‘High Potential’ Star Kaitlin Olson On Her Super- Sleuth Character & Season 2: “There’s So Much More To Be Explored”

Kaitlin Olson and Morgan Gillory — the super-smart LAPD cleaning lady Olsen plays in crime procedural High Potential — have one thing in common: people quickly learn that they’re not to be underestimated. While known mostly for her comedic roles in shows like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and HacksOlson came up through the theater, so she’s no stranger to more meaty dramatic roles. That doesn’t mean she shies away from adding her own brand of humor, leading to a character that is as comfortable tackling a mystery as she is making witty comebacks.

DEADLINE: What made you want to be involved with High Potential?

KAITLIN OLSON: 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. I thought she was so fantastic and I thought that Drew Goddard just wrote such a beautiful pilot, which is hard to do. 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. I was really impressed. 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.

DEADLINE: The show is very serious, but has a lot of humor in it, like you mentioned. Can you talk more about bringing some of those elements of comedy into the series?

OLSON: It’s the fact that she’s human and allows for things to happen. 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. 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.

DEADLINE: In switching from being a completely comedic actor to a more drama-focused role, was that a change for you?

OLSON: It was a huge change for everybody else to see me do it, but it’s been a while. I grew up doing theater, so I’ve done all kinds of things and you get to see little glimpses of it in Hacks and the film Champions. So, I think it was more of a surprise to everybody else than it was to me.

DEADLINE: What were some of your entry points in connecting to Morgan?

OLSON: The fact that she’s a great mom. That’s a really beautiful part of this person, that you get to see so many different sides of her. It was nice to have that be in conjunction with how scrappy she is and how she’s had to rely on no one for her whole life. She doesn’t need a man or parents. She’s got it. She’s been forced into this position. So, the fact that she has found a way to figure it all out and still give everything of herself emotionally to her kids, I just really loved that about her.

The fact that she is incredibly smart I think is wonderful for the story, but really what connected me to her is how that’s a struggle for her. I mean, I consider myself to be a smart person, I don’t have a crazy-high IQ like she does, but I do know what it’s like to have anxiety. I do know what it’s like to be up in the middle of the night worrying about something or trying to figure something out. Or even trying to put pieces together and not being able to relax and let it go until I’ve figured it out. That’s something the two of us share, and I think that’s something all parents share. Also, the fact that she’s underestimated. I’ve certainly been in situations very often where I feel people underestimate my ability to do something. Those are the main things that I’ve latched on to.

DEADLINE: It’s funny you mention the high IQ, because I feel like in a lot of shows that feature an incredibly smart person, it’s always romanticized in a way where the person’s life is perfect because of how smart they are.

OLSON: Right. Their life is great and they always save the day. That’s so boring to me to play. I didn’t want to do that, and I think we’re going to try and dig into that even more in the second season. It’s so much more interesting to me to have a person who is not perfect and who’s still trying to figure it out and who makes mistakes. So, I want her to make personal life mistakes. I want her to make professional mistakes as well, but be really convinced that she’s right, but be wrong. I mean, also it just would get boring if you just are like, OK, well, Morgan’s going to figure it out. You know what I mean? You want to surprise people and you don’t want to do the same thing over and over.

I keep saying that it would be boring and predictable, but also, I don’t know how much it’s been explored on TV. Someone with an incredibly high IQ like that, I believe that’s classified as a neurodivergent brain, and there are so many people in the world who are neurodivergent in some way. I think most of the world looks at that and thinks of that as a disorder, and it’s upsetting and it’s bad, but oh, if you’re super smart, it must be really great. And that’s not necessarily the case. There’s a lot that goes on in there, and I’m sure it can be very lonely and people can feel very misunderstood, and people who aren’t as intelligent or don’t have a crazy- high IQ can maybe be jealous of that and lash out, and their way of feeling good about themselves is putting those people down.

I mean, it’s a rich world that I think we can tap into, and I think it’s too common to have the perception that because someone’s smart, they must have a wonderful life. It’s the same thing with anything, right? Just because someone’s rich, they must have a wonderful life, or if someone’s attractive, they must have a wonderful life. Not necessarily true. People are well-rounded human beings, and that’s why I wanted to make sure Morgan was multifaceted and not just a smart person in short skirts.

DEADLINE: Having a show centered around a single mother is not something you see all the time. Morgan does have her ex that she’s friendly with, but how did you make this aspect be a part of the story without it eclipsing everything?

OLSON: It was really important to Drew to show that it’s possible to co-parent in a peaceful way. It would’ve maybe been the easy choice to have it be that she’s just a single parent or that she hates the ex-husband. I think it’s nice to see that they weren’t right for each other, and to cast it in a way where it’s like, OK, yeah, they just weren’t right for each other, and that it’s another way that Morgan has not been able to maintain relationships. You now know that she’s had two different fathers to her children, there’s multiple failed relationships.

I like though, that ultimately, she’s got him and the kids are safe, but at the end of the day when she lays her head down on the pillow, she’s alone, she’s figuring this all out pretty much by herself. I just think that that’s interesting, because it adds that element of having the weight of the world on her shoulders, especially now that she has this job and is emotionally invested in it and has to figure out what’s happened.

There’s been a murder. Adding that on top of everything else that’s been going on in her life and having her not treat it just as a job, appreciating the money, loving being appreciated that she’s actually capable of holding down a job and being of value, but oh, no, she’s now feeling deeply for either the victim or whoever was left behind.

DEADLINE: Going into Season 2, what topics would you like to explore with your character?

OLSON: In the pilot, she’s got that wonderful speech with [Selena] Soto where Soto says she has a gift and she’s like, it’s not a gift, and names all the reasons why. As in any first season of television, you’re trying to figure everything out, and looking back, I got a lot of feedback from people just loving that part of it. The fact that there’s a lot of really exceptionally intelligent people in the world who don’t necessarily find it all that amazing. I think it must be very lonely at the very least, and then all of the other things that Morgan states in that first episode. I felt like it really touched a lot of people, and I was like, oh, yeah, there are people who are identifying with that and would like to see more of how difficult it can be.

I definitely want to do more of that, and I also want her to make mistakes, like I said before. It’s not fun to watch somebody just hit it out of the park every single time, it’s going to get boring. I love the stuff with the kids. I would love to see some more examples of her son and the way that he’s gifted and how that’s challenging for him. I mean, we touched on it a little bit with friendships at school this past season, but I think that there’s so much to be explored there. Same with Ava and how it’s a struggle for her maybe, or maybe not. Maybe Ava starts to have a really, really great life and great social life, and that’s enviable to Morgan and Elliot.

Also, obviously, I want to know what’s going on with Morgan. I want to know what’s going on with Ava’s dad. There’s a lot of stuff, I want to do it all. I want to have really fun, dramatic stuff, and I want to have really funny moments and explore relationships. I think it’s important to dive deeper into the other characters on the show. We didn’t have the opportunity to do that as much as I think we should, and so we’re going to definitely be digging in there, too.