Kaitlin Olson returns for a second season of comedic crime-solving in High Potential
Single mom Morgan Gillory was working as a cleaning lady at an LAPD precinct when she quickly cracked a case that had detectives stumped. As it happened, Morgan (played by Kaitlin Olson) has a unique mind and an IQ of 160, categorized as a “high potential individual,” and her ability to connect dots others miss led her to be brought aboard the force as a crime-solving consultant. So began the first season of High Potential, a murder-of-the-week procedural crime drama with a twist of comedy.
“I didn’t think I was interested in doing an hour-long procedural on a network, but I read the script and I just fell in love with the character,” Olson said in a recent interview with Deadline, crediting showrunner Drew Goddard (who based the project on French series HPI) for pulling the show’s seemingly disparate elements together. “It’s certainly hard to find that balance of the perfect tone between a true crime procedural and levity, humanness and comedy, but he did a really wonderful job,” she added. “For something like this, you need to buy into the fact that there is an actual crime that has been committed or there’s been a murder and there’s real danger, and you also need to really trust the police department and not have them just be goofy. So, if you lean too far into the comedy, I think you don’t buy into the story. It’s just not realistic anymore.”
For Olson, who’s played Sweet Dee in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia for 17 seasons and counting — along with a few seasons as a similar character in The Mick — High Potential offered an opportunity to stretch out and showcase her dramatic chops. “I wanted to create a character that was very well-rounded, and there’s a lot going on in her life, she’s always overwhelmed,” Olson explained. “There’s always a lot going on in her brain, and sometimes she’s able to laugh at herself. She definitely feels fine making fun of people, especially when they’re underestimating her, so there’s comedy in that. That’s just human nature. I think that the best character-driven dramatic pieces of material, whether it’s TV or movies, have comedy sprinkled in, because that’s life. There are funny moments and there are snarky things to be said that can be funny, and you have to be able to laugh in dark times. That’s just the way the world works, it’s also just more fun to watch. I wanted people to fall in love with this woman and really root for her. If it was just serious all the time, I think you’d feel like you’re watching a TV show.”
While Morgan is the mother of three, Olson is likewise raising two sons alongside her husband (and Always Sunny co-star) Rob Mac. As she told USA Today, portraying a working mom is one element of the character that hasn’t required much stretching. “I’m doing it the way every mom does it,” says Olson of juggling her maternal responsibilities with two TV shows. “You show up, you get it done, and then you go home and make dinner for your kids. I just do that all year round.”
The season premiere of High Potential airs Tuesday, September 16, on CTV & ABC