If you’ve been following along with High Potential, you’d know one of the series’ biggest mysteries revolves around the identity and whereabouts of Roman Sinquerra.
For Morgan Guillory, it’s her love for her daughter that has driven her to work with the Major Crimes unit, utilizing her HPI to assist in solving cases while they simultaneously use their resources to find out the truth about her ex-boyfriend.
The reasoning behind this is that her endearing, fun teenage daughter is feeling a bit disconnected and longs to learn more about the father she feels has abandoned her.
As we’ve been following along this season, it’s evident that not only is Roman alive, but there’s far more to him than we could have ever anticipated, including his work with the police as an informant.
And as Morgan and the gang get closer to untangling the web of secrets surrounding Roman, it’s Ava who has been struggling with trying to figure out the truth about her father and his absence from her life.
During High Potential Season 2 Episode 3, we saw how she continued to not only grapple with some of her identity issues, but with this new information about her father.
We had the distinct pleasure of catching up with Amirah J, the talented young actress who plays Ava, to discuss this Roman mystery, Ava’s dynamic with Morgan, and what else we can expect as the season unfolds.
High Potential has been an incredible series, pulling in impressive numbers and emerging as one of the hottest new series of the past year or so.
High Potential’s Continued Success is an Overwhelmingly Positive Experience
Its massive success doesn’t go unnoticed by Amirah J, who describes the experience as a “whirlwind.”
“It’s been like a whirlwind. I mean, starting the pilot in 2023, I believe, and then waiting a whole year because of the strike and everything to start filming the first episode, the first season, and then getting the news about season two, it’s honestly just been so crazy. And seeing how the fans are reacting to everything is kind of overwhelming at times, but also exciting.
“And then when we were filming season two, and leading up to the premiere date, I was just hoping that season two went as well as season one, and hopefully even better. Looking at all the comments and seeing all the fans’ reactions to our first two episodes — it’s just been really incredible. And I’m very, very grateful.
With the Roman arc becoming a center for the series, it feels like an arc that sets things up for Ava to have a larger role in the season.
It also opens the door for us to see Ava grappling with different emotions as more information filters in.
“In the first two episodes, we figure out that my dad’s been hiding out in Nevada. And I think for Ava, she’s in a state of confusion. For Ava, it’s ‘my dad is this close to me. He’s been this close to me for this long. And he doesn’t want to come back.
He doesn’t want to get to know me. He doesn’t want to have a relationship with me. And so I think that’s kind of what’s leading her emotion.”
Ava Struggles to Process Information about Roman Well
And as we see in the hour, that emotion causes her sometimes to make some questionable decisions.
“I feel like these few episodes, and she, yeah, she’s making irrational decisions based on emotion, which I think is understandable, given what she’s going through, and kind of what the information she’s being told, ” Amirah shares.
Given her reaction, we couldn’t help but wonder if it was best to share information with Ava or wait for everything to come out about Roman before Morgan fills her in.
The ideal solution would be to have more concrete information, but Amirah was adamant about Ava wanting to be in the know.
“I think for her, she wants to know so badly, but I don’t think she knows how to react once she knows the information. So I think it’s a weird thing, like her mom and her should have this kind of relationship where they can trust each other.
“And as Morgan gives Ava information, Ava should be able to kind of talk to Morgan about how she feels about the information she’s being given instead of going off and acting out and getting arrested and all these crazy things.”
Ava and Morgan’s Relationship is Complex but Compelling
Despite Ava’s arrest, the scene did open the door for one of the series’ most compelling dynamics: the mother-daughter bond between Ava and Morgan.
One of the compelling aspects of Ava is that she often feels like an outcast in her family. It’s not an uncommon feeling for many teenagers, but it’s especially tough for Ava when both her mother and brother have HPI.
“I think it hurts her a lot to kind of see how Elliot has the intelligence that their mom has. And so she’s kind of like, well, I don’t know, like who I’m like in this family. And she always says she has her mom’s worst traits, so Ava wants to find someone she can kind of cling on to another parental figure,” Amirah echoes.
However, we did tackle how the series explores that Ava is so much more than her mom’s worst traits. The episode showcases Ava’s observational skills to the fullest, enabling her to assist Morgan with a crucial part of solving her case.
For Amirah J, so much of this fantastic dynamic onscreen is due to how she’s cultivated a strong bond with Kaitlin Olson offscreen.
The Key to a Strong Onscreen Dynamic, is Offscreen Chemistry and Collaboration
“She is absolutely incredible,” Amirah gushes. “I love working with her; the majority of my scenes are usually with her. So the days that I go into set, I always know that I’m gonna have at least one scene with her that day.
It’s always great. She’s very motherly, which makes everything on camera seem super natural. And we always talk between takes about if we like how things are written, and if we want to change something to make it kind of feel like a real mother and daughter conversation.”
Amirah goes on to share the input she gives and how acting on the series can be a welcoming and collaborative experience.
“She [Olson] is like, would you actually say this? Or do you want to change it? Would a 16-year-old girl actually be saying these things? Like, how can we make it seem more real? And so it’s nice, because she’s very, like, collaborative in that sense, and trying to make the scene feel as natural and as real as possible, which is incredible.
And she’s also just an amazing actress. So being in a scene across from her is such an incredible learning experience.”
Amirah Would Love a Peek Into Ava’s World Outside of Home
Fortunately, I’m not alone in enjoying those collaborations onscreen as well. Amirah expressed interest in the scenes where Ava gets to explore the station or assist with a case.
But when it comes down to a story arc that Amirah would love to see more of for her character, it’s regarding Ava’s personal and school life.
“I’ve always wondered what her school life is like. Because we have seen a little bit of how Elliot is with his friends and how kids aren’t always the nicest to him because of his high intelligence and his high IQ, just like his mom. And we’ve seen that in his talent show and everything.
I’ve always kind of wondered what Ava’s school life is like, because she doesn’t seem like the easiest person to be friends with. I’ll say, yeah, so I just wonder how, knowing how she feels at home and how she always doesn’t feel like she fits in, I wonder how that kind of carries into her school and friend life.
But as far as what’s coming up for Ava, Amirah expresses real excitement for the viewers to see her interacting with a new cast member.
Ava Has a Fascinating New Dynamic on the Horizon
“I’m excited for the viewers to see some upcoming scenes that I have with a new cast member who joined this season. Yeah, I’m excited for the fans to see that new dynamic and how it plays into finding Ava’s dad and that storyline. It’s very exciting.”
Of course, it can be any number of new characters coming onto the scene. High Potential manages to land some fabulous guest stars, and Amirah is very much aware of this. She’s not above fangirling either.
As an 8 Mile fan, she was elated with the addition of Mekhi Phifer to the cast.
“I had a fangirl moment. It was when we were filming the talent show scenes from episode two, and Mekhi Phifer was there as well. And I didn’t know he was going to be in the show. I had no idea. I was in the hair and makeup trailer, and they’re like, “Do you know who is coming to set today?’ … And I was freaking out. Eight Mile, the movie, is one of my favorite movies. So I was literally freaking out.”
Of course, with all the talk and teasing of crossovers, we also couldn’t resist asking Amirah which show she’d want to do a crossover with, and her response was…
Well, you can watch the full interview to see what type of fun crossover she’s concocted and with which popular, fan-favorite series!
Interviews like this take time and care — and we hope it shows.
If you liked hearing from me, please comment or share the article. That’s how we keep conversations like this going.
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The post High Potential’s Amirah J on the Roman Mystery, Ava & Morgan’s Complex Dynamic, and Her Dream Crossover appeared first on TV Fanatic.