Exclusive: Kaitlin Olson on ‘ironing out the kinks’ in High Potential

“Morgan is a single mom of three [eldest daughter Ava, middle son Elliot and baby Chloe] who works as a housekeeper for the police department and is just making ends meet. One night she knocks over a bunch of evidence and, as she's cleaning it back up, she glances at the detective team’s case board and realises they’ve made a mistake. She crosses off ‘Suspect’ under one woman's picture, writes ‘Victim’, puts everything back together and goes about her day.”

“The next morning detective Adam Karadec [played by Echoes Daniel Sunjata] isn’t happy and wonders who tampered with their evidence! But Lieutenant Selena Soto [played by Scrubs star Judy Reyes] realises that Morgan could be a valuable asset because she is able to catch tiny clues that they have missed due to her incredibly high IQ, and offers her a job as a consultant.”

“One of the reasons she agrees to take this job - besides the fact the pay cheque is good! - is that she’s looking for Roman Sinquerra, the father of her first child, Ava. He mysteriously left one day 15 years ago and she knows that he didn’t just walk out on them. Although the police at the time didn’t believe her, as an audience member you can trust that Morgan knows what she’s talking about and that something definitely happened.”

“It’s complicated and messy. They’re different people and she wants what’s best for them and to protect them fiercely. Their struggles are very relatable and we hit the jackpot with Amirah J [Shameless] and Matthew Lamb [Only Murders in the Building], they’re such good actors and there are some beautiful scenes coming up that I’m so proud of. I think the thing that sets this show apart is that their home life is authentically done. You really buy into Morgan as a real human being, who has this persona at work but also three children that she loves.”

“There are a lot of challenges that go along with it. You will see her struggle. It’s a part of the show that I love and is very important. It would be such a disservice to this character and anybody who is either highly intelligent or neurodivergent to ignore the fact that there's a lot more that comes along with it. If we make another season I want to focus more on that.”

“It’s like a new language and it’s very hard to memorise lines, but I love it! In the opening episode Morgan’s working out a grocery store bill that I had nightmares about leading up to filming. I’m used to improvising if I can't exactly remember the dialogue, but you can’t improvise your way through math! This is the one scene in the whole season where there was some cheating going on - I had tiny Post-it notes on the ham!”

“The only other time was a series called The Mick that I did for two years - I loved that beautiful show and my character [Mackenzie ‘Mickey’ Molng] so much, but that was a comedy and not a dramatic series like this. High Potential has definitely given me the opportunity to do something different. I’m a producer on this too and it’s been great to get my hands in there and really help fine tune the characters and the tone.”

“It’s up for interpretation because you don’t know if they hate each other, could have a romance, or are just two people learning to trust each other. I will let you draw your own conclusions. I would love to do another season because I want to get to know the characters more. What goes on in Lieutenant Soto's home life? What is Karadec dealing with?”

“Yes, in the first season of a show, you really have to focus on the main character and you’re still ironing out the kinks. High Potential is ripe with so much more landscape still to discover. I mean, we’re in season 17 of Sunny - I don’t know how many kinks we’ve to iron out, but we’re looking!”

“It's once in a lifetime and life-changing. You know, I met my husband [Welcome to Wrexham’s Robert McElhenney] on Sunny and now we’re married and have two beautiful little boys. We’re all such a family on the show. Danny DeVito [who joined in 2006 as Kailtin’s on-screen father, Frank] and his family are so important to me and all of the cast. I don’t know how I got so lucky.”