Roman is such a hot topic on ABC’s High Potential — but who should play the mysterious character?
High Potential, which premiered in September 2024, follows a high-potential intellectual named Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) who teams up with the LAPD to help solve murders. The season 1 finale confirmed that Morgan’s ex Roman was still alive after going missing for more than a decade. The only information Morgan — and all of Us — have is that her ex worked as an FBI informant and doesn’t trust the LAPD.
“On set we would all talk about [who we think could play Roman]. I think Jesse Williams would be cool,” Amirah J exclusively told Us Weekly about her potential onscreen father. “We said Michael Ealy. Whoever they cast is going to be great. I’m just excited to see who it is.”
Judy Reyes also weighed in on the possible casting, throwing Michael B. Jordan’s name out there. While executive producer and showrunner Todd Harthan previously teased a “deepening mystery” when it came to Roman, he remained tight-lipped about possible actors.
“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 told Us 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 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.”
Before the midseason finale, which introduced more questions about Roman, Amirah, 18, hinted that viewers will have more answers in the second half of season 2.
“I love the last half of season 2 because I think we start to see all of the characters developing in such a nice way,” she shared earlier this month. “We get to see the backstory not just for Ava but the detectives in the precinct: Soto and Oz and everyone else. We get to dive into their story, which I think is nice that we’re getting to know everybody.”
There are also developments that take place when it comes to Roman.
“What I have been told from the showrunner, the writers and from what I’m understanding is that they don’t want to drag it out too far to the point where it’s like, ‘OK, we’re sick of this,’” Amirah teased. “We’re dragging this out for too long now. But we want to keep that mystery going and feed fans a little bit and then back up a little bit. By the end of this season, a lot of questions will have firm and actual answers to them.”
High Potential returns to ABC Tuesday, January 6, at 9 p.m. ET. The show is streaming on Hulu.
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