‘High Potential’ Showrunner Details Plans for Season 2 Following Season 1 Cliffhangers

High Potential had its first-season finale, and following the cliffhangers, showrunner Todd Harthan revealed what’s in store for the upcoming second season. Season 1 of the Kaitlin Olson-led ABC drama ended on Feb. 11 and not only introduced a new serial killer, but revealed that Morgan’s (Olson) ex Roman is alive. With those storylines to resolve and more, Harthan told TheWrap that there are already plans cooking.

“We have a pretty healthy plan for how we’re going to kick off the season,” Harthan said. “I think one of the big mistakes that shows make is [saying] ‘Oh, let’s put a pin in both those cliffhangers, and we’ll get to them later,’ … you should probably satisfy one or the other so the audience doesn’t get pissed.”

The cliffhangers, at least when it comes to the new serial killer, won’t be resolved right away. Harthan admitted the plan is to start off the season and “address it a little bit, find a healthy way to pivot to other things, and then come back to it when it makes sense.” And as for Morgan’s ex, “[If] you bring that too heavy into the fabric of the show, too soon, it overtakes the show and becomes something else,” he shared. “The promise in Season 2 is to answer some other big questions but also deepen the mystery before we really unpack too much or introduce somebody too soon.”

While Season 1 of High Potential wrapped filming its 13-episode first season in the fall, ABC didn’t renew the show for Season 2 until January, so it’s a good thing that the cliffhangers will eventually be resolved. Harthan even shared they “felt relatively confident that people would show up to this one. I’m a pessimist by nature — I don’t like to get overconfident — but I did think that this show had a certain infectious quality that I thought was going to find enough of an audience that we would get to run it back. I didn’t think it would be this big, to be honest.”

When High Potential premiered in September, it became an instant hit and was breaking records on ABC. The show also became the No. 1 show and overall title on Hulu for multiple weeks, so it wasn’t surprising when the network finally gave it a renewal. As of now, a premiere date has not been announced, but it’s likely to return this fall on ABC. The first season is streaming now on Hulu.