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The Hunting Party EP Coburn on David Ramsey, Series Influences & More

EP Jake Coburn spoke with us about the influences behind NBC's The Hunting Party, reuniting with Arrow alum David Ramsey, and much more.

Jake Coburn has learned so much in his nearly two decades in Hollywood. He's also fiercely loyal to all who helped him make it along the way, as indicated by his latest series, The Hunting Party on NBC, where he serves as co-executive producer with creator JJ Bailey. The series has a simple premise: serial killers escape an off-the-books supermax prison, and it's up to a team of specialists led by Rebecca "Bex" Henderson (Melissa Roxburgh) to retrieve them. Coburn, who's also worked on Gossip Girl, Arrow, Quantico, Dynasty, and The Endgame, spoke to Bleeding Cool about developing the series with Bailey, how NBC picked up the series before casting, Sara Garcia's expanding role as Gonzalez toward the end of the season, and working with Arrow alums director James Bamford and actor David Ramsey for episode 106 "Arlo Brandt."

The Hunting Party EP Jake Coburn Previews Season One Home Stretch & Reuniting with 'Arrow' Alum for Ep 106

Bleeding Cool: What was the conversation with JJ that led to the initial spark of 'The Hunting Party?'

I don't remember exactly what it was, but we talked probably for two, two and a half hours that first time. We found ourselves coalescing around a couple of different shapes, ideas, and the DNA of the show was born there. Obviously, we were both intrigued by serial killers and sort of like the MKUltra dark side of psychiatry and psychology, specifically government programs. If people aren't familiar with MKultra, it's a fascinating history, and The Pit became an opportunity to take it to a bigger level with bigger stakes and a higher concept, so we were drawn to that as well.

When it came to initially developing the lead for Bex, was it conceived with Melissa in mind, or did you play around with some other ideas?

No, we wrote it and got the pickup without any actors attached. I don't think there was a specific actor we had in mind for the role. Once we got the pickup, we did the additional auditions, and it was a challenging process for us because, for whatever reason, it's a specific character, and there's a lot of different tonalities that must be balanced, and there were not a lot of people we saw where we felt like they could be Bex. [Melissa] was one of them, and once she got in there, she owned it.

How do you break down the balance among the principal cast as far as delegating the roles? How did you sort out the parts they played after having Melissa come in as Bex, and then you had Nick [Wechsler], Patrick [Sabongui], Josh [McKenzie], and Sara come and round it out?

The character of Morales was added into the mix at a slightly later date, and that's part of the reason why Sara joins us in episode two "Clayton Jessup." She's amazing, and you'll see in episode nine she leaves the command center and is part of a mission. It gives her a chance to flex new, different muscles as an actress. I would say that the core four actors, we knew who we wanted as characters, and we dialed in on them pretty quickly.

You've also worked with many of the people you brought in for 'The Hunting Party' on 'Arrow. ' Can you tell me a little about that?

Well, the director [of episode six 'Arlo Brandt'] was James Bamford, who was the stunt coordinator, then the producing director, and director on 'Arrow' with me. We worked together for years in Vancouver with David Ramsey; when this character came up, I'd been talking to David about wanting to work with him again. What excited me about it for him was that this was an opportunity to play a role that was different from anything we've seen him do [in Arlo Brandt]. He's such a good actor, and giving him a chance to flex a different muscle was exciting for me creatively because it felt like unexplored territory, and he was amazing. I enjoyed what he did with the episode. James and I both were like, "If we can make this happen, it would be fantastic, and it all worked out.

The Hunting Party airs Mondays on NBC and is available to stream on Peacock.

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