Kaitlin Olson is back in the dual role as executive producer and star of ABC’s High potentialwhich could prove to be her most sympathetic role yet.

As the three-time Emmy nominee celebrated the premiere of her new crime series with her co-stars and creator Drew Goddard in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Olson told Deadline how, as a mother, she is touched by the series’ larger mystery, namely her character Morgan’s missing ex.

“One of the reasons Morgan is compelled to work for the police is because the father of her first-born child has been missing for 14 years and she doesn’t believe he would have abandoned her or her daughter. The police didn’t believe her, so she distrusts authority and this is a new opportunity for the current police force to help her figure that out,” Olson said. “I think it’s for her, but I think more importantly it’s for her daughter. She doesn’t want her daughter to feel like she’s been left behind.”

In the ABC signature series, Olson plays a single mother with three children and an extraordinary mind who helps solve an unsolvable crime by rearranging evidence during her shift as a cleaner at the police station. When they discover that she has a talent for putting things in order due to her high intellectual potential, she is brought in as a consultant to work with experienced detective Karadec (Daniel Sunjata), who is strict about the rules, and together they form an unusual and unstoppable team.

It is Judy Reyes’ Captain Selena Soto who recognizes Morgan’s potential and offers to help her find her ex in exchange for her unique skills on further cases. “And so a bond is formed between us,” she explains. “I think Soto understands that someone so smart and really can’t understand the biggest secret of their life has to suffer. I think that’s what connects them.”

Reyes notes that her police captain is not the typical “tough” boss that audiences so often see in the genre. “I really appreciated the opportunity to build some kind of bond with her character, a female bond between women, that we were able to develop and expand upon over the course of the season,” she added.

Sunjata noted that the writers will reveal the mystery surrounding Morgan’s ex “very slowly,” but it “won’t be fully resolved until the season finale,” adding, “Absolutely not. That’s something that will come out as a series in later seasons, I think.”

After 16 (soon 17) seasons on FX It’s always sunny in PhiladelphiaMorgan is quite a departure from Olson’s hilariously depraved portrayal of Dee Reynolds, as well as her morally questionable Mickey Molng in Fox’s The Mick (2017–’18), for which she also served as EP.

“It’s incredible. I’m a mother and I have two children. It’s the most important job I’ve ever done,” she said of her relationship with the role. “It was really special to be able to bring an aspect of that to this character. You know, Dee is not very maternal, and with Mickey, it’s uncertain whether she was or not. But one of the things I love about this show is that the heart and soul is Morgan with her family. We solve crimes, and that’s the foundation of the show, but at the center is this woman who does this for her children.”

Goddard (Cloverfield, World War Z, The MartianNetflix Daredevil) also cited the character’s motherhood dynamic as a reason for his attraction to the project, after he saw the series based on the French-Belgian crime comedy HPI.

“First of all, I love crime shows and always have,” he explained. “I’ve always wanted to try my hand at them, but I always wondered, ‘How can we make it feel fresh and new?’ And when I saw the French series, they told it from a new perspective. In those shows, you never have a single mother at the center. It’s always a gray-haired detective or something like that. Instead, I felt like introducing that character changed the whole thing and pointed to what’s going on in our world right now.”

The showrunner said Olson is “a producer’s dream,” adding, “On screen, we all know she’s a unique, spectacular talent. But behind the scenes, she empowers every department, she has her say on cuts, she interfaces with the studio – all the things you dream a producer would do, she does every day. I can’t thank my lucky stars enough that I get to work with her.”

Olson also seems to appreciate Morgan’s attention to detail, saying that behind the scenes she is “a bit of a perfectionist.” “It’s hard for me to just show up and do half the work. Working in such a collaborative environment like this with people who are willing to try new things and give it everything they have, I’m just very grateful that they trust me.”

The first episode of High potential is now streaming on Hulu, with new episodes airing Tuesdays at 10/9c on ABC. See exclusive Polaroids from Tuesday’s premiere party below.