Ariana Madix Teases Taking a Comic Turn as Herself on ‘Will Trent’ (Exclusive)

Will Trent doesn’t only follow the title character’s escapades as a special agent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. It is also the story of the homicide division of the Atlanta Police Department where Michael Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin) and Angie Polaski (Erika Christensen) handle murder cases.

They’ve also been known to add a little comic relief to the story. And on tonight’s “Abigail B.” episode, while Will (Ramón Rodríguez) teams up with Marion (Gina Rodriguez) to investigate a chilling child trafficking case, Ormewood is moonlighting as a bodyguard to help pay for his divorce and supplies some very funny moments while doing so.

While he’s initially reluctant to take the job, the lure of providing Ariana Madix–playing herself–with personal security lures Ormewood in.

“They had the episode idea floating around. And they were coming up with names to figure out who was going to need security,” Madix tells Parade of how she came to be a part of the show. “And my name happened to be one of the names in the hat. I’m glad that they chose me. It was so much fun, so incredibly written by Antoine [Perry]; he’s an amazing writer. Very cool show to be a part of.”

While the script was being written, Perry and Madix had several conversations. While she is billed as playing herself, it’s actually a very heightened version of who she really is. And they were inventing some wild and crazy skills and talents that she could possess.

“We find out throughout the episode that she can do all these things that no one knew that she could do,” Madix says. “We threw in the idea of, ‘What if she jumps out a window?’ and I said, ‘Make it the most over-the-top thing. Whatever you can think of, I’m down to do it. Let’s do it, let’s make it happen.’”

We don’t want to spoil too much because all of the things that Madix does in the script add to the fun. And she always has a good reason why she knows how to do them. But the ability to speak Cantonese is one that came from her real life.

“They said, ‘Are you familiar with any languages?’ and I was like, ‘Well, not really.’ But I had been studying Cantonese for a few months prior because I was going on a trip to China with my boyfriend [Daniel Wai] and his family. And so because I had been practicing that, I said, ‘Well, if I’m going to speak another language, I think Cantonese is probably the one I’ll be the most familiar with right now.’”

So, that was added to Madix’s bag of tricks for the episode. Truth be told, when Madix flew to Atlanta to film her role, she questioned how to play herself, especially the heightened version that was in the script. So in the end, she started thinking of it more as playing a character.

“I started thinking about, ‘Well, what are some of the things that people who don’t know me as a person might think that this is what she might be like?’ So, I started thinking about that. I knew I had to roll my eyes, I had to have a bit of this attitude of how I am as a character. But what’s really cool is I think that throughout the episode you get one side and then you start to see other sides of the character. So, it’s really fun to be able to have that arc, you know?”

Of course, when we think of bodyguards, Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston come to mind. And while Ormewood may not be facing the same dangers as Costner did in saving Houston’s life in the movie, he does have to take on some bad guys.

“He’s the coolest bodyguard,” Madix says. “He’s so much fun. Honestly, Jake is super, super fun to work with. We had such a great time just chatting and getting to know each other on set and hanging out. Honestly, a very, very warm, very welcoming person, which is great because when you’re coming onto something as a guest star and these are people who work together all the time, you never know what it’s going to be like.”

And on a fun note, there is an actual homage to The Bodyguard movie in the TV script.

“We do have that moment where we really tried to nail what the VHS movie cover photo was to really get that reference in there,” Madix shares.

What may be surprising is that in real life, Madix has never hired private security for herself. In fact, the only time she remembers having security was when filming the opening for the Love Island reunion, they had security in Times Square. In real life, she can go out and about just like the rest of us.

“I don’t think I can afford it, to be honest,” Madix admits. “I think it’s a little outside of my price range. But that being said, I do just go to the store, and if somebody takes a hideous photo of me, so be it. My life is a lot less exciting than the Ariana Madix that’s in the episode’s life.”

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