new relationship, and more.

What was your reaction to Heather representing Sir? When did you find out that twist?

Brett Dalton: The script along with everyone else. We don’t have much of a heads up with things that they have up their sleeve, and so it’s just as much of a surprise to us reading this as it is, I think, for the viewers watching it, so it’s pretty shocking.

I kind of knew that just based on the way Trent’s life seems to be working out, that there was going to be some problems along the way. The guy cannot catch a break, so of course he’s got a love interest now, but it of course gets way more complicated than he ever imagined. So I feel bad for Trent. It’s like one of the few times he ever went out and put Gabi out of his mind for a little while, goes to a bar, meets someone, pursues something, and all of a sudden now he’s in another mess. So that’s just the way it goes for old Detective Trent. [Laughs]

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But what does this mean for their relationship? What can you preview about what’s next for them as Trent processes that versus the absolute shock that it was when she walked in?

Yeah, I see what you mean. Trent is definitely a man of principles, and I think that this is crossing a real line for him. He may have a soft spot for Gabi, but at the end of the day, he always does what’s right and it seems that Heather deciding to represent Sir is probably crossing the line. I feel like their days may be numbered given this information. And it’s also kind of like the ultimate betrayal. I mean, this is somebody that I promised to catch for the sake of Gabi and for the sake of justice, but I mean, especially for Gabi, and here we are. Every one of these characters is in a pickle for sure, and this seems to be one with, I don’t know, extra brine. That’s the worst metaphor ever.

It’s like what Trent and Gabi talk about — this gives Sir such a big advantage with the jury also because the woman who was shot by his brother forgives him.

Yes, exactly. Exactly. It just becomes so much more complicated. I mean, there’s so many ethical lines that are crossed in this that it’s like the act of ultimate betrayal.

We are finally getting Trent and Sir scenes, which I am so enjoying after the buildup to them. They’ve all been so good this season. Talk about filming those.

Ever since I saw the jail cell and all of that, I was like, my God, I cannot wait to be in here. It’s contained, it’s scary. It’s the way they light it — I mean, it is on a film set and stuff, but the way they’re lighting it, the music changes, the lighting changes, all of a sudden, we’re in this world. It’s kind of akin to the basement in a way, in that it is a very contained structure and it is almost Sir’s world, even though it was in Gabi’s basement originally. This is a man who may be physically contained at the moment but is mentally so far ahead of the game all the time. And so it becomes not like a physical arm wrestling thing or something like that or physical confrontation, but it is almost always a battle of wits. And there is always so much at stake and there’s so much happening that is both said and unsaid. It’s a really exciting space to be in.

And I’m such a fan of Mark-Paul and what he’s doing with the character and anytime you are in a scene with Sir, you know that something is about to go down. Even if you do think that you win, maybe you actually haven’t by the end of the episode. So it’s great. You’re going up against almost like a supervillain, it’s fantastic. I love the scenes with him.

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Is there anything about Sir that’s surprising Trent now that he’s interacting with him versus just what he’s heard?

Maybe? I do think that a huge surprise for Trent [was the case with] the children that his father was responsible for. I think that up until now, I’m sure that he had nothing but admiration — Obviously, Trent has a complicated relationship with his father, but I think that in terms of police work, he always saw him as raising the bar and that he was almost like a mythical figure in the police force and that he was incredibly good at his job and made a huge name for himself. And so the fact that any of that is even called into doubt is a big deal for Trent. And so I think that that was a surprise for Trent for sure. And I think that interacting with Sir, I mean, that’s the thing with him, sometimes when you think you have won, you really haven’t. I wonder, too, if he’s walking in thinking like, okay, well, maybe I could take him in a fistfight or something like that. Maybe not. I mean, you never really know what to expect with Sir. He’s always so many steps ahead of the game. So I think that it is kind of surprising that someone who should be a non-threat essentially is still creating so much chaos within his detention.

In Episode 215, Trent tells Sir that his family’s legacy, while tarnished a little, remains intact. But how does Trent feel about his father after that case?

That’s a very insightful question.

Does he even not know because it was just such a shock?

I mean, that is a very interesting question. You gave me pause. I guess I’ll have to think about that. I think that at least for me, when you get older, there is a point at which you see your parents as human. And I think that maybe for Trent, this is a moment that he realizes that his own father is human. He may have made mistakes, and I think a certain point he thought that his dad maybe crossed an ethical line.

But I think by the end of that episode, he realizes that maybe Trent himself would’ve made different choices along the way, but his father’s heart and head were in the right place and the circumstances were incredibly difficult and he still has a lot of respect and affirmation, I think, for his father. But maybe he questions for a moment a little bit of the police work going on, but this is a really tough, complicated, messy job and there have been a number of things that you just can’t anticipate and you do your best along the way and maybe he sees that this is not a perfect science. We are trying our best as detectives to work for justice and do our best and do things along the lines of what’s right and what’s wrong. And no matter what we do, there will always be a point where we are questioning ourselves and what the right move is. And sometimes something is the right move on paper, but then in real life, it actually doesn’t quite bear out that way. But maybe he sees his father as a human who made a mistake.

Found, Thursdays, 10/9c, NBC