Of all the network shows returning to primetime on the 2025 TV schedule, I gotta say that ABC’s High Potential hovers near the top, in large part due to the murder-fueled dramedy laying out three cliffhangers in its Season 1 finale. Many shows can’t pull off ONE good cliffhanger, so Kaitlin Olson’s Morgan dealing with a troublesome trio is a sign of the creative team’s talents. I’ve worried that Season 2 will keep audiences waiting for follow-ups and resolutions, but Olson and co-star Daniel Sunjata hare allayed my fretting.
Just for a quick refresher: the episode “Let’s Play” ended with Morgan realizing she’d unwittingly made contact with the mystery Gamemaster killer portrayed by David Giuntoli, and that they might have some kind of underlying connection. Second, Karadec got some information from Domenick Lombardozzi’s Conforth that will supposedly lead to Morgan’s long-missing husband Roman’s current location. Third, Morgan’s would-be romance with JD Pardo’s Tom was upended when she ghosted him at the LAPD banquet. (The actor’s new Netflix show makes his return less likely, too.)
Thankfully, the creative team seems to be aware that fans will be hungry for answers. ABC’s On The Red Carpet TikTok account shared a video featuring interview footage with Kaitlin Olson and Daniel Sunjata, and they directly addressed the cliffhangers in a series of back-and-forth clips, saying:
- KAITLIN OLSON: We left you on a three-part cliffhanger, basically.
- DANIEL SUNJATA: I do know that Season 2 picks up just a few days after the last cliffhangers.
- KAITLIN OLSON: We have a two-part opener addressing all of the things that happened at the end of the last episode.
- DANIEL SUNJATA: We're just looking forward to doing more of the same.
Hot damn! Obviously no major details were shared that would already give us answers for any of the dangling plot threads, but it's very helpful to know what the timeline will be when the new episodes start back up.
Understandably, not that much time will have passed between the Season 1 finale's events and the new season's opening act. I'm always baffled when shows make huge time-leaps between seasons, and viewers are meant to believe that nothing plot-forwarding would have happened in the meantime.
Plus, there's so much to dig into, High Potential can't even cover it all in just a single episode. All hail the two-part opener! Exactly how everything will be addressed is still up in the air, but I'd expect the answers to come out all while Morgan, Karadec and others are working on a new case.
Kaitlin Olson did dig a little deeper into where Morgan's head is at in Season 2, and why she might not have the same glow of confidence this time around, saying:
Really, I just think Morgan is going to start to like really second-guess what she's gotten herself into. I'm so obsessed with this character. I think she's so fantastic. I love how underestimated she always is and that she always figures everything out and she thinks she doesn't need anybody. But she's going to find out that she does actually need these guys to help.
Considering Morgan and Tom's potential relationship kept falling apart over her inability to shut her work-brain off in order to focus on her personal happiness, I can only hope that realizing she should accept help from others allows her to dissolve some of that afterhours stress. Even if Tom may not be around anymore for the wooing, I'm sure someone else will step up. (I'm not a Morgan/Karadec shipper, though, so I'm hoping for others.)
High Potential's showrunner previously addressed the idea that Season 2 will explore Morgan and Ludo's backstory to give fans a look at how they went from lovers to exes to friendly co-parents. But Taran Killam also landed another TV show in the meantime, making me question how heavily he'll be used in the second season.
Join me in continuing this long wait for more episodes, as High Potential is set to return to ABC for Season 2 starting on Tuesday, September 17.