Everything to Know About High Potential Season 2

Eccentric protagonists have proliferated the crime procedural genre over the years — just to name a few, Temperance Brennan on Bones, Adrian Monk on Monk, Patrick Jane on The Mentalist, Shawn Spencer on Psych, and Neal Caffrey on White Collar. Now, Morgan Gillory (Kaitlin Olson) on High Potential can be added to that long list of brilliant minds.

Based on the popular French series Haut potentiel intellectuel (HPI), the light ABC crime drama — about a single mother of three with an exceptional mind who joins forces with a by-the-book seasoned detective (Daniel Sunjata) to solve mysteries for the LAPD — became one of the most-watched new series of the 2024–25 broadcast season. The series combined the cozy comforts of the case-of-the-week format of procedurals with a larger serialized mystery about the 15-year disappearance of Morgan's ex Roman, who is actually still alive.

Read on for everything you need to know about the next season of High Potential. 

High Potential Season 2 release date

High Potential Season 2 premieres Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 10/9c. Head here for ABC's complete fall schedule.

Per TVLine, the season will consist of 18 episodes, an increase from Season 1's 13 episodes. Due to Olson's commitments to her other series regular job on the long-running FX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and her recurring guest role on the excellent HBO comedy Hacks, filming on Season 1 had to wrap after its initial 13-episode order.

What happened at the end of High Potential Season 1?

In the Season 1 finale of High Potential, Morgan appeared to have met her match in the form of an astute serial kidnapper named David Peck (David Giuntoli), who seemed intent on leaving piecemeal clues for her in the form of mind games.

With the support of her team, including her new partner Karadec, Morgan used her savant-like ability to notice details that others missed to track down the kidnapper's three known victims: a diabetic tied up in his own storage locker; a woman trapped in a locked safe at an art gallery; and her own colleague, Lev "Oz" Ozdil (Deniz Akdeniz), who was knocked out by his own airbag and then transported to an abandoned mansion, where he was chained to the bottom of a pool. If Morgan hadn't worked her magic, all three victims would have faced a terrifying, suffocating death.

"A lot of criminals think they're smarter than detectives, FBI, CIA, whatever it may be," executive producer and showrunner Todd Harthan told TV Guide in an interview at the end of Season 1. "And if you think you're the smartest person in the room, sometimes you want to test that. I think there's a lot of criminals that want notoriety, that want fame. I think the surprise here was that our villain didn't know, when they engaged with Major Crimes, that there was this unicorn in the bullpen that was going to get their attention over the course of these games they're playing."

In the final minutes of the finale, Morgan comes to the chilling realization that she has crossed paths a couple of times with David, including on a recent trip to the grocery store with her family. And now, by sneaking a card game into Morgan's grocery haul while she wasn't looking, David seems ready to resume their game of cat and mouse. But to complicate matters even further, Karadec, who was given implicit authorization by his Major Crimes unit boss, Selena (Judy Reyes), to press an informant about what happened to Roman, calls Morgan to inform her that Roman is actually still alive — and Karadec knows where he is.

What can we expect from High Potential Season 2?

Speaking with TV Guide in February, Harthan said that he was particularly keen to dig into the individual backstories of all the characters — not just Morgan, who served as the audience's conduit into this heightened world. "We haven't even gotten into the friends and family yet and all those messy storylines; we've barely scratched the surface of some of the relationships," he said.

With that being said, the show will continue to explore Morgan's relationships with her children — especially Ava (Amirah J), her first-born, who has also been searching for answers about her father Roman's whereabouts. "By the end of the season, I think Ava specifically has come around to the idea that, 'Wow, my mom is so brilliant and has such good instincts. Maybe she's right, and I've been wrong all these years. Maybe my stubbornness and my heartbreak get in the way and cloud my judgment,'" Harthan said. "I thought that was an unexpected place to land her — and then what are we going to do in Season 2? We're probably going to shake that up again."

Naturally, with the re-emergence of Roman, the show will likely dig deeper into Ava's relationships with both of her biological parents, as well as Morgan's unresolved feelings about her first husband. "Now that we have some time to really sit down and really put the thought and attention into the serialized threads, I think the Roman story is going to bloom in Season 2," Harthan teased.

Harthan hopes to continue High Potential's ability to find compelling cases — some that skew a little bit lighter, some that skew darker, and everything in between. "I think the things that people were loving about the show are going to stay and hopefully even get better, and the things they have a big appetite for that we barely did last year are going to bloom," he said. "In this little villain story, there's some twists and turns coming. I love to go, 'What do I expect if I was an audience member?' I like to really turn the dials and give you something unexpected, so I'm excited for all of it."

Fall TV schedules:

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• Fox's fall lineup and premiere dates
• NBC's fall lineup and premiere dates

Will Morgan and Karadec get together on High Potential?

That seems to be the question on everyone's mind. After all, who doesn't love a good will-they-won't-they relationship? Bones and Castle certainly mastered the art of the slow-burn relationship in this genre.

In the first season of High Potential, Morgan struck up a flirty friendship with LAPD janitor Tom (JD Pardo), who helped her crack a case about the murder of a high-profile medical tech CEO and even took a bullet for her and the rest of the LAPD workers who were held hostage in Episode 7. However, after he got into a nursing school in San Diego, Tom abruptly decided to leave Los Angeles, effectively putting a pin in his fledgling relationship with Morgan.

While Tom returned to Los Angeles specifically to be Morgan's date to the gala in the Season 1 finale, viewers may have recognized someone else who was making eyes at Morgan: Karadec. Before Tom arrived, Karadec offered to dance with Morgan and, during their slow dance, remarked how far they had come as partners in a short period of time.

"Neither wanted to be in each other's orbit so badly at the beginning. She was ending up behind bars, and he was just happy to see her go," Harthan noted of the fan-favorite Morgan-Karadec dynamic. "So, how do we authentically build that to a place where they actually look across at each other and go, 'Wow, I'm getting closer to telling this person my deepest darkest secrets because I trust them' or 'I'd sacrifice [something] to protect them'? I think there's a certain charm to that that I really love, and I think I want audiences to fall in love with that too."

Harthan, who joked that he was notorious for slow-burn relationships in The Resident and Rosewood, knows that the "bedrock" of two-hander crime procedurals is the dynamic between the leads. Harthan pointed out that while it was too early to even entertain the conversation of will-they-won't-they, he and the writers have already been consciously writing to the Morgan-Karadec dynamic, knowing that it could pay off years down the line.

"Let's live in that space while, yeah, we'll see if loving each other as partners bleeds into something else at some point," Harthan said. "I'll never take [Morgan and Karadec becoming romantic] off the table because in a long-running series, you never know. I just love this blooming loyalty and friendship. And, yes, it happens to be a gorgeous man and a gorgeous woman, but does that mean they're going to cross a line anytime soon? I don't think so."

What Harthan can promise is that Morgan and Karadec will continue to be there for each other, even as one of them falls for someone else. "I don't love jealousy and all that stuff that comes into play in other shows, so I don't think you're going to see it here," he said.

High Potential Season 2 cast

In June, Deadline reported that Steve Howey has joined the cast of High Potential as a series regular for Season 2. Howey will play the new captain, Jesse Wagner. And in July, Variety reported that Mekhi Phifer has joined the series in a recurring guest star role, playing "a character who becomes involved in major crimes."

All of the series regulars are expected to return for the second season:

• Kaitlin Olson as Morgan Gillory
• Daniel Sunjata as Adam Karadec
• Judy Reyes as Selena Soto
• Javicia Leslie as Daphne Forrester
• Deniz Akdeniz as Lev "Oz" Ozdil
• Amirah J as Ava Gillory
• Matthew Lamb as Elliot Radovic

Many of the recurring characters are expected to return next season, including:

• Taran Killam as Ludo Radovic, Morgan's second ex-husband
• Garret Dillahunt as Lieutenant Melon, the head of the Robbery Division of the LAPD precinct who would much rather be running Major Crimes

Given that Roman is now revealed to be alive, the show's creative team will likely be casting that coveted role at some point next season. Harthan recently told TV Guide that he plans to delve deeper into the individual backstories of each character going forward, so viewers should expect some more family members — and maybe exes? — to pop up next season 

High Potential Season 2 creator and crew

The American version of High Potential was developed by Drew Goddard, who is behind the next installment of The Matrix franchise and whose past TV credits include Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Alias, Lost and Marvel's Daredevil. While Goddard chose to hand over the day-to-day, showrunning reins to executive producer Todd Harthan, Goddard continues to serve as an executive producer through his production company with Sarah Esberg. Olson serves as a producer.

Where to watch High Potential

High Potential is available to stream on Hulu.