EXCLUSIVE

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for High Potential, Season 2 Episode 7, “The One That Got Away.”]

High Potential‘s second season has reached its midseason finale, leaving fans on a cliffhanger that won’t be resolved until Season 2 returns on January 6, 2026, but thankfully, showrunner Todd Harthan is making sure fans are fed until then, as we caught up with the writer and executive producer timed to the latest episode, “The One That Got Away.”

As fans saw in the installment, Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) and the LAPD were called in to investigate the case surrounding a piece of stolen art. Also on the case? The mysterious and suave Rhys (Aiden Turner), an art dealer and consultant who sparks Morgan’s curiosity. As the investigation unfolds, Morgan is drawn closer and closer to Rhys, even sharing a passionate moment in a hotel room, which raises red flags when she begins to believe he is responsible for stealing the art.

Meanwhile, Morgan’s daughter Ava (Amirah J) gets closer to Arthur (Mekhi Phifer) as they plot out their team-up to dig into Roman’s case, in juxtaposition with Soto’s (Judy Reyes) ongoing search for the missing man that Captain Wagner (Steve Howey) has become aware of, much to Karadec’s (Daniel Sunjata) dismay.

While the missing art case remained unsolved, there were more than a few mysteries left unresolved. Below, Harthan offers some clarity as he teases what fans can expect in the new year.

This episode ends on a cliffhanger with the case set to continue next year in the midseason premiere. What made you decide to make it a continuing storyline?

Todd Harthan: When our wonderful director Nancy Hower read the script, it was originally just a one-partner, and admittedly a little long, and she goes, “Oh, what if we added some more twists and turns, another red herring, and really expanded this?” Because what she identified was the DNA of this episode was so different than how we started the season with the Game Maker. The tone of it was more fun. It was more Thomas Crown Affair. We were introducing a character, a consultant-turned-suspect, that Morgan was going to be drawn to in a mysterious way, which also felt worth sort of extending in a delicious way. So it was just one of those things that happened in real time, and then we got Aiden, who is a wonderful actor, to play the part. It was one of those things where it just started to make sense, and once we knew we were going to leave the audience wanting more, that was a deciding factor.

Morgan connects with this art dealer, Rhys, and it’s the first time we’ve seen her have a romantic entanglement since Tom (JD Pardo) in Season 1. Should fans buy into the potential she has with this guy, or is it a fleeting thing, considering he’s seemingly a criminal?

Well, I think when we were looking for someone to play this role, we didn’t want someone smarmy. We needed somebody who was charming, smart. What would Morgan be drawn to? So, again, it’s sort of like The Thomas Crown Affair because it really was sort of the seed of inspiration for this, and you think about Pierce Brosnan in that movie; he was just almost too hard to resist. And so we needed to find that actor who had that level of confidence and charm without it being arrogant, and [Aiden]’s like that in person too. He just has a natural easiness about him when he walks into a room. And so that translated to the fictional character he’s playing.

You’ll see in the premiere next year that not everything is as it seems. It certainly feels like this guy is the guy, but there are some things coming that are going to really make Morgan go, “Wait, is he a criminal?” Lots of people have scars, and is it a coincidence? We’re going to play with all those elements in the premiere. And I think the finish is super surprising in the second part. You have to wait and see, but he was wonderful and they had great chemistry, and we’ve been very fortunate [to have] our pick of really amazing actors.

Disney / Mitch Haaseth

Building off of that, Morgan is torn over who the painting belongs to, especially since it was stolen in the past as well as now. Is that going to continue to play into the case? 

Yes, a hundred percent. It’s a through line that carries into the second hour, and I think if we’re going to set something up like that, the history of that painting, the importance of it, who it originally belonged to, it’s not a ball you want to drop.

Captain Wagner reveals that he knows the LAPD is investigating Roman’s whereabouts. How will that impact Soto’s forward movement with that case, especially after Karadec’s threat to Wagner that he isn’t allowed to mess with Morgan on that end?

Well, one of the things we’re playing with Wagner is, is he an ally or an enemy, right? Because we toggle in every episode. You’re like, “Wait, is he here to have our backs or is he going to stab us in the back?” And I think that’s a question we want to ask until we get to the back half of the season. That’s the question Soto is asking herself, which is, he’s in the know, does that mean he’s going to be the wind at our backs and help us, or is he going to out us or impede the investigation? Shut it down? He has the power to do that, so what role will he play? And those are the things we’re unpacking in an interesting twisty turny way when we come back.

As the Roman mystery continues to unfold, will Arthur and Ava play a more active role, as we saw them plotting a team-up? 

Yeah, Mekhi’s been awesome, and he’s infused into the back half of the season as we sort of continue to unpack more and more about what happened to Roman all those years ago. And for Ava, she’s her mother’s daughter, there’s just no way for her to lie her head down at night and not be thinking about now that she knows her dad’s out there somewhere and he is alive, where is he? So it’s hard to contain that drive. And even Morgan’s going to struggle with it in the back half of how do I help us? And mostly, she’s doing this to get answers for her daughter. How do I help us get those answers, but not put her in a situation that is dangerous? We’re playing with all those different complications in the back half.

Karadec’s words to Wagner are interesting. Will they be adversaries moving forward?

In the back half, those guys are oil and water, and they just can’t agree on anything when it relates to how they work with and manage Morgan, their approach to law enforcement, and just their ideologies in life in general. They just could not be more different. That’s fun to write to because one of them says the sky is blue, and the other one is like, “No, it’s not, and here’s why.” And that really starts to fuel tension, conflict, all the things that we want. Karadec’s a protector by nature, and it’s less about protecting himself. This is his department, these are his people, and he feels like they’re kind of being threatened on some levels. So he’s sticking his neck out in the back half. He really is. He’s saying some things, some truth to power that could really get him in trouble, but it’s been fun to watch and fun to write to.

Morgan continues to push boundaries. Is that going to come back to bite her at some point? 

She gets burned, and she gets burned in a major way in the back half. It all comes to a head, and we have a wonderful episode that we just shot, kind of built around that. But I think the fun thing about Morgan is she’s never going to change. She’s not going to suddenly show up and be like, “Okay, I’ll follow all the rules to the letter.” She’s just going to get better at how she goes about it. But yeah, it gets crazy and messy pretty early on in the back half.

High Potential, Midseason 2 Premiere, Tuesday, January 6, 2026, 10/9c, ABC