‘High Potential’ Boss Breaks Down Morgan’s Tricky Winter Premiere Decision, Wagner’s Growing Suspicion

Note: This story contains spoilers from “High Potential” Season 2, Episode 8.

After Kaitlin Olson’s Morgan put herself on thin ice with Steve Howey’s captain Nick Wagner by breaking protocol during an art heist investigation, the “High Potential” winter premiere sees Morgan potentially further diminish that trust with a “tricky” decision that brings her outside of her bounds as a police contractor.

The winter premiere, titled “The One That Got Away: Part Two,” brings Morgan face-to-face with fellow consultant Rhys (Aiden Turner), who is, as Morgan suspected, the infamous art thief known widely as “Jean Baptiste.” While Morgan catches him red-handed with the missing Rembrandt painting that kickstarted the investigation, Rhys promises that if Morgan lets him go, he’ll return the painting to its rightful owner — an older woman whose family owned the painting before they were killed in the Holocaust — rather than the wealthy couple who came to possess it.

Morgan decides to let Rhys go, paving a path for justice outside of the bounds of law enforcement that felt earned to showrunner Todd Harthan, who noted that Morgan’s unique positioning as both a contractor and a “singular thinker” separates her from the police force that is constantly restrained by red tape.

“It was a case unlike all the others we’ve done before, where she went a little bit rogue, and she ultimately made this is pretty big decision,” Harthan told TheWrap. “We won’t do it a lot — You really have to build the right story and earn it, because you’re mostly catching people that have harmed somebody and are dangerous to society. And that wasn’t the case here … it felt like it was in its own category.”

As the police squad throws around theories about where the painting ended up, Harthan noted “it’s one of those mysteries that will hang in the air” that will prompt Morgan to dodge and deflect certain questions, creating “a certain tension in the air that I think is just good for drama and the bullpen.”

Morgan has to deal with those questions almost immediately from Wagner, setting the scene for growing suspicion and mistrust that surrounds the rest of Season 2, per Harthan. “Does suspicion fuel more mistrust and more conflict, or do they come to understand each other better they are? Do they become another interesting dynamic duo?” Harthan posed. “That’s the roller coaster ride we’re going to take you on the back half, because there’s so much to unpack about him and what makes him tick, why he’s there and what his agenda is. And she’s not easy to figure out either.”

While a traditional law enforcement captain make take issue with Morgan paving her own path, Harthan noted “there’s also a brand of leadership that really wants and has an appetite for the mortgage of the world, that push the envelope, cross certain lines, take certain risks,” reminding viewers “we don’t know which side the line Wagner falls on.”

Below, Harthan explains why Karadec is “worried” for Morgan, what happened to Arthur and teases Morgan’s next threat. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

TheWrap: Karadec has a somewhat wistful look at Morgan as she chats with Wagner. How’s he feeling by now, especially knowing about Morgan and Rhys’ hookup?

Harthan: I feel pretty strongly that he feels worried for her, that his biggest fear is that he’s going to lose this incredible partner, because she’s wildly unpredictable and she does cross certain lines. In the very, very back of his brain, is it a hint of jealousy? I don’t know. I don’t think so. I think it’s protection and a desire to to preserve what they have. And this could really threaten that.

We also see Arthur disappear without a trace. Can we assume he was captured?

I think that’s a fair assumption, yeah. But let’s see if they keep him, does he escape? How does he continue to inject himself into this Roman investigation in a way that helps us find him?

That last scene also pans to the guy who attacked Arthur at the bar with the crew. Is he coming after Morgan next?

She’s heavily involved in this whole Roman situation, so she’s firmly on the radar. When you’re on the radar of dangerous people, how close to your front door will it get? That’s the kind of drama and tension and stakes that we want, so I think that’s a safe bet.

We’ve seen Soto trying to track down this Roman situation. What did you want to have as her arc this season? Will we get some more of Soto in the rest of the season?

You get a huge dose of Soto in the back half. She is not in a losing mood, and she’s … committed to this investigation now, and I think that she’s already hinted that she’s willing to stick her neck out to find the truth, and it’s just how far is she willing to go and how much is she willing to risk and how dangerous will it get for her — not just her job, but her own well being.

Morgan’s adjusting to the new captain, but how’s the rest of the force thinking of him at this point?

They’re all collectively on a similar page, which is, do their jobs, keep their heads down and figure him out as they go. They’re all kind of staying close together to have each other’s backs, just in the event that he has some kind of agenda that could negatively impact one of them. They’re all thinking the same thing … is this an ally? Is this an enemy, or is he some weird combination of the two? He’s an enigma, and that’s been fun to set up. We will unpack and pay it off in the back half … there’s a lot that comes from this new captain in our in our last round of episodes.

Recent multiplatform ratings have shown “High Potential” as the No. 2 broadcast show. What’s it been like seeing that continued growth through the season and what feedback are you getting from viewers?

I actually think it was a gift that we only aired seven episodes, because I think it was a very strong seven, and I think it left the audience wanting more. And I don’t think we’re done running. I think that hopefully with good word of mouth and new audience members discovering the series and hopefully binging the first season and then catching up in second season — I’m not an optimist by nature, especially when it comes to ratings — but I don’t think we’re done growing. I really don’t. I think we can continue to build in the back half — I love the pairing with “Will Trent” in the back half … that worked really well last season as a duo.

The feedback has been great, and I listen to it … we all do. We look at what the audience is really responding to, what they have a big appetite for, and it doesn’t dictate what we do, but you got to listen to that. You got to listen to what is working and what people are showing up for, and then make sure that you are feeding that appetite episode to episode.

“High Potential” airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu.

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