Why Was Amanda Written Off ‘Will Trent’? And Did Sonja Sohn Have a Say?

Amanda Wagner (Sonja Sohn) is gone, but she won’t be forgotten that easily. Season 4, Episode 15 delivered quite the heartbreaking scene as viewers watched Amanda take in her last breaths on Will Trent. While she thought pursuing a lead solo was a good idea, Adelaide was one step ahead of her and had one of her guys take her out, leaving Amanda dead for Will to find.

But that comes after Adelaide gives a hint about where she is, letting Will know who’s behind his boss’s death.

Fans are given one last moment with Amanda in Episode 16, which aired on April 21, showing Will reliving Amanda’s final moments, making it an especially difficult episode to watch.

While it was certainly a twist in the plot that added intensity to the show, fans are now wondering why Amanda left Will Trent in the first place. Did the actor have a scheduling conflict? Here’s what we know.

Amanda left Will Trent because the showrunners decided to take the series in a new direction that would allow a “reset” for the characters and change up the storyline. In other words, it wasn’t Sonja Sohn’s decision to leave Will Trent — it was written into the script.

That said, Sonja was aware of Amanda’s death “early on” and reportedly accepted the news with “an impressive amount of grace,” according to showrunners Liz Heldens, Daniel T. Thomsen, and Karine Rosenthal, who spoke with Variety in April 2026. So it wasn’t a situation where Amanda’s death was suddenly sprung on her, as we’ve seen happen in other projects. She actually had time to process and digest the news, even if that’s not the outcome she wanted for her character.

According to an Instagram post shared on April 19, 2026, by Sonja, it doesn’t seem like this is the path she would have chosen for Amanda. In the post, Sonja tells viewers, “It’s just a job … when you get a pink slip, baby, you don’t ask why, you just say goodbye,” which sounds like she didn’t have much say in the matter.

While the cast, including Sonja, was obviously saddened to see Amanda written out, her death does open up the possibility for new storylines.

As the showrunners explained to Variety, it “sets off a chain of events that is going to take us to the end of the season” and “gives us the opportunity for a completely new dynamic in the GBI, because her replacement will not have that same relationship with Will.”

They also noted that killing off a character who was so close to Will creates “a reset for our characters in a way that is painful but exciting for Season 5.”

Basically, Amanda’s exit was very much part of the plan.

Since Amanda is out of the Will Trent character lineup, though she’ll likely still be mentioned often as the story continues, Sonja says she has plenty more to offer fans, which is taking shape in a memoir she’s already started writing.

In that same Instagram post where she discussed her exit from the show, Sonja shares that her first chapter dives right into how she almost got written off The Wire and will explore much more about her life and career.

So if you’re a Sonja fan, don’t worry, she’s got plenty more to give you.