High Potential returned to ABC in the fall 2025 TV schedule for a second season of episodes showing off that Kaitlin Olson can do a lot more than just the comedy of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The plot is about as thick as it's ever been following the midseason finale, but many fans are bummed to learn that the break after that midseason finale is going to be pretty lengthy. There are only so many times you can rewatch episodes with a Hulu subscription before getting antsy for new installments!
The Season 2 fall finale of High Potential aired on Tuesday, October 28, and that will be the last that fans see of the characters until the new year. ABC has confirmed that the drama will be back on January 6, 2026 as part of a shuffled Tuesday night lineup, which will be comprised of Will Trent Season 4 at 8 p.m. ET, High Potential at 9 p.m. ET, and The Rookie Season 8 at 10 p.m. ET. That means a hiatus of more than two full months, although Will Trent and The Rookie fans have been waiting much longer. (Those two have been off the air since May 2025.)
And while some people who responded in the Reddit thread about the midseason premieres were just happy about the long-awaited returns of Will Trent and The Rookie, the prevailing opinion seems to be that 2+ months is much too long of a break for more High Potential. Take a look at some of the highlights:
- Separate-State-5806: "Is ABC trying to kill this show? It's only the 7th episode this season! Now it's off for 2 months?"
- kateaw1902: "I'm usually more for the weekly episode releases, but 2 months break after a few episodes is ridiculous."
- AppUnwrapper1: "Damn that’s a big hiatus."
- Famous_Map9986: "JANUARY 6th?? Why does it feel like this season came out yesterday, I’m crying."
- gayuwuowo: "HIATUS???"
While everybody is of course entitled to vent their feelings about the long break (and I agree that the midseason finale airing in October feels extremely early), I will say that ABC is probably not trying to kill the show. Just days before the finale aired this week, Kaitlin Olson's series hitting an impressive ratings milestone. High Potential became the first network TV drama to air at 10 p.m. ET to rank at #1 since ER... back in the 1999-2000 season.
So, even if the series ended for the year pretty early, it also ended on a very strong note of beating a record that had been standing for nearly three decades. Per ABC as of late October, High Potential is TV's #1 entertainment series this season among total viewers after seven days with an average of 7.62 million. Additionally, the show has grown by an impressive 29% among total viewers compared to similar dates last fall, meaning that High Potential is the top network drama this season when it comes to year-over-year increases.
Suffice it to say that while High Potential's long break is a bummer for fans, it's not a sign that ABC has reason to lose any faith in the series. It's also worth noting that 2026 Winter Olympics are coming up in February of the new year. Even though NBC has the rights to Olympic coverage, networks generally don't air new episodes of shows during that span of time. It's possible that ABC execs were accounting for an Olympic break in early 2026 when determining the schedule for late 2025.
That's only speculation, however, and one thing that's certain is that there are going to be a lot of empty Tuesdays before High Potential is back on ABC on January 26. In the meantime, you can always revisit the highs and lows over every episode so far on Hulu.
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