The High Potential season 2 premiere ended with several cliffhangers — including a possible Roman reveal.
During the Tuesday, September 16, episode of the hit ABC series, Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) and the rest of her family have remained sequestered in their home after the Game Maker (David Giuntoli) approached her in the season 1 finale without her knowledge.
Unable to track him down, Morgan grows restless when she receives an ad with the wrong address. That leads her to a neighbor one street over, who is also missing, leading Morgan to believe the Game Maker is someone involved. The rest of Major Crimes, however, isn’t so sure.
Despite the Game Maker still at large, Morgan helps Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) and the others look into the missing woman — a single mom who went out dancing and never came home. They quickly figure out she was kidnapped, but all signs point to her boss.
The only problem? Morgan is confident that this is all a ruse. She even seems to run into the Game Maker while investigating the case, which is called into question by the Los Angeles Police Department.
By the end of the episode, Morgan figures out that the Game Maker was framing the missing woman’s boss, in the hopes that the woman’s ex would retaliate by killing him. That exact plan was set in motion — Karadec was trying to get to the ex before he killed anyone, while Morgan was still at the precinct when the Game Maker strolled in.
The premiere also continued to follow the Roman mystery. After Karadec previously found out that Morgan’s ex — and Ava’s (Amirah J) dad — was still alive, the LAPD looked into his past as an FBI informant. That led to a lead in Nevada, where Daphne (Javicia Leslie) and Oz (Deniz Akdeniz) visited a hotel and a man (played by Mekhi Phifer) was seen inside looking at an envelope with a New York address.
It isn’t clear whether Phifer, 50, is actually Roman, but the actor was announced as a season 2 cast member. While fellow newbie Steve Howey joined and a description was released for his character, Phifer’s role has been shrouded in secrecy.
The High Potential cast exclusively told Us Weekly during a season 2 cast visit that they were all big fans of Phifer’s before she came onboard in her undisclosed role.
Executive producer and showrunner Todd Harthan, meanwhile, teased a “deepening mystery” when it came to Roman.
“I think frustration is a good thing with an audience. It is a healthy frustration —don’t give them too much of what they want too soon,” Harthan noted in February. “I’d be totally lying if I said I have all the answers to that mystery. The wonderful thing about welcoming other brains to the room is how we make sure we don’t fumble this ball and we tell this story in the most satisfying way imaginable. There’s some cool stuff coming though.”
Harthan also discussed the casting process for a role like Roman.
“We’ve talked about it quite a bit like, ‘Wow we have the time and hopefully now the show is a success and we could go and get this actor or that actor.’ But the truth is, I haven’t had a deep conversation with Kaitlin about it — and she’ll have a strong opinion. She’s very active and involved with casting and has incredible instincts,” Harthan told Us. “So the short answer is no. We have some favorites and actors I really respect that would be great.”
Harthan was looking forward to bringing in more characters into the fold in season 2, adding, “Just the casting opportunities — not just for guest star roles — but recurring roles. We’ve never met Morgan’s mother and father either. We haven’t met anybody. So Roman is a really important and amazing piece of casting. I fantasize about who it could be but I haven’t zeroed in on a person yet.”
High Potential airs on ABC Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Hulu.
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