Posted in: NBC, TV | Tagged: the hunting party

The Hunting Party: McKenzie on Shane/S2 Changes, Serial Killer Pitches

NBC's The Hunting Party star Josh McKenzie talks Shane's Season 2 changes with Bex, pitches for serial killers in future episodes, and more.

Two seasons in, The Hunting Party core cast is only getting closer as a family and cohesive unit, but sadly, it wasn't without sacrifice, as last season's biggest casualty, Oliver Odell (Nick Wechsler) was killed in the line of duty, and Bex (Melissa Roxburgh) and company faced an uncertain future. With plenty of serial killer inmates from the Pit still on the loose, the fight would be far from over as she and her surviving team of Jacob (Patrick Sabongui), Shane (Josh McKenzie), and Jennifer (Sara Garcia) got themselves reinstated to capture America's deadliest fugitives. That doesn't even get into the wrinkle of the complications they must deal with the team's mysterious boss, Col Eve Lazarus (Kari Matchett). McKenzie spoke to Bleeding Cool about what's changed with Shane for season two, how it leads to a deeper relationship with Bex and the team, the advantages of shifting filming from Vancouver to New York, Shane's updated home, Josh Dallas, and who'd he like to pitch to see as serial killers for upcoming episodes, including one from his previous show, La Brea.

The Hunting Party Star Josh McKenzie on Shane's Season 2 Changes, "Family" Dynamic with the Team, and Serial Killer Pitches

How do you describe the most significant change with Shane this season, and how Oliver's death affected him?

Oliver's death definitely affected him in a couple of different ways. Obviously, losing a member of the team is quite a serious thing, so there's that. It's like a member of the little found family gone, but it also opened Bex up a little bit more to exploring that relationship (with Shane). It sounds bad, but [Oliver] had history with her, and she's open to exploring her relationship with Shane. It's a double-edged sword that has passed to him for sure.

You shifted primary filming locations from Vancouver to New York. Do you feel you've lost or gained anything from that transition?

We definitely gained a lot of access to some incredible actors. New York is such a hub for talent; you get a lot of great theater actors who live out here as well as film and TV, so having that access has upped the quality of each episode and our guest stars. Everyone brought their thing, which is what this show's all about. Every week, you've got a crazy serial killer, you've got crazy characters, and in the last episode, you had a bunch of influencers and stuff, so that access to talent has done a lot for our show.

Also, the locations, man. New York is New York; there's no other place like it. You can't fake New York. Being able to shoot under the Brooklyn Bridge, shooting in Chinatown, and Soho adds a shine to the show, an upstart quality with the way it looks. New York looks so good on camera, and I've never really spent much time in New York, so this has been a dream for me. Never thought I'd be shooting a show in New York, and I'm from New Zealand. That feels like a long shot, so I'm very grateful and happy to be here.

How do you feel that you've built your rapport with Melissa, Patrick, and Sara this season?

With season one, we hit it off straight away, and so season two was like going back to school with your best friends. We've been through a lot together. It's 13 episodes, it's a long six to seven months of shooting, spending time every single day with these people. You become a real found family, and I think that translates into the show as well, which is awesome. We have so much fun and have so much love for each other. We all go through stuff, and we're all there for each other. Yeah, it's a pretty special thing to be honest. I've never really worked on a show where these relationships have existed. You're always close to people, but this feels different to me, which is really special.

This season, we see a few new additions to the location-wise lineup. I visited the set and saw how the bar is turning out, and Shane's updated home. Are there any personal touches you had for Shane, aside from what production design already had in mind?

Well, from season one to season two, we had a little guitar dressed in the apartment, not my idea, but they put up a poster of The Conversation, which is one of my favorite films. That was a nice little touch. No, not a huge amount of input in that one. They changed his apartment from season one, which was nice. He's now got a bigger apartment, which I like, and he's coming up in the world. No, they like to tease me and put workout equipment all over the whole place as well. We carried over what we had established in season one and added a little bit more of it.

Now, have we seen your favorite Shane moment from the season, or is that yet to come?

It's a good question, man. I would say, because I can't pick one, that it's "yet to come," put it that way. No, they always give me something funny every episode to say or do.

Melissa, of course, has her Manifest co-star, Josh Dallas, coming in as a guest star in an upcoming episode. What was it like having him on set? My follow-up to that: is there anyone from your past series, like say, La Brea, that you'd like to see guest star on The Hunting Party?

It was awesome having Josh Dallas on set. I got relegated from "Josh number one" to "Josh number two" pretty quickly, but no, it's awesome. He's a fantastic man, and his episode is incredible. He brings quite a different vibe to a serial killer that we hadn't seen before. With him and Melissa having that established relationship, he slipped right in, and it was like, "I'd never met the guy," but it was hanging out with an old friend based on what Melissa had told us and how they interacted. I'm already close with Melissa.

It was a dream, but in terms of "serial killers" that I would like to see that I've worked with, there are a couple [I can think of]. I have a very good friend of mine, who's New York-based, and she did Untamed (2025) with Eric Bana. It's Lily Santiago from La Brea, one of the best actors I know, and she would be an awesome serial killer. I also had a good friend from New Zealand. I did a show with him back in Australia with Sam Neill (called The Twelve), and he would be an incredible serial killer. I would like to see his version of a serial killer, so I'm going to try to sell it to him. We'll see if we can get him over the line.

The Hunting Party airs Thursdays on NBC.

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