While Kaitlin Olson is best known for playing Dee in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, her latest role takes a step away from the usual narcissism, vulgarness and general lack of morals seen in FX’s hit.
In High Potential, she plays Morgan, a single mother of three with an impressive IQ of 160. Morgan has an extremely valuable ability to take one look at things and solve problems easily thanks to her photographic memory, obsessive attention to detail and encyclopaedic knowledge.
This skill accidentally lands her in the world of solving crimes for the LAPD, despite having no background in the policing world. That’s much to the chagrin of Adam Karadec, a well-established detective who prefers to do things by the book. It’s a similar premise to the UK hit Ludwig, with an American twist.
While episodes of High Potential are still rolling out in the UK, all of them are now available to stream in the US. But will the show return for more? We’ve rounded up everything you need to know.
Is High Potential getting a season 2?
Yes – ABC renewed High Potential in January 2025 according to Deadline.
The same article reveals that season 2 is likely to be longer than the first, which had 13 episodes in total.
Disney
When could High Potential season 2 be released?
ABC hasn’t yet announced when High Potential will return, but Kaitlin Olson revealed in a Q&A at a London screening of the premiere for Disney+ (where Tech Advisor was present) when filming is expected to begin:
“I just wrapped Hacks… yeah so season four just finished, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia… I finished the end of last year – season 17 is coming out… in the spring, I believe. And I’m gonna go home and be a mum for a couple months and then we start shooting this again in May.”
For reference, the first season began filming the pilot episode back in March 2023 and resumed production for the rest of the season once the show was picked up a year later – so March 2024, finishing in the late summer after a short break due to a showrunner switchover.
The first season hit screens in America in September 2024, so quite a quick turnaround from production to release.
Assuming that there aren’t the same delays in production for season 2, there is a chance that High Potential could return in fall 2025 to coincide with ABC’s new season schedule – the same time as season 1 hit screens in 2024.
However, the production kick-off date is later than the first season. Plus, Deadline’s article states that this will be a larger season, so filming may take longer and the release may be later than anticipated – possibly pushing the High Potential season 2 air date to 2026.
The UK may also get a delayed release, just as it did with season 1. Once we know more, we’ll update this article.
Disney
High Potential season 2 cast – who is returning?
The only cast member we know is returning for certain is Kaitlin Olson as Morgan Gillroy – after all, the show does revolve around her.
Other actors we can expect to return include:
- Daniel Sunjata as Adam Karadec
- Javicia Leslie as Daphne Forrester
- Deniz Akdeniz as Lev “Oz” Ozdil
- Judy Reyes as Selena Soto
- Amirah J as Ava Sinquerra
- Matthew Lamb as Elliot Radovic
- David Giuntoli as David Peck
What will the plot be for High Potential season 2?
Spoilers for High Potential season 1 below
No log line for season 2 has yet been revealed, but Olson’s interview at the UK Disney+ premiere gave us some clues as to what might be explored in season 2 – one of which includes Morgan’s past family life:
“We didn’t have time to delve into her childhood, but that is the plan to sort of look into what happened when she was a kid. We sort of hint a little bit at not having a great relationship with her father later on in the season.”
Olson also expressed an interest in finding more about what goes on in other lives of the detectives such as Karadec and Soto and seeing the story of Ava’s missing father and Morgan’s ex, Roman, unfolding, though details are still being ironed out:
“…honestly, our writer’s room has only been up for one week, so it’s brand new”.
Roman will likely be key to the plot, as at the end of season 1 it was revealed that Karadec knew he was alive, and his whereabouts. Roman turned out to be an FBI informant, which is most likely linked to his sudden disappearance.
However, Showrunner Todd Harthan hinted to The Wrap that this may not be an immediate pay-off for fans:
“The promise in Season 2 is to answer some other big questions, but also deepen the mystery before we really unpack too much or introduce somebody too soon.”
One other key character in season 1 was the game-obsessed serial kidnapper, David, who left an ominous message to Morgan in her shopping bags that they’d ‘play again’ – a threat that he may come after her and her family. Harthan also told The Wrap that the plan is to “address it a little bit, find a healthy way to pivot to other things and then come back to it when it makes sense.”
Otherwise, we can expect to see more cases each episode, and Morgan and Adam’s buddy-cop dynamic developing. The question is, is it just friendship… or something more? Morgan already had a romantic interest in janitor Tom (JD Pardo), though he’s now moved away to San Diego to become a nurse.
High Potential season 1 UK episode release schedule
In the US, all episodes of High Potential are available to watch on ABC and stream on Hulu.
UK viewers haven’t got all the episodes of the first season yet. Nine are currently out on Disney+, with the remaining four dropping over the next few weeks. This is when they will be released:
- High Potential season 1 episode 10 – Thursday 20 March 2025
- High Potential season 1 episode 11 – Thursday 27 March 2025
- High Potential season 1 episode 12 – Thursday 3 April 2025
- High Potential season 1 episode 13 (finale) – Thursday 10 April 2025
