High Potential just teased a major development in Karadec and Morgan’s relationship — but does that mean they are one step closer to a possible romance?
During the Tuesday, January 6, midseason return of the hit ABC series, Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) vouched for Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) despite their boss Wagner (Steve Howey) losing trust in her ability to help the LAPD. The episode ended with the team going out for drinks where Morgan and Wagner bonded (or possibly flirted?) at the bar as Karadec watched on.
“We do start to unpack a little bit of that as we move deeper into the season. For us, our approach is, you don’t know if it’s protection or jealousy,” executive producer and showrunner Todd Harthan exclusively told Us Weekly. “Is he worried about Morgan engaging in a relationship that could be dangerous or complicated in a way that is destructive? Or is part of him starting to develop real feelings for her?”
Harthan continued: “It’s that fine line that we walk on the show. I don’t ever really want to tell the audience definitively which way he’s feeling but we’re playing with a lot of that as we dig deeper into the season. Because things are going to start to get a little bit messier.”
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When asked whether Karadec knows what he feels for Morgan, Harthan noted, “They’re both still figuring [that] out. Even in TV time, it hasn’t been that long between the two of them. It’s just complicated when you work together and you have such an amazing partnership that continues to grow and bloom and that you become even more attached to.”
Harthan didn’t rule it out. “He’s still in the reconciling it sort of phase. But that’s where we’re at now,” he added. “It’s still that he’s not sure and that we’re trying to be honest about that in its execution within the episodes.”
There’s also the fact that Morgan has had multiple possible love interests already.
“We haven’t put a super fine point on it. But I’ve talked to Kaitlin about it quite a bit and she’s just got so many other things that are taking priority over her engaging in another meaningful relationship. Her priorities are her children and then now she has this career that she’s immersed herself in,” he explained. “A very small piece of the pie is left over for her and her personal life. It just isn’t one of those things that she’s engaging in as much as she is her children and her work. But we’re looking for the time in which that is going to bloom but we’ve been very slow to have her immerse herself into a long-standing relationship.”
The police procedural, which premiered in September 2024, follows a high-potential intellectual — Morgan — who teams up with the LAPD to help solve murders. She gets paired up with Karadec, who is initially skeptical about Morgan’s involvement with the Major Crimes unit but ultimately starts to rely on her.
“I will definitely say that I actually don’t have the actual ultimate answer to where they’re going to go. In terms of the will-they-won’t-they between Karadec and Morgan, that is up to our writers’ room,” Sunjata, 54, exclusively told Us in November 2024. “I think that they’re going to play the long game with that particular story line.”
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Sunjata made it clear that the pair’s fate was up to the writers. “I would say that there’s definitely some electricity between the two of them. There’s a reluctant mutual attraction that’s happening,” he added. “But I don’t think we should expect to see anything crazy about that happening anytime soon.”
Harthan later gave Us a promising update about his plans for the fan-favorite characters.
“You never know. I don’t let my guard down about those things either. I don’t get overly confident until your audience dictates a lot of the things you do. What do they have a big appetite for?” Harthan shared with Us at the time. “I might be infamous for slow planning things, but I love a slow burn. Like, selfishly I just love it.”
Harthan said the show will continue to invest in Morgan and Karadec. “We’re going to write that for a while. Even if you at some point fall in love with somebody, maybe you also are more in love with the partnership and the friendship. And maybe you are scared enough of the risk of crossing certain lines,” he hinted. “To me, it’s so fun to play in that space before you cross certain lines. There’s a lot of life in this show and I want to make sure we do it at a pace that doesn’t leave a good story on the table.”
High Potential airs Tuesdays on ABC at 9 p.m. ET. The show is streaming on Hulu.
