Like many procedural dramas, The Hunting Party centers on crimes or problems being introduced, investigated, and solved by a law enforcement agency, which in this case is the FBI. However, there are a few things that set this 2025 series apart from the rest, making it unique to an extent. Created by JJ Bailey, who executive produces alongside Jake Coburn, The Hunting Party debuted on Sunday, January 19 and stars Melissa Roxburgh in the lead as Bex, Nick Wechsler, Patrick Sabongui, Sara Garcia, and Josh McKenzie.
In The Hunting Party, a small group of agents teams up to “capture the most dangerous killers our country has ever seen,” all of whom have escaped from The Pit, a top-secret prison in the middle of nowhere that just got blown up. These escapees play a major role in the show, which co-showrunner Coburn elaborated on during a roundtable interview attended by Collider’s Samantha Coley, highlighting what makes it different from regular procedurals. Explaining that the show is more of a why- or how-dunnit than a whodunnit, he said:
“One of the sort of defining features of the show is that it’s not the crimes that we know, [we know] who the bad guy is sort of going into it. So what we’re trying to figure out is who they were, what happened to them in The Pit, and who they are now and why they’re doing what they’re doing. And very often, the things that they’re doing after, as an escapee, are pretty random and pretty weird and pretty scary. But also, our team is trying to figure out what makes them tick now, like, where you know, what are they obsessing about? What weird piece of their history is now playing out again?”
‘The Hunting Party’ Has No Mystery Killer of the Week
In the same interview, creator Bailey noted a few more distinctions in The Hunting Party, particularly the idea of not having mystery killers compared to regular procedurals. Since the escapees are from The Pit, their identities are known to the FBI, which adds somewhat of a twist, as the EP explained:
“What makes our show a little bit different but also a little more challenging is we’re not solving the puzzle of who this person is, who’s our mystery killer of the week. We come out of the gate knowing who they are, we have an established MO, but something about where we find them doesn’t quite add up with that.”
Moreover, there’s also the yet-to-be-answered question of what happened to these killers at The Pit, which The Hunting Party will explore as teased by Bailey, bringing to light what led them to change as they’ve diverted from their established MO. This, in turn, will enable the hunters to get ahead of them as the series progresses.
The Hunting Party debuted on January 19, the pilot will re-air on NBC tonight, February 3, with the show’s next episode airing on February 10. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates about the procedural.
The Hunting Party
- Release Date
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February 3, 2025
- Network
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NBC
- Directors
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Thor Freudenthal
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Melissa Roxburgh
Rebecca ‘Bex’ Henderson
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Patrick Sabongui
Ryan Hassani
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Sara Alicia Garcia
Jennifer Morales
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Josh McKenzie
Shane Florence
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