Posted in: NBC, TV | Tagged: Josh McKenzie, nbc, the hunting party

The Hunting Party: McKenzie on "High Concept" Serial Killer Procedural

NBC's The Hunting Party star Josh McKenzie spoke with Bleeding Cool about playing against type, procedurals, serial killers, and much more.

Josh McKenzie has always embraced the challenges before him, from action fantasy franchises like Legend of the Seeker, Power Rangers, the New Legends of Money, and The Shannara Chronicles to thrillers like Home Kills (2023), Northspur (2022), and NBC's La Brea. His latest combines his passion for procedurals and serial killers in JJ Bailey's The Hunting Party, which follows a small team of investigators led by Rebecca "Bex" Henderson (Melissa Roxburgh), who are assembled to track down and capture the most dangerous killers ever seen, all of whom have just escaped from a top-secret prison that's not supposed to exist. McKenzie, who plays Shane Florence, spoke to Bleeding Cool about how surprisingly nuanced Shane is, how the role was against type, and working with Bailey.

The Hunting Party Star Josh McKenzie on How Shane Brings Levity and Fun to Series' Darkness

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about 'The Hunting Party?'

It seems everybody's loving the whole serial killer intrigue thing now, and this felt like a unique take on it. With a bunch of serial killers breaking out of a giant prison, you have an endless supply of these people, and there's no real guilt in hunting them down to an extent. That was one of the things that drew me to it. I love good procedures. I've been getting into my procedurals, lately, I was watching a lot of the time I got sent the script and casting notice, so I was like, "Oh, this is fine!"

Upon reading it, the way they were doing things, like burning a man alive in the first episode. I was like, "Whoa! This is full-on and different!" My character [Shane] was a big part of the piece of that puzzle attracting me. On the surface, he's described as charismatic, sincere, all these things, and then reading the script and between the lines going, "There's a bit more to this guy than I think," so it had this subtext and these layers to it I found quite fascinating and sucked me into the world. Once I'm in a world, I'm like, "Okay, this is me now," so I latched onto it. Yes, it's dark but fun, and there's levity and fun.

When you get into the role of Shane, was there anything out there that reminds you of any previous parts you've done or anything you could evoke?

I'm quite used to playing like character characters, not like "leading men" or anything like that. I've always been more attracted to weird, probably the serial killers more, or like the damaged person. Shane was a different one, but there was a lot more to him, especially as we're going to find out how everybody's damaged in some way, but on the surface, he's this leading man-type persona where he acts fast. He can compartmentalize, provide levity, and handle himself.

[Shane's] got a wise and useful skill set, so he's all these things I've never really… I've never played the soldier. I've never played the good guy, so it didn't remind me of anything I've done before. When I was reading the script and the dialog, there was an effortless thought to it. It's reading it going, "Okay, I can see myself saying this." I get that interaction. I see what he's trying to do here. I'm not saying it reminded me of myself, but it didn't require any mirroring. There was an innate quality to it, and I was like, "Oh, he's easygoing and is able to navigate most conversations and situations with a degree of sincerity I could relate to quite effortlessly. I don't know if that answers your question, but it was more internal than external.

What's it like having JJ as a creative and helping to bring his vision alive for 'The Hunting Party?'

I love JJ. He is such a good guy, and it's special to be a part of his vision and trying to serve it from the get-go. He was an open book, like you'd be able to call or text him and be like, "Hey man, I have all these questions," and I had a lot of questions. I love asking questions [laughs], and he was so gracious, humoring a lot of my questions, and he's so down to discuss. When you talk to him, not everything's on paper. He stores a lot of it, and he's so influenced by things in his life that he can speak about a lot of the things he's writing about, which is quite rare.

A lot of people pick ideas and novel things, whereas he has such a deep connection to a lot of the themes, particularly with Shane, that's slowly unraveling. That was special, and that's not often, especially in a procedural that's like this with a high-concept conspiracy. It seems highfalutin, like, "How can anyone relate to that?" JJ has these cores to him where you go, "Oh, I see where that's come from and what you're exploring with that theme." That's interesting, so I'm grateful and lucky to be part of it with him at the helm. We get along really well.

The Hunting Party airs Mondays on NBC and is available to stream on Peacock. You can also check out our interview with Garcia and Bailey.

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