Ransom Canyon featured Steve Howey in a blink-and-you-miss-it role but could he come back for more after his shocking exit from High Potential?
“We’re constantly trying to build out the worlds and the people who exist in it,” showrunner April Blair exclusively told Us. “We do have a lot more story with Staten and his father and the healing of that relationship.”
Blair hinted at Howey’s return in the future, adding, “Steve Howey is someone we always viewed as just a fun little kind of cameo. Here’s his crazy brother in the woods. But he was like a philosopher and poet almost — and is a little more in touch with his emotions than Staten. We needed a big turn for Staten in this season to go back and really fight for Quinn and come back.”
She continued: “We needed it to have weight and what better way to give that scene weight than have Steve Howey do it.”
Season 2, which is streaming now, introduced Howey as Staten’s (Josh Duhamel) brother who resided in the woods. They had a brief heart-to-heart conversation that hinted at more family history that needed to be told in the future.
Howey has been booked and busy with Off Campus, Ransom Canyon and The Lincoln Lawyer. He previously appeared on High Potential but his character got shot in the season 2 finale. Wagner’s fate is yet to be determined after Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) arrived just in time to get medical help.
Deadline reported in April that Howey only signed a one-year deal. Wagner’s story has not been fully determined yet, however, and there is a chance Howey could come back as a guest star at the beginning of season 3 to wrap up his arc.
High Potential went through a shakeup after showrunner Todd Harthan exited the show to focus on the upcoming live-action adaptation of Christopher Paolini’s young-adult book series The Inheritance Cycle.
High Potential was originally created by Drew Goddard. Rob Thomas, meanwhile, was expected to serve as the showrunner before exiting in June 2024, months before the series premiere. Harthan was ultimately announced as the new showrunner and also served as an executive producer.
Harthan teased the vision for the series while speaking to Us in January.
“It’s a pretty bumpy ride. We’re going to start unpacking some pretty intense things with Morgan, as it relates to all things Roman,” he said at the time. “There are all kinds of trials and tribulations that are going to happen with the kids at home. It’s just going to get messy and complicated — hopefully in all the best ways so that the audience stays on the edge of their seats.”
He concluded, “Our job now as we get to the back half of the second season is to fill in some of the big blanks and progress some of the relationships. You’re going to see some intense things happen between Steve Howey’s character, and Captain Wagner really starts to bloom in the back half. That causes some good soapy messes on multiple fronts. It’s just our normal MO of just trying to mix things up and keep the audience engaged and keep them guessing.”
Howey, meanwhile, opened up about joining High Potential in season 2.
“Nick comes in and does ruffle some feathers. But his motives and his intentions are not to do that. He wants to help and we start seeing that in different episodes,” he teased in September 2025. “That was my fear and my concern. When you have such a lightning in the bottle strong dynamic of these characters, throwing in another character can potentially throw that off. I’m still working on not doing that. This is going to evolve into something really cool.”
