High Potential

admonition : contain SPOILERS for the season stopping point of gamy Potential . The time of year finale ofHigh Potentialended on a treble cliffhanger , with big implications for the show ’s promise return . Seconds after Morgan agnize she ’s the slayer ’s new target , Karadec reveals that Roman is active . Season 1 , episode 13 , " Let ’s spiel " lives up to its name , with Morgan now trapped in a secret plan of liveliness or death . The stakes feel eminent than ever , but hearing can rest easy knowing that season 2 has already been greenlit by ABC .

While the series was create byThe Matrix 5director Drew Goddard , producer and showrunner Todd Harthan has head the writers elbow room and shepherd the show ’s vision to pass completion . Harthan is a meshing tv set veteran , having worked on an telling list of series which includesThe Resident , 9 - 1 - 1 : Lone Star , andRosewood . The show starsIt ’s Always cheery in Philadelphia’sKaitlin Olsonas Morgan Gillory , a champion who is enlisted by the police force to help oneself solve unsolvable crimes .

High Potential headliner Kaitlin Olson reveals what convinced her to star in the series after almost slip by on the critically acclaimed ABC play .

High Potential (2024)

ScreenRantinterviewsTodd Harthanabout the biggest character reference development of theHigh Potentialseason 1 finale . The showrunner dove late into Morgan ’s life and relationships , spill shocking role bit , and search the view behind the show ’s overarching villain . Harthan also teased what TV audience can wait fromHigh Potentialseason 2 .

Harthan Wants High Potential’s New Villain To Remain True To The Show’s DNA

“I couldn’t let it dip too close into that level of darkness and brutality.”

ScreenRant : First , we need to speak about the terrorise game the team had to toy throughout this slip . It feel very Jigsaw , so what enliven you to put that together for the finale ?

Todd Harthan : Right when I was coming onto this show , I was sketching out instalment ideas that I like , and there ’s other procedural serial publication that I ’ve loved that [ have ] had that serialized scoundrel , but I did n’t know what it was because I did n’t quite have my weapon around the tonus and what the DNA of this show was really going to depend like week to calendar week .

Once I got my weaponry around that , when we beat to talk about the finish , I thought , “ Well , if we ’re live to do it , it has to be somebody really , really impertinent that ’s playing a secret plan . ” The challenge was – you reference Jigsaw , but I could n’t let it dip too close into that level of darkness and brutality because it feel like a tonal departure and too depressing . It was like , “ Okay , how can we have our patty and eat it too ? ”

Blended image of Morgan and the LAPD team in the High Potential season 1 finale

Custom Image by Simone Ashmoore

And then we just cooked up this thought of , “ Well , it is benighted and it is slick and it is scary in many esteem , but let ’s give our team victories along the way to offset that dark , ” so it was n’t drift too deep into serial killer territory . It was tricky . I always wanted to do it because I love a serialized villain , but it was a surd one to nail tonally . This is where we landed , and I think it ’s a footling bit foggy , but I think it worked .

Going off of that , the orca is after Morgan . Is he choosing her because she was able to solve the teaser , or is there a personal connection that we might rule out about ?

Todd Harthan : I think it was aspiration . He did n’t know , going into this journey , that Morgan was out there – that this unicorn was go to solve these puzzles in the mode that she did . It ’s like when artists get inspired by other artists , and so this is the person that he has chosen . It ’s luck . The adept align .

Morgan smiling as she hands a note in High Potential

“ I found this wonderful person to run these games with me . ” The hope for the audience move onwards is , “ Well , when will he adjudicate to play again , and what will that game be ? How will the secret plan alter ? ” So , that was the thinking . As far as a connective to the backstory … wow , you never lie with . I mean , when that writer ’s room opens , who knows ?

Viewers Will Learn More About Roman’s Disappearance In High Potential Season 2

“It’s not hopefully something that the audience will predict, but it’s something we’re going to map out.”

Roman is active . We also know he was working as an FBI informant . How will this new entropy encroachment Morgan in time of year 2 ?

Todd Harthan : The truth is that when we gather all the writers , it ’s one of the first thing we ’ll start mapping out . When we ended last time of year , we had some notions about , “ Oh , well , now we ’ve fill in some of the blanks , ” but I also love to pull up the carpet out from underneath your feet when you recollect , “ We ’re expire to meet him , he ’s going to start answer questions , and in sequence 1 , season 2 , here it comes . ”

I cogitate what you ’ll learn next class is that his disappearing and where he run low and why he ended up there was really , really complicated . And it ’s not hopefully something that the audience will predict , but it ’s something we ’re going to represent out . I will credibly get in trouble for saying this , but sometimes I go , “ This is a really compelling , interesting mode to end a season , and I ’m support myself into a really terrifying storey niche that I have to fight my way out of with some other marvellous brains in the writer ’s elbow room . ”

Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) and Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) in High Potential season 1, episode 13.

And I fuck that challenge . I fuck that challenge . So , the brusk resolution is I do n’t really know on the nose where we ’re plump to take it next season , and that ’s terrific and exciting at the same time , but I would just need to get it proper . I desire to get it right .

Gio is n’t who we think . It seems like he almost had a family relationship with Roman . Is that part of why he ’s willing to help Morgan ?

Todd Harthan : Yes , I think so . And he ’s one of my favourite player on the planet – Domenick Lombardozzi . I ’ve worked with him a duo sentence , and I remember that fictitious character has a band more to say and is going to be potentially helpful in the next chapter of the Roman story in surprising ways . It ’s on the add-in is one of those things where I go , “ I do n’t know how I ’m going to use this key ingredient , the Gio character , again in time of year 2 , but I get laid it and I recollect it will play in . ”

Karadec (Daniel Sunjata), Selena (Judy Reyes), Morgan (Kaitlin Olson), Oz (Deniz Akdeniz), and Daphne (Javicia Leslie) in High Potential episode 13.

There ’s a second at the end of one of the episode where he say , “ He was a good guy . ” Gio fundamentally speak to this man ’s character , so I think there was a kinship with them before they split . hold out back to the author ’s room , one of the thing we also thought really got Gio to tip in was sit across from Morgan and check the toughness and the spine of this woman , but also the vulnerability and the heartbreak of this woman .

I recall it spoke to his humanity , and I think that ’s why he help too . So it ’s just a complicated , interesting human relationship . I love those two together . Kaitlin and Dom , the doer , are just wonderful together , so I suppose you ’ll see more of it in season 2 .

We learned that Oz lost his male parent not too long ago , and he ’s having hassle coping . Are we going to determine more about that and his personal life in time of year 2 ?

Kaitlin Olson as Morgan at the police gala in High Potential season 1, episode 13.

Todd Harthan : We will . It ’s one of my … not magnanimous regrets . It would ’ve been had we not produce renewed . I have this ensemble and they ’re all grand , and we scarcely cancel the surface of who they are , where they fall from , their preceding hurt , and all that . We gave the interview a little glimpse of that with Oz , and yeah , of course we are [ going to learn more about him ] . I think that we will learn a lot more about him in season 2 .

Judy Reyes is a revelation – she ’s amazing – and so we ’re start to get the picture into Lieutenant Soto ’s , life a niggling bit deeper . Javicia [ Leslie ] is unbelievable … the tout ensemble ’s great . [ Oz ’s story ] was a little giving to the audience of , “ appear how awesome this actor is , and this is the promise of even more revelations about these hoi polloi ’s lives and backstories . ” And now we have however many episodes we do next twelvemonth to search that .

Karadec Will “Desperately Need” Morgan In High Potential Season 2

“The nice thing about having a season 2 is seeing them together and seeing how they have each other’s backs in the darkest of times.”

Karadec and Morgan , our fresh favored adjective ship , share a pretty intimate consequence when he state her , “ I want to take on this encumbrance for you . It matter to you , so it matter to me . ” What did it think for Morgan to hear that from him ?

Todd Harthan : She does n’t believe slowly , and I think that she ’s been believably stabbed in the back more than the great unwashed have wind their arm around her categorically . [ If ] you suppose about where they started out at the commencement of the time of year and where they end up , I think we ’re build towards that variety of dedication and trustfulness that she welcomes , but is unfamiliar with because she has n’t experienced it a lot . So , I think it meant a ton .

The skillful thing about having a season 2 is see them together and see how they have each other ’s backs in the darkest of times because the table are fail to rick at some item , and Karadec ’s go to desperately need her . I make love the relationship . I get it on the friendship that ’s built up , and yes , they ’re two gorgeous people that there ’s an attracter and all that stuff , but first and foremost , I opine it ’s a wonderful partnership .

Headshot Of Kaitlin Olson In The New York Premiere of Focus Features of ‘Champions’.

I also want to talk about Ava because she go from thinking her father abandoned her to making this photo album in case he comes back . What kind of pressure does that put on Morgan to bring him home ?

Todd Harthan : I imagine you ’ve hear it in multiple episodes . It weighs on her intemperately because she , in many ways , has go on with her life . She started another relationship . She had two more children with Ludo and all that , but the dark swarm hangs directly over her daughter ’s header , and will until they get the answer that they need . It ’s one of the main thing that keeps her up at night , so it ’ll be a huge driving force in season 2 , but she ’s horror-struck by it run short badly .

Even when you find him , you do n’t have a go at it what that looks like and you ’re potentially throw off a bomb into your daughter ’s spirit . In many respects , you have to think that there are day where Morgan goes , “ Wow , as hard as it would be , possibly it would ’ve been better if we never started looking , ” correct ? Because with time and distance , maybe the pain and trauma of him being gone buzz off to be a little bit less and less . So , it ’s a complicated journey for her , but that ’s the fun thing to compose to , and hopefully the audience is on that drive with us .

Headshot Of Javicia Leslie In The 2022 Outfest Legacy Awards Gala at Paramount Studios

In show like this where you have a protagonist who ’s so skilled and so ripe at outsmarting everyone , what do you find is the best manner to challenge them ?

Todd Harthan : A select example is the instalment “ Gone Girls ” , when , as brilliant as Morgan is , she ’s an emotional being and emotions can sometimes get in the way of how brilliant you are , [ your ] common sense in many respects , and it can get in the way of your health . In that sequence , she had cripple insomnia and was burning the both remainder and in the end tear on the copper at some point .

I recall it ’s [ about ] putting her in state of affairs that test her heart , examine her emotions , and take out at her heartstrings . But look , it ’s not well-heeled . I ’m not a genius , it turns out , but when you ’re write for a genius , it ’s quite slippery to put certain challenge and obstacles in their way .

High Potential

One of the big things is people in stead of mogul that are obnoxious , and that underestimate her . Those are rugged place for her because , again , sometimes she just snaps . Here ’s a prime example : Elliot did n’t get invite to the birthday party and that youngster was being so mean to him , and she almost blacked out and just started laying into this youngster . She gets triggered , so “ What are the things that will activate Morgan ? ” , I retrieve , are really fun to write to . But it ’s firmly . It ’s challenging . It ’s not well-to-do to break these installment of television receiver . It ’s aged me .

in conclusion , we did study a little scrap about Morgan ’s father , and how she was made to find bad for participate in unsubdivided activities . Will we also plunk into Morgan ’s childhood and the struggles of being an HPI ?

Todd Harthan : Oh my gosh , of course of action . And by the way , Kaitlin has a big appetite for that too , the darker side of HPI , her struggles , how she produce up , and how it made her feel isolated and alone in many respects . I think that with more existent landed estate and more stories to differentiate , we ’re going to dive deeply into the relationship with her parents , with her adolescence , what that looked like , and all those thing .

You look at her relationship with Elliot – she ’s so hyper - protective of him in this cosmos because it ’s an pitiless position for people like them in many respects . So , yeah , we ’re going to dig really late into her past and hit all those promissory note in season 2 and hopefully beyond .

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About ABC’s High Potential

write by Drew Goddard ( The Good Place , The Martian ) and star Kaitlin Olson , High Potential stick to a single mom with an exceptional mind , whose unlawful knack for solving criminal offense lead to an unusual and unstoppable partnership with a by - the - book seasoned investigator ( Daniel Sunjata ) .

Check out our other interview with theHigh Potentialcast :

High Potentialseason 1 is available to pour on Hulu .

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