Kaitlin Olson Breaks Down the ‘High Potential’ Season 2 Finale: Where Morgan and Karadec Stand, Roman’s Disappearance and Is [SPOILER] Dead?

Home TV News Apr 7, 2026 7:00pm PT Kaitlin Olson Breaks Down the ‘High Potential’ Season 2 Finale: Where Morgan and Karadec Stand, Roman’s Disappearance and Is [SPOILER] Dead? By Max Gao Courtesy of Disney SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains major spoilers from “Family Tree,” the Season 2 finale of ABC’s “High Potential.” Kaitlin Olson knows that many “High Potential” viewers are already clamoring for her savant consultant Morgan Gillory to get together with her LAPD detective partner Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata). But after just two seasons of her acclaimed ABC procedural dramedy, which has regularly topped the charts in multi-platform ratings, Olson is more than happy to continue teasing out that potential slow-burn romance for years to come. This season’s personal arc “was inspired by everyone really jumping on this Morgan-Karadec bandwagon and being like, ‘Will they or won’t they?’ I just thought that was so funny,” Olson, who is also an executive producer, tells Variety. “We talked about it, and I was like, ‘You can’t just jump right into that, because where do you go from there? Who knows what’s going to happen in the future?’ So then we started throwing around the idea of, ‘Well, what if they each had different romantic interests?’” While Karadec reconnected with his ex-fiancée Lucia (Susan Kelechi Watson), Morgan found herself repelled by and then attracted to Nick Wagner (Steve Howey), the new captain of the LAPD’s Major Crimes division. After getting off on the wrong foot, Morgan helped Wagner get some much-needed closure in the penultimate episode by catching the team of thieves responsible for murdering Wagner’s fiancée. (He also saved her from getting shot.) As they were leaving the precinct that evening, Wagner impulsively kissed Morgan in an elevator, seemingly opening the door for a workplace romance. Daniel Sunjata, Kaitlin Olson Courtesy of Disney/Christine Bartolucci “We wanted to have a little bit of a mystery, and we also wanted to stump Morgan,” Olson says about introducing Wagner this season. “It was very important to me that she’s not always right about everything. I like that she’s a very intelligent person, and she’s also human and doesn’t know whether to trust this man. Who is he? Does he need something from her? Is he actually interested in her? So that was fun to explore and play with. It’s always more fun to have people actually fall for each other, and then it’s heartbreaking to have it be ripped apart.” In the heart-wrenching Season 2 finale, Morgan and Karadec’s investigation into a poolside death at a Los Angeles hotel resulted in the arrest of Lucia, a guest relations manager who confesses to tipping off and then covering for the conman who murdered a home improvement reality show host. After lashing out at Morgan for suggesting that Lucia was a suspect, Karadec shows up at Morgan’s front door to apologize, leading to a tearful heart-to-heart between the partners. Meanwhile, Wagner uses his corrupt politician father’s connections to stage a meeting for him and Morgan with Willa Quinn (Jennifer Jason Leigh), the shady political fixer connected to the disappearance of Morgan’s ex, Roman, 15 years ago. At the end of the finale, while attending her teenage daughter Ava’s (Amirah J) art show, Morgan receives a call from Wagner, who reveals that he is going to meet with someone else connected to Roman in a public park. But by the time she arrives to confront this shadowy figure herself, Morgan finds only Wagner — who gave her the wrong meeting time on purpose — bleeding out with stab wounds all over his back. As the screen cuts to black, Morgan is left to grapple with the guilt that her search for Roman could very well have claimed the life of someone close to her. “It’s no longer just about her wondering what happened for herself and her daughter, but it’s also potentially going to be very dangerous for these people that she now cares very much about,” Olson says. Below, Olson opens up about that devastating Wagner cliffhanger, the state of Morgan and Karadec’s partnership (including the unscripted moment from their intimate final scene together) — and reprising her Emmy-nominated role in two episodes of the final season of “Hacks.” Related Stories Senator Raises Questions About Reported $10 Billion Payment to Trump Administration for TikTok U.S. Deal, Including Whether President Requested Any Compensation for Himself