Kaitlin Olson opened up about the emotional weight behind the High Potential finale, revealing just how deeply the shocking Morgan–Wagner twist affected not only the audience, but the cast as well 

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What To Know

High Potential star Kaitlin Olson breaks down the Season 2 finale, including the cliffhanger twist with Wagner.
Plus, she weighs in on the Roman revelations in this pivotal episode.

High Potential‘s Season 2 finale has arrived and with it an even bigger twist than Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) and Wagner’s (Steve Howey) elevator kiss.

The finale saw the LAPD faced with an investigation that put Karadec’s (Daniel Sunjata) girlfriend Lucia (Susan Kelechi Watson) at the center as she helped cover up evidence at her place of work, but it was the ongoing investigation into Roman that delivered the highest stakes. Fair warning: There are spoilers for the High Potential Season 2 finale ahead!

After connecting romantically in the previous episode, Morgan and Wagner looked further into Roman’s disappearance as he applied pressure to his dad (Clancy Brown) and Willa Quinn (Jennifer Jason Leigh). The results weren’t exactly what Morgan hoped for as she learned that Willa helped authorities cover up the murder of an undercover agent that Roman had supposedly killed.

Even worse? Willa threatened Morgan’s children. Following all of the ordeals of the day, Morgan hoped to unwind by attending her daughter Ava’s (Amirah J) art show, but a meeting Wagner was attending on behalf of the investigation piqued her curiosity and he informed her where to meet him. When she finally arrived, she discovered a seemingly fatally wounded Wagner spitting up blood and barely hanging on. Will he die? Kaitlin Olson answers our burning finale questions below.

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The case puts pressure on Morgan and Karadec’s relationship when Lucia is implicated. Why is Morgan hesitant to expose Lucia’s potential involvement to Karadec?

Kaitlin Olson: I think she has a lot of guilt because she really encouraged him to open up his heart and give her another chance. And so, one of the things that we wanted to do this season was explore the ways that Morgan gets it wrong or ways that this high IQ and intellect is challenging, and this is one of those times, so she feels responsible for breaking his heart, and maybe she was wrong; she shouldn’t have pushed him to go for this relationship. And she’s also been noticing things with Lucia for the past couple of episodes. She just doesn’t want to be right, and I think it’s got to be really hard to be the smartest person in the room and see things other people don’t, and then not be able to trust your own emotional instincts, because you have to go like, “Oh, am I just feeling emotional about it, or is it like my actual intellect that is stepping in?”

In the episode, when Morgan learns that Wagner’s father is working with Willa Quinn, why is she so quick to trust that he’s not helping them? Is it because of that kiss or is it something else?

Well, she has been attracted to him since she met him, and she’s been trying to figure out what his intentions are since then. Any scene that they’ve been in together in the back of her mind, I think she’s been trying to figure this guy out, for a really long time, and through learning that he was engaged and lost her to then really having him open up and be willing to be vulnerable with her and explain what happened, and then also him saving her life in the tunnels, I think she now feels safe with him. It’s such a big episode that it feels a little bit jarring. In terms of how I was playing, this has lasted for an entire season, and she, over time, has figured out that he’s a trustworthy person, and she wasn’t sure for a while.

Disney / Raymond Liu

This season’s casting of Jennifer Jason Leigh and Clancy Brown is fantastic. Throughout the episode, Willa keeps saying she’s trying to warn Morgan about danger. Is Willa the biggest figure to fear, or is there someone else on the horizon? 

I think that’s exactly what they’re trying to figure out. It feels like this woman is absolutely dangerous and terrifying, and I think she is hiding behind the fact that maybe there’s someone else, but I think she’s the one to fear.

She is scary, but Morgan is even scarier when Willa mentions her kids. Do you think that tamps down any fear for Morgan as she defends her children, or is she still scared something could happen to them?

I think her kids could definitely be at risk. People that she loves at work who have become like family are at risk. I think suddenly it’s all come crashing down on her, and she wishes that she had never started the search to begin with. It’s just not that important. It’s not so important that people she loves are in danger, and now it’s too late to turn back.

When Morgan learns that Roman may have killed an undercover agent, why is she so scared to carry on with the investigation? Does she not want to learn that someone she loved was capable of these crimes, or does she not want to endanger anyone else?

I love that you brought that up. We wanted it to be everything. It’s that [idea of] what does it mean that you have believed so strongly in something for 16 years, and maybe you’re wrong, but you’re always right about everything. That’s terrifying, and also potentially, you’ve endangered the people who are closest to you. So, it’s really her entire world crashing down and her now being in fight or flight and not knowing what to do, which, for her, is the scariest thing because she only ever relies on herself, and now she has no idea what to do.

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Going back to that element of trustworthiness. When Wagner tells Morgan to meet him at the park, did she realize he was lying about the time, and if so, what made her willing to accept it?

I don’t think so. You’re totally right because I was thinking about that. It’s like, would she not know that he’s lying, and I think it’s just the culmination of the entire day where she’s showing up for Ava, but she’s still in fight or flight mode. Everything’s just buzzing, and she’s grasping at straws, and so she takes the phone call, she believes the time. And that was really important because again, he’s been so untrustworthy in the past, which I don’t even think was any fault of Steve Howey’s. It was just like we were trying to create a confusing character, and we needed to see that he was trying to keep her safe. Up until now, Karadec is her safest place, and it was, it was the last attempt to show that this guy had good intentions.

When Morgan gets to the park, Wagner’s already bleeding out from being stabbed. Did she call 9-1-1 in enough time to save him? Will we see Steve Howey back in Season 3? Will we see Nick Sr. and Willa back? 

Those characters, we’ve definitely not seen the last of Jennifer and Clancy because I strongly believe that the Roman thing needs to reveal itself sooner rather than later, or people are going to start to get annoyed. People like me. But it’s very up in the [air]. I’m not even giving you a spoiler or not because we don’t know yet. We don’t know. There’s probably a hospital close by, but boy, was he stabbed a lot [with] lots of blood.

Was that shadow we saw at Ava’s art show Roman lingering in the background? Is there any chance he could have crossed paths with Wagner at the park?

Oh, let me jot that down real quick… I don’t know. Listen, the Roman thing is still very much up in the air, and there are so many different places we can go with it, but ultimately… it could be that she was wrong, but I don’t think at his core this is a bad person that she fell in love with and had a child with and I think there’s going to be quite a misunderstanding. That doesn’t mean that all is going to be forgiven, right? But I think he’s actually just making sure Ava’s OK.

High Potential, Season 3 Premiere, TBA, ABC