ABC Won’t Air New ‘High Potential’ Episodes Until 2026

High Potential fans will have to be patient when it comes to that cliffhanger midseason finale!

The ABC crime drama will return with new episodes on Jan. 6, 2026, leaving fans waiting more than two months to see what’s to come next for Morgan Gillory (Kaitlin Olson) after Tuesday’s shocking midseason finale.

Fans were left with a new development in the Roman mystery as Morgan was left in a possibly dangerous situation while investigating the theft of a $20 million painting in the midseason finale, titled “The One That Got Away.”

After Morgan’s unconventional investigation into the art theft alongside art recovery specialist Rhys Eastman (Aiden Turner) landed her at odds with Captain Wagner (Steve Howey) and partner Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata), she hit the bar with Rhys — and ended up in bed with him.

That tryst then revealed a shocking discovery for the viewer, as Rhys was shown to have a scar matching the suspected art thief.

“Just because he has a scar, that doesn’t mean he’s the guy, you don’t know!” showrunner Todd Harthan teased to TVLine of the Season 2 midseason return. “We’ve got surprises, we’ve got tricks up our sleeve. We have some pretty interesting twists and turns in the [second] part. It’s a really fun ride.”

Fans were also left with a cliffhanger regarding the Roman mystery, as a strange man whose photograph was discovered in Roman’s backpack ended up surprising Arthur Ellis (Mekhi Phifer) in the back of his car at the end of Tuesday’s episode.

“He’s someone that knows a lot about the who, the when and the what of what happened all those years ago,” Harthan hinted to TVLine of the man’s identity. “But there are just some people that walk this planet that, you know, good luck getting information out of them! So when it comes to filling in some of the blanks, he’s going to be very challenging. We’re going to lean into that in the back half.”

The showrunner also revealed that Season 2 won’t pick up exactly where fans left the characters, but that there was a “clever little device” that would kick off the midseason premiere in a “surprising and interesting” way.

“It gives us some interesting backfill about what happened in that hotel room in the time between getting that call and getting to a crime scene,” Harthan said. “Karadec has some questions for [Morgan], so we start with a really fun, juicy scene at the top of the next one.”

High Potential returns on Jan. 6 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.