High Potential has, well, high potential to be one of the best new procedurals this year. It has all the elements that fans love in a quirky procedural, from a lead character with special skills to a mix of co-workers with clashing personalities and unique cases from one episode to the next.
The crime drama, which airs on ABC, stars Kaitlin Olson as Morgan, a single mother raising three kids on her own who happens to have an IQ of 160. When a detective at the office where she works as an overnight cleaner recognizes this talent after a series of mishaps, Morgan is offered a lucrative job helping them solve cases. Of course, Olson is recognizable from her many high-profile roles, notably as Dee Reynolds in the long-running comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, as Mackenzie "Mickey" from the short-lived Fox comedy The Mick, and for her guest role as DJ Vance in Emmy-winning HBO comedy Hacks. But the rest of the cast is made up of familiar faces fans probably know but can't quite place.
Some of the Cast Members Have Been in High-Profile Shows Close Judy Reyes
When Morgan is first discovered as the person who tampered with a police board, she is brought in to be questioned by Captain Selena Soto, head of the LAPD Major Crimes Division. The captain chastises the woman for interfering with an investigation and effectively committing a crime. But she is also the first to recognize that Morgan might be onto something and sees the potential in her.
Captain Selena is played by Judy Reyes, who had a key role in one of the best 2000s medical comedies. Fans might recognize her as Carla Espinosa from Scrubs, the stubborn and opinionated but fiercely smart head nurse at the hospital who eventually gets married to Turk (Donald Faison).
Reyes also starred in the Lifetime comedy-drama Devious Maids from 2013 to 2016, the TNT comedy-drama Claws (2017-2022), and the horror movie Smile. She earned an Independent Spirit Award for her lead role in 2023's Birth/Rebirth.
Daniel Sunjata
The one person who was wary of having Morgan on board given her disregard for rules and unprofessional demeanor (not to mention lack of police training) is Karadec, a lead detective with whom Morgan ends up working. He looks familiar because the actor who plays him, Daniel Sunjata, played Danny in Manifest. He's the man Grace (Athena Karkanis) started dating years after believing her husband Ben (Josh Dallas) was dead.
Sunjata has quite a lengthy resume, though mostly with smaller guest roles. His other big roles include Franco Rivera in the FX series Rescue Me, FBI Senior Agent Paul Briggs in Graceland, Jake Gregorian in Notorious, and Dante "Mecca" Spears in Power Book II: Ghost. He also had a recurring role in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in the early 2000s as CSU Technician Burt Trevor, along with a recurring role in Grey's Anatomy as Nurse Eli.
Javicia Leslie
Karadec's partner on the force is Daphne, who is played by Javicia Leslie. She starred in God Friended Me, a short-lived CBS comedy-drama that aired from 2018 through 2020. However, her most notable roles have been Batwoman in The CW series of the same name in 2021, as well as Red Death in the final season of The Flash.
Garret Dillahunt
In the second episode, Lieutenant Melon, head of the robbery division at the LAPD, is introduced. He approaches Captain Selena for help in solving a mysterious case of multiple jewelry store robberies. He continuously insults Morgan, expressing that he wants anyone but her to help, repeatedly referring to her as the "cleaning lady."
The character is in stark contrast to one of actor Garret Dillahunt's most endearing roles as John Dorie in Fear the Walking Dead, a role he played from 2018 through 2021. Dillahunt has been acting for some time, getting his first big role as Burt Chance on the Fox sitcom Raising Hope. His other major role was as Francis Wolcott in Deadwood. Dillahunt has appeared in other shows like Burn Notice, Justified, The Mindy Project, and Hand of God and has had supporting roles in numerous films like No Country for Old Men, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Winter's Bone, Looper, and 12 Years a Slave.
Taran Killam
Rounding out the most recognizable faces is Taran Killam, who plays Ludo Radovic, Morgan's ex-husband and father to her two youngest kids. While he works as a driving instructor, he also helps her out with all three kids, especially when the LAPD hires him as the "manny" as part of Morgan's negotiated contract. He and Morgan have a good relationship and he comes across as goofy and timid, the antithesis of her.
It's a more subdued role than Killam is used to playing seeing as his background is in comedy. He was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2010 through 2016. He has also appeared on sitcoms like How I Met Your Mother and New Girl and starred in the short-lived ABC sitcom Single Parents.
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1 Other Familiar Faces Round Out the Cast Close
Beyond the most familiar of the cast members are some other actors as well who round up the main cast. Amirah J (Johnson) plays Ava, Morgan's teenage daughter from her first husband. As the story goes, Morgan's husband Roman left 15 years ago to get diapers for their baby Ava and never returned. Morgan is insistent that he would never pick up and leave his family and has never been able to figure out what happened to him. As part of her deal with the LAPD, Morgan has pleaded with Captain Selena to look into Roman's mysterious disappearance, part of an ongoing story that is sure to play out through the first season.
Amirah J is a relative newcomer to the acting scene, her first project appearing in a few episodes of a small TV series back in 2017. Fans may not even realize that she played the little girl Xan Galvez for seven episodes of Shameless from 2018-2019.
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Another co-worker in the office is Lev "Oz" Osman, an investigator in the major crimes unit. He is played by Deniz Akdeniz, who probably looks familiar because he played Aladdin in Season 6 of the ABC series Once Upon a Time. More recently, he might be recognizable as Max from the Max series The Flight Attendant. His first TV role was his biggest as main cast member Raff in the Disney Channel Australian series As the Bell Rings.
Finally, there's Officer Lin who also works at the precinct. She is played by TJ Lee, who is no stranger to the procedural genre. She appeared in three episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit back in 2021 as Celia Long. She was also in one episode of Inventing Anna as Donna's assistant Emily, one episode of The Equalizer in 2023 as a character named Eliza, and in Manifest.
What to Know About High Potential Close
High Potential is based on the French series HPI, which aired in that country back in 2021. The character of Morgan not only has a high IQ, she is also tremendously perceptive. She seems to possess an eidetic memory and can perform complex calculations in her head, as she demonstrated when she knew the exact total of her grocery bill before getting to the checkout in the pilot episode.
After airing its first two episodes, the show received rave reviews, with an 86% Rotten Tomatoes critics score and 79% audience score. TV Insider's Matt Roush says "The chemistry between Olson and Sunjata is strong, with Morgan's blithe brashness igniting Karadec's by-the-book exasperation to solid comic effect." Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times calls High Potential "legitimately funny and quite delightful, not the least because both Olson and Morgan seem to be having a good time."
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High Potential premiered on ABC on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, and new episodes air every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET (with the exception of October 1, 2024, due to the Vice Presidential Debate). You can also stream High Potential on Hulu.