Drew Goddard didn’t have any designs on returning to broadcast. But then ABC asked him to take a look at the French-Belgian series “Haut Potentiel Intellectuel (HPI)” — and it immediately inspired to turn it into the Alphabet primetime procedural “High Potential.”
“The last thing I wanted to do at that time was go back to network television,” Goddard says. “Not because I have any disdain for network television. It’s just, I know what a grind and how hard network television is. And yet when I saw the show, I thought, ‘Oh, that’s pretty special. That approach feels very unique.’ Putting the single mom in the center of the police procedural felt necessary to right now, and more importantly, I just couldn’t stop thinking about it.”
And it’s a good thing he followed that gut instinct. “High Potential,” which stars Kaitlin Olson as a single mom with a knack for solving crimes, is a smash. The series, which returns Tuesday night for the second half of its freshman season, was the No. 1 entertainment series this fall among adults 18-49 according to multiplatform ratings. It was also the most-streamed network show of the fall.
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“High Potential” is a big win for ABC — where a Season 2 pickup is very much expected — and also for Goddard Textiles, the shingle that Goddard and Sarah Esberg launched in 2019 as part of an overall deal with 20th Television. (Goddard and Esberg recently renewed a three-year first look deal with 20th, part of Disney Television Studios.) Goddard penned the pilot, but realized it wasn’t the right kind of show for him to serve as a day-to-day showrunner.
“It was never in the cards,” he said. “The truth is, I don’t know that I have the patience to do the police procedural side of this — and yet, I love the police procedural side of this. But it requires someone that knows that world and is excited to do that world. I’m the type of person that would have detonated the police structure if left to my own devices. Half our main cast would probably be dead. I knew that this type of show requires people who are really excited to do the police procedural side of this.”
Finding the right tone on “High Potential,” which mixes humor with crime drama, wasn’t easy. As part of those growing pains, the series underwent an early showrunner change, as Rob Thomas departed and Todd Harthan took over.
“As all shows in Season 1 are, they’re always challenging,” Goddard says. “And so it’s been fun to see all the hard work our crew and cast to put into the show being rewarded. I’ve learned with shows like this, tone is everything. It always takes a little bit of time to get people to find the tone. And so, I think we face the normal challenges of the first year show on top of the Drew Goddard experience of being adamant that our tone can be incredibly silly and incredibly heartbreaking all at the exact same time.”
Goddard says “High Potential” is a good case study for the kind of shows that he, Esberg and recently promoted VP Andrea Massaro are looking for.
“Usually what guides me is, ‘oh, is this something I can’t stop thinking about,’ and trust that it will lead me to interesting places,” he says. “Sarah, Andrea and I have a phrase at our company, ‘we don’t really like developing things, we just like making stuff.’”
Besides “High Potential,” on the TV side that includes the Hulu pilot “Phony,” about a teen (Sam Nivola) who wakes up from a car accident and discovers his mother (Connie Britton) has been replaced by an imposter. That show was created and directed by Nick Paley.
“I think this is in common of everything I’ve done, all of it is hard to explain in a one line sentence,” Goddard says. “It all sounds good after the fact, but you try explaining the ‘Cabin in the Woods’ to somebody in a one-sentence form. It’s really, really hard.”
And just picked up to pilot at Disney+ is “Holes,” based on the Louis Sachar book (and previously adapted in 2003 as a film starring Shia LaBeouf). This one has an extra personal meaning for Goddard: “My mom, a lifelong school teacher, also serves as my book scout. She just tells me what her students are reading. And the very first thing she told me about was ‘Holes,’ when it came out decades ago.”
Meanwhile, Goddard’s name frequently pops up whenever there’s speculation about a “Lost” revival, given his experience working on that show in the 2000s. There’s nothing in the works right now, but he says “never say never. I loved working on that show so much, and I loved what we did.”
Goddard’s TV resume is packed with seminal shows from that era, including “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel” and “Alias” in addition to “Lost.” Are any of those ripe for reboot? “This question comes up on various shows that I’ve done, and I always feel strongly that I don’t want to just do karaoke of the show I used to do,” he says. “I’d only be interested if we felt like we could do something special and new within the construct of the show. And then some of it just comes down to time and appetite. So there’s no plan for it today. But never say never.”
Goddard’s name also often surfaces as possible creative for major I.P. reboots, and he has had experience in playing with some of the franchises he adored as a youth, including “Daredevil.”
“I think my career lined up with something that happened in the culture where these things became popular,” he says. “We always felt like we were on the fringe down there. Now it’s become this whole other thing, almost to a problematic extent, yet it’s been fun to watch and be part of. I just loved ‘Daredevil’ as a kid, so I got to work on ‘Daredevil.’ I loved any of these franchises that you hear me attached to. The 12-year-old Drew never takes this for granted, because that has definitely been a delightful part of this job.”
Next up, Goddard is writing, directing and producing the next edition of “The Matrix” for Warner Bros. Goddard and Esberg will produce along with original franchise co-writer and co-director Lana Wachowski as exec producer.
“I’m writing, and that’s all I can tell you,” he says. “There’s not a lot to report, and I’ve learned not to say too much, because I might change my mind about anything small or large with regard to it.”
Also on the feature side, Goddard Textiles just wrapped on “Project Hail Mary” for Amazon/MGM, with Phil Lord and Chris Miller directing from Goddard’s script. Ryan Gosling and Sandra Hüller star in what reps Goddard’s second adaptation of an Andy Weir novel (following “The Martian”).
“If you like ‘The Martian,’ I suspect you’re really going to like what we’re cooking up with ‘Hail Mary,’” he says. “Chris and Phil and I have known each other for decades now, and I love their work. And then obviously, Ryan Gosling is one of the staggering talents of our time.
“The dream for the company is just to make a place where artists can come and have fun and do satisfying work,” he adds. “Some people need writing guidance. Some people need directing guidance. Some people need producing guidance. And I enjoy all of those things…. The truth is, all of what we do is really hard, and so the only thing that gets us out of bed in the morning is the joy of making it and the belief that what we’re making could connect with other people.”