Note: This story contains spoilers from “High Potential” Season 2, Episode 18.
Just as things were heating up between Kaitlin Olson’s Morgan and Steve Howey’s Nick Wagner in “High Potential,” the Season 2 finale took a deadly turn that put both their romance — and the captain’s life — on the line.
In the Season 2 finale, Wagner meets an FBI ghost that has information on Roman, but by the time Morgan finds him in the park, he’s been shot, with blood dripping from his back as Morgan calls 9-1-1, leaving his fate hanging in the balance. Alongside the discovery that Roman might’ve been involved in a murder, the tragedy sees Morgan’s “whole world crashing down,” and the worst part is, “it’s all her fault,” according to Olson.
“It’s all because she opened up this Pandora’s box of trying to figure out where Roman went … I think that she’s probably thinking, ‘If I had just kept my mouth shut and just gone on about my life and been selfless and taking care of the kids … then none of this would happen,’” Olson told TheWrap. “She’s feeling like … all of this happened because she was selfish — which I personally don’t think is true; I think people deserve to have answers — but it has to feel to her that this is all her fault and that she is responsible for his death — if he’s dead.”
Wagner’s injury comes just hours after Morgan receives information from Willa Quinn (Jennifer Jason Leigh) that Roman was involved in a murder, which Olson notes Morgan is taking with a grain of salt, noting “she’s not necessarily that trustworthy.” Regardless of what actually happened, Olson noted that Morgan realized she “doesn’t even care anymore and that this has gone way too far.”
“It’s also terrifying that maybe she can’t trust her instincts and her gut for the past 15 years … I can’t think of anything scarier,” Olson said. “It’s so overwhelming, but also potentially not true. I think she just wants the whole thing to stop and that it doesn’t matter anymore … She just doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. At this point it’s become way too much.”
The last moments of the finale also see the flash of a shadow at Ava’s art show that gives a glimmer of hope for Roman to make an appearance soon, a possibility even Olson is pushing for as the series approaches its third installment. “I’m not sure people are going to care much [longer] — You can’t go three seasons stringing it out,” Olson said. “Everything’s still up in the air and having tons of discussions, but I personally think that we should find some some answers pretty soon.”
All will be revealed when “High Potential” returns for Season 3 this fall, which will have a new showrunner at the helm as Todd Harthan departs to focus on the Disney+ live action series “Eragon.” Olson unpacked the selection for the new showrunner as well as Morgan’s love interest and what’s next below. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
TheWrap: These last few episodes have seen Morgan as well as Karadec and Wagner grapple with the realization that the people they love can do bad things. Did that ever cross Morgan’s mind as a possibility for Roman?
Olson: No, definitely not. I think you see in the pilot her conviction about the fact that no one’s believed her for 15 years, but that she knows that he would not have left, and I think, as an actor, at least in the performance of it, I think she still has to believe that. She’s completely thrown and has no idea what is true, but she’s certainly wrong about something. Not being able to trust yourself when you’re always the smartest person in the room has to be the scariest thing.
The finale also sees Morgan comforting Karadec after learning of Lucia’s involvement in the case. How did Morgan tow that line with that initial discovery?
I love that she says she doesn’t want to be right about this. Listen, she really loves him, and they have a really beautiful relationship, and whether or not that’s romantic is still sort of TBD. But she certainly doesn’t want to see him hurt and and the fact that she’s the one that figured it out, it just doesn’t feel good. It’s something we set out to explore this season — all the ways in which having an IQ of 160 is challenging and not exciting … I don’t want to know all of this, I don’t want to remember it. I don’t want to be able to notice things that give me answers that I don’t want to have to tell people.
She’s also been there for Nick, especially after that case brought up feelings from his fiancée’s death. What did she make of it turning romantic between them? Had it been something she was thinking about?
I think she instantly was attracted to him when they met at the elevator. Her whole journey with him was trying to figure out what his interest in her was and if he wanted something from her, or if he was attracted to her. And he was kind of all over the place, seems like he’s using her for a while, almost gets her fired in an episode where he’s using her when she’s in detective school, and so she doesn’t trust him. It hopefully played that it took him a while to get her trust back, because I think her natural instinct is just to put a wall up and not let people in so she can’t get hurt or used — I imagine her whole life because she’s so smart, people are using her for one reason or another — and so he really had to buy that back … opening up about what happened to his fiancée and being vulnerable with her really helped that.
There’s already something there by the time she asks him about potentially working with his father, does she trust him completely after that?
I think that she chooses to trust him. The scene at the beach house where he explains what happened to his fiancée, and then she just wants to put him to bed, and he almost kisses her — she doesn’t kiss him because it’s not the right time; he’s thinking about someone else and he’s drunk. That doesn’t mean that she doesn’t want to kiss him, though. I think once they go through the whole thing together, and he saves her life, once he kisses her in the elevator, it’s very mutual. And I think she trusts him at that point.
I love that the elevator scenes mirror each other. What was it like filming that kiss?
It was so fun. First of all, I thought it was really beautifully choreographed. Nancy Howard directed that episode, and she had a very specific idea in mind of what she wanted that kiss to look like. I wanted to make sure it was very different from the kiss with the art collective — that was just a drunken thing. If you watch that episode, that was very motivated by Morgan’s frustration about Wagner yelling at her, so I think she’s been attracted to this captain from the second that she met him, so Nancy had a really very clear idea what she wanted it to look like, and thought it was lit really beautifully. It was great. I loved it.
Is she at all open to starting a relationship with him or would it be just a fling?
I think she’s open … I think she actually really has feelings for him. It sort of needs to be that to pay off where the season ends up. I don’t think it’s a fling. I think she’s been really attracted to him the whole time, and then having him open up and hearing … he had this woman who he was in love with, and she died in his arms and his vulnerability, I think, is really attractive to her. She thinks this is the beginning of something.
What can you tease about what comes next for Season 3? What are your hopes for Morgan next season?
We’re just trying to figure it out. I think we got to figure out what happened to Roman pretty quickly. The Morgan-Karadec of it all is always going to be fun … how do they help each other through this double heartbreak. Everything else is just still up in the air.
It’s also been fun to see Daphne and Oz getting pulled to the forefront and deepening some of the family conflict as well. How do you hope to keep doing for next season?
I think that’s really important. It’s hard in the first two seasons of a show, because you’re really trying to establish what it is, and especially when there’s one character at the heart of it. But it’s so important to figure out who the rest of these people are and what I want to dig deeper into the the emotional side … it was really wonderful to meet Oz’s mom. I think we need to dive into Lieutenant Soto much deeper, and bring her personal life into it a little bit, because … she’s doing her job at work, but she’s also breaking a lot of rules, and she’s doing a lot of personal and emotional things for Morgan, so I want to know who this woman is a little bit more.
There will be a showrunner shift as Todd leaves to focus on “Eragon.” Whats it been like saying goodbye to Todd and what’s the word on a new showrunner?
We are in the process of figuring all of those things out. Todd is such a wonderful human. I’m very excited to watch his new series and I love him. He just did such a good job with this season, and he’s going to be there if we need him in whatever capacity.
We are interviewing and talking and really trying to figure out who the next person iis going to be. I’m so picky and I’m so particular, and this show is so special to me. It’s not just one tone — it’s not the easiest thing in the world to do. I mean, it’s a murder procedural but … it’s also a really character-driven show, and there’s also this woman at the heart of it. I don’t want to ever lose the fact that she’s fun — I love our big dramatic episodes, but I also love when she flies off the handle and … I like being an unpredictable wild card. I never really want to lose any of that. So gotta find somebody who can do all of that.
You’ve been an EP from the start. How has the team navigated maintaining the core mystery through now two showrunner shifts? How has your dual role in production help navigate that?
Lots of communication. I’m just an over-communicator. I’m a collaborator. I love to throw ideas around and what if this, what if this, what if this, and then eventually something happens where everyone gets excited about it, and that’s how you know to go in that direction.
“High Potential” Seasons 1-2 are now streaming on Hulu.
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