Kaitlin Olson’s husband, Rob McElhenney, is in business with Ryan Reynolds, but that doesn’t mean they’re double-dating with him and Blake Lively.
“Everyone’s very, very busy,” Olson, 49, exclusively told Us Weekly at the High Potential premiere in Los Angeles on Tuesday, September 17.
The actress revealed, “I’ve met Blake twice,” noting that Lively and Reynolds, 47, “live on a different coast.” (Olson and McElhenney, 47, have been married since 2008. Reynolds and Lively, 37, tied the knot in 2012.)
Despite the physical distance, Olson is not opposed to date nights with the New York–based couple. “I would love to hang out with them both more often,” Olson said, adding, “I love Ryan.”
Olson and Lively were thrust together after their husbands bought Wales soccer team Wrexham AFC in 2020. Two years later, McElhenney and Reynolds’ journey as owners of the international club was documented on FX’s Welcome to Wrexham.
The second season, which premiered in 2023, showed the team’s road to promotion from the National League to the English Football League. The squad’s successful season resulted in a promotion to the EFL’s League Two in April 2023, Wrexham’s first promotion in 15 years.
The following spring, Wrexham was upgraded again to EFL’s League One standing after defeating the Forest Green Rovers in April.
“Honestly, it’s absolutely extraordinary. There’s nothing to compare it to,” Olson told Us of her family’s choice to become owners of Wrexham Football Club. “It’s unlike anything we’ve ever done before, and this community is so wonderful. They are such wonderful people.”
She gushed, “If you ever get the chance to visit, I highly suggest it. They are so supportive of each other and supportive of their team. They’ve welcomed us like family, and I would do anything for them.”
Wrexham’s success has now led to another business venture between McElhenney and Reynolds — and another international soccer team. News broke in April that the two actors invested in Mexico’s Club Necaxa soccer club.
McElhenney and Reynolds will work closely with Eva Longoria, Al Tylis and Sam Porter, who are all investors in the club.
While her husband’s been expanding his sports empire, Olson has been working on her latest TV project, ABC’s High Potential.
“I read this pilot and honestly did not want anything to do with an hour-long drama at all, but when I read it, I loved it so much,” Olson told Us of the new show. “I thought the character was amazing. … I didn’t want to love it, but I just, it was undeniable. I just did.”
Olson, who has worked with McElhenney on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia since 2005, noted that her husband is also a fan of the project.
“I was so nervous to show him the pilot, but not that he’s my biggest critic, but he’s just a very critical viewer,” she recalled. “I showed it to him and he absolutely loved it, and I would be lying if I didn’t say that was a giant relief. He loved it. And I loved it and I trust myself, but when he loved it as well, I was like, ‘OK, we’ve got something great here.’”
High Potential airs on ABC Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Lanae Brody
