Back in November, I had the chance to visit the set of NBC’s The Hunting Party. Along with touring some of the season 2 filming locations, I spoke with creator/co-showrunner/writer/EP JJ Bailey as well as cast members Melissa Roxburgh, Patrick Sabongui, Josh McKenzie, and Sara García. We discussed growing with their characters, upcoming guest stars, collaborating on storyline details, and much more.
The Hunting Party is a high-concept crime procedural about a small team of investigators led by former FBI profiler Rebecca “Bex” Henderson. They’ve been assembled to track down and capture the most dangerous killers the world has ever seen, all of whom have just escaped from “The Pit,” a top-secret government prison that’s not supposed to exist. But as Bex races to catch these killers before it’s too late, she’ll discover that the one thing more twisted than the dangerous fugitives she’s chasing is the prison itself that they just escaped from…because “The Pit” wasn’t just a prison.
I feel like with television, you get to grow with these characters in a way that you don’t necessarily get to with movies. What is it like to kind of grow these characters out, see the actors returning to expand on the stories, and why do you think that’s so important in terms of resonating with the audience? I know for myself, I’ve felt seen through characters all my life, and it’s such a rare thing.
JJ Bailey: That’s so cool. What a great question. Honestly, I think that’s why a lot of people are drawn to TV. I know for me, as a creator, that’s why I’m drawn to TV. I want to spend time with these characters. You come up with a character, you sort of dream up their backstory, and you write an episode, and that’s all well and good, but then when you get to spend multiple seasons with them, you get to really dig in deeper. You get to explore a lot of fun things. But sort of the magic happens when you get a cast like ours, and suddenly, they’re bringing elements to these characters that were not on our radar, and we’re like, “Oh my gosh, look at that. We got to lean in on that,” or you notice the chemistry between certain people, and it really helps expand things in a way that we didn’t begin on that journey.
I mean, we had ideas of where we wanted to go and what sort of relationships we wanted to pursue, and then we get these actors in these roles, and suddenly, it just takes on a whole new life, and you want to spend more time with them. I think there are certain storylines between the characters that are personal for me, and then my co-showrunner, Jake, has some storylines that we’ve sort of infused in there as well, so it’s been really fun to, first of all, get the opportunity to tell these stories, but then also to see this caliber of actors bring them to life has been really gratifying.
As actors, what is your favorite part of not only getting to grow with your character, but then applying stuff that you know from your own life to the character’s and lessons that you learned from the character to yourself?
Patrick Sabongui: I love that, that it’s a longitudinal thing. That the characters develop over time, and that there is a bit of a feedback loop between what you discover from the character and then what evolves, and the synergy between what you bring and what the character brings. Then, the writers potentially learn from that and start to write towards what they’re seeing, which is a combination of what you’re bringing and the character. And so, I don’t know where the line is and what you’re learning from the character, what they’re learning from you, but that process and having the gift of being able to revisit that over a long period of time is just a constant discovery. Every episode, you don’t know if it’s… is that the protector in me that’s coming out of Hassani? Am I forcing that, or am I growing from the protector in Hassani?
Melissa Roxburgh: I think what I’ve learned from Bex is that sometimes it’s okay to block out the noise and to just focus on the job that needs to be done. But then, in turn, I think the counterpart to that is don’t get too comfortable with the walls up, because I think, me, as Melissa, has had trouble finding that balance sometimes, and I think Bex has had trouble maybe on the other end of that, of too many walls up. I don’t know how they’re fusing at the moment, but it’s just been like an interesting idea in my brain of, well, how much do you let this person in? How much do you keep them out? And it’s just been interesting to discover Bex discovering that, and then at the same time, me, as Melissa, discovering that in my own life. Boundaries and stuff like that.
Sara García: Well, that’s a great question. This is the second time that I’ve gotten to be a part of a series that went to a season two [with Unicorn Academy], but on camera, this is the first time where I’ve really gotten to dig into a character past the season one mark, and with that is a tremendous amount of gratitude. I mean, just speaking of kind of what was in your question, I’ve gotten to know Jennifer Morales so much more, and I get to discover her along with the writers, you know, what makes her tick, what she’s into, who she is excited by, and what I’ve taken away mostly from the character is her positive spirit. I think that I’m really leaning into that more this season. Any chance that I get to sprinkle that into the character or even just bring it on set in daily life is what I have been doing. So, I’m just going to end it there because otherwise I’m going to ramble forever.
Josh McKenzie: I always find building a character is a really interesting process because it’s a collaboration. Yes, we, to some extent, know the character better than anybody else, but we also need a lot of guidance because I think of it like, you get a character, you’re in a house and all the lights are off, and there’s all these rooms and you don’t even know some of the rooms exist, and bit by bit, the writers give you clues and so, they turn on a light. You go, “Oh, fuck, there’s a door there,” and then you kind of explore that door, and little by little, you start finding all these different rooms. You’re finding all these different parts. There’s a backyard, there’s a basement, there’s all these different layers, and the longer the show goes on, the more rooms you find until finally, it’s season five or whatever, the show finishes, and you go, “Oh, now I get the character.”
It’s the same with theater. You do 100 performances, and on the 99th, you go, “Oh, I get it now,” and that’s like life, right? So those are the two things, you only know as much as you don’t know, if that makes sense. I like to use lessons I’m learning outside to inform a character, but try to keep it more impersonal and a little bit more ambiguous so that it kind of runs through the software of that character as opposed to my biases. But over time, you get this internal northern star, and if something hits, that’s why they call it bumping, because it feels like you’ve bumped on something, a line, it’s like, oh, and you genuinely, me anyway, I feel like sick, I get nauseous. I’m like, “That’s not right,” like it doesn’t [feel right], and you get quite emotional about it. You’re like, “No, this is ,” and so you have this conversation, you work it out, and as I said, it’s a collaboration, and at the end of it, you’re like, man, that friction was necessary to do a better job and understand the character more. Anyway, I can fucking talk about this for hours, I swear.
Is there an object, a piece of wardrobe, or anything at all that, whenever you see or use it, you get into the headspace of your characters?
García: Oh yes, I’m wearing it: the camo pants. I also have a Morales playlist, and that helps me; music really helps me get into the mindset of my characters.
McKenzie: A lot of KPop Demon Hunters.
García: KPop Demon Hunters is on [it].
McKenzie: I knew it.
García: I mean, it’s Morales. She loves Disney World, so why wouldn’t she love KPop Demon Hunters?
How often do you add to your playlist?
García: Quite frequently. I’m always sort of updating it because characters are living, breathing, ever-evolving entities, and you know, gotta keep her updated. But definitely the wardrobe, the costume, as soon as I get my hair pulled back in that bun, I’m like, shoulders back, chin up, we’re in business mode. And my comms, the comms basically live on my head. They might as well be attached to me at this point, but that’s another big one for me.
McKenzie: I’m a big music guy as well, so I’ve had a playlist for Shane, which I sporadically add to. Mine is interesting, man. It’s interesting. But I’m a big shoes person. Shoes, for me, inform a lot. I mean, they change how you walk. How you lace up your shoes is something that changes from character to character, and with building Shane’s background, I, day one, was like, these are the shoes. I took them to a wardrobe, I’m like, “These are the shoes he needs to wear.” I had a pair of them, so if Danner sees this and you want to sponsor me, these are the best. People hike mountains in these boots. They’re so comfy, they’re practical, but there’s also an aesthetic to them that I was like, that sums Shane up, the color. That, for me, was a big one as soon as I slipped them on.
Also, accent is a big thing. I’m from New Zealand, but when I slip in and put my costume on, I put the accent on, and then I don’t take it off until we’re wrapped. So, all day I’ll be sitting in that, and that’s a cue for him because it’s so different. Accents change fucking everything. So for him, it’s the shoes, it’s the accent, and then the gun. I’ve never really been, you know, we’ve got rifles and stuff in New Zealand, but the handgun and everything about that, learning how to shoot, learning how to move, all of that stuff. He’s got these different sides to him, and the shoes pair them all together, but as soon as the gun goes on, there’s a different type of attitude that informs him.
Sabongui: Yeah, and they wouldn’t let me put it on today. Melissa wouldn’t let me put it on.
Roxburgh: That’s baloney. No, I just said it’s not necessary at the moment.
Sabongui: It’s not necessary, but that’s [my object]. I like my toys.
Roxburgh: You are a grown man. Don’t listen to a little girl telling you what to do.
Sabongui: Hassani just does not feel like Hassani without his weapon.
Roxburgh: It’s his blankie.
Sabongui: It’s his security blanket. I didn’t want to carry the weapon, but I thought at least his holster. He’s got a couple of holsters. He’s got one over his shoulder, he’s got one on his hip, and it’s just habitual. I don’t think the ensemble is complete unless he’s got the weapon or he’s in their private jet.
Roxburgh: It was a season one thing that kind of doesn’t really make sense, but I’ll explain it anyway. I’m not even wearing it myself, actually, so we’re both not wearing our thing. But Bex has this necklace that was her friend’s necklace that she wears every day. That storyline got shot differently, and so we don’t really track that it’s the friend’s necklace that died when she was a young girl. But yeah, that’s kind of Bex’s reason for everything, so she wears that every day.
You have some incredible guest stars coming up this season, including Eric McCormack with his son Finnigan, Niecy Nash, Kelsey Grammer, Liz Gillies, and Jefferson White. Who were you most excited to see take on their role, or most excited for audiences to see?
Bailey: Right out of the gate, we have Eric McCormack, who, I mean, I’ve never seen him do something like this, so it was super fun because, first of all, him playing a serial killer is just fun in and of itself, but the killer, the character, sort of gets to lean on his charm, which Eric has in spades, just naturally. And so, to see him sort of lean into what we all know and expect of him, of this charming guy, but then see him do these turns where, first of all, he’s really scary in certain moments, but then, on top of that, he gets to be really weird. You get to see a lot of colors out of him that you don’t really usually see, so I’m probably most excited for that, quite frankly. I think it’s really going to surprise people from that perspective, but also, he just absolutely crushed it, so we’re super proud of the episode.
I hear a lot of times that actors are very involved with their characters, and have conversations or make suggestions about what they want to lean into. How do those conversations go when an actor asks you to add something in, or when you decide to pause and explore something deeper based on their acting? Even with the killer’s POV, going into that and having those conversations with the guest stars, especially since it’s a one-episode arc most of the time, is there any inspiration that you kind of tell them to deep dive with for their characters?
Bailey: Yeah, well, starting with the guest cast, I mean, obviously, when we have the opportunity to cast people like Kelsey Grammer, Eric McCormack, Niecy Nash, these people are phenomenal actors, and they have great instincts. We write something on a page and we have expectations, and we know what we want to do, but when they get it and they interpret the material, allowing them the opportunity to explore and find new pieces of it, I think, is the best way to go because they’re coming at it strictly from that perspective and they can find things that just aren’t on my radar or Jake’s radar, and so we tend to listen to them. I mean, obviously, there’s certain things we can and can’t do just based on the world of our show. There’s certain things we want to do, there’s certain parts of the story that we need to tell, but when they have an instinct creatively, we like to take that into account. I think one, it helps them take more ownership of the role, but two, we’re hiring really good people. You want to let them do their best work, and I think by listening to them, it empowers them to do that. So certainly, we have those conversations every time, and we like to listen to them.
And then, with our main cast, we sort of have an open-door policy; we love their input. Obviously, there are long stories that we are trying to play out, so certain things have to unfold a certain way, and if somebody bumps on something, we always have the conversation. But we’re also very open to them bringing us things, and we just like it to be a very collaborative process, and they all know that they can come to us anytime; we’ve made that very clear, and they do. If they have a bump on something, they always bring it to us. If they have a creative idea, they like to bring it to us, which I think is very valuable for our show because again, as a writer, as a creator of the show, there’s so many perspectives we’re trying to balance, but each one of our actors, their perspective is kind of solely on their character. So, they know their character better than I do at this point, and so when they explore something, or they feel like, ‘Oh, we’re doing this scene, but it feels a little off because I don’t know that Hassani would do that or Bex would do that,’ we tend to listen to that. Then ultimately, we have to do what’s right for where the story’s going, but they’re incredibly collaborative creatives, and so they generally understand that, and I think our conversation has been really productive in that way.
And I want to talk more about the relationships. I feel like, with a crime procedural, a lot of the time, the characters can suffer in terms of the relationships not getting fully fleshed out. How do you kind of find that balance in terms of letting the characters grow individually and letting their relationships evolve, while also having the crime procedural elements of the genre? There are a lot of ways that could be messed up easily; there’s so much pressure on the weekly episodes, the arcs in terms of the killers, but the main cast is why fans keep coming back.
Bailey: Absolutely, and you’re absolutely right on. I mean, it’s a massive challenge. You are beholden to an A story that needs to wrap up, and it needs to be engaging and mysterious, and you have to service it properly, but then you also want people to care about these characters and not just have them be expository all the time, right? I think, naturally, our show has a couple of moments every episode where we’re able to really dive into that. I mean, the fact that we are a road show is a big challenge. We’ve got our command center in Cheyenne, Wyoming, but then our killers are all across the country, and we have to go to them. But the travel actually affords us an opportunity to stop down a little bit, so we have this plane set and every episode, our heroes are going to be on a plane, traveling from A to B and traveling back at the end episode.
It gives us a natural breathing space to sort of dive into some of that. I will say, again, with this cast that I’m just absolutely in love with, they find a lot of those moments naturally, and even if it’s just a look, a pat on the back, a high five, or whatever it is, you can see their dynamic evolving over time. It’s so fun because a lot of it’s not scripted. A lot of it is just these actors genuinely liking each other and bringing that to set, and it’s really fun. But the challenge for us, on our side of it, is to tell an a story that maybe can touch on a thematic element that our characters are dealing with and sort of tie those together so that when they’re chasing killer X, they can talk about this personal thing and specifically, with the Shane character this season, I think we’re able to do that in a really fun, cool way. It’s definitely a challenge, but again, I think the combination of this cast and sort of the efforts we’re making, I think we’re able to do it in a fun way.
Fans always notice the small details when it comes to relationships and characters. JJ was talking about how a lot of those things happen organically, so what is one thing that you added on the day of filming and were thrilled to see made the final cut, and maybe see the fans respond to or notice it?
Sabongui: Man, I add so much. We always do one or a couple as scripted, and then there’s always some ideas that get exchanged. So, I can’t even really keep track of what I’ll [add in]. Like, every scene, I’m trying to add a little something.
Roxburgh: Yeah, I don’t know. I think every scene has a little bit of something personal in it. I don’t recall something massive.
Sabongui: I mean, some of the stuff with Morales, because a lot happens between us. Sara’s great at adding these little quirks that Morales has, and so, if you touch her station, there’s a lot of that, trying to interact with her keyboard, leaning on something, [she’ll smack your hand away]. There’s little stuff like that.
Roxburgh: I think there was one this season, we get to see Bex’s apartment this season, and that was a whole conversation as to what that would look like, and I think that that was the first time I’ve really thought about her, too, in that way, because we see her in this world, but who is she at home? We’ve seen her in hotel rooms, we’ve seen her at work, we’ve seen her on the road. We’ve never seen her at home. So it was fun to play with what that might look like, and I think it was a collaboration. I kind of had fun with the idea that Bex is a bit scattered in her own personal life, and so she has to leave herself sticky notes for everything because that’s not her priority. Her priority is catching these killers, and her work and her job. And so, I think at home it’s like, “Oh yeah, pay your cable bill. Oh yeah, the milk is bad, don’t drink that.” I had fun with that.
The second season of The Hunting Party premieres on Thursday, January 8, at 10 PM on NBC.
