Posted in: NBC, TV | Tagged: nbc, Patrick Sabongui, the hunting party

The Hunting Party: Sabongui on Cast Chemistry, Series' Grounded Nature

Patrick Sabongui (The Flash) spoke with Bleeding Cool about NBC's The Hunting Party being open and grounded, the cast's chemistry, and more.

Patrick Sabongui is no stranger to genre work, particularly the action thrillers, fantasy, procedurals, and superheroes, but something stood out about NBC's The Hunting Party that fit the atypical mold of the work he's usually done. With over 125+ credits to his name, including memorable stints on Showtime's Homeland, The CW's The Flash, and Warner Bros Godzilla (2014), the actor's latest is playing Jacob Hassani, a CIA agent who's part of the task force led by Rebecca "Bex" Henderson (Melissa Roxburgh) to retrieved serial killers, who have escaped an off-the-books experimental prison. Sabongui spoke to Bleeding Cool about how he has the expertise his castmates might not have, working with creator JJ Bailey and co-showrunner/EP Jake Coburn, his favorite serial killer, and why The Hunting Party is more grounded than his other projects.

The Hunting Party Star Patrick Sabongui on Embracing Grounded Procedural

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

I love the idea we were going to be chasing a serial killer every week, but it wasn't just following a series of clues and the trail to finding them would be through deciphering their psychology. Interesting tidbit: I got a lot of psychologists in my family. My dad is a career psychologist, and one of my brothers is a psychologist. I always had a copy of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) 4 or 5 kicking around the house [laughs]. Looking at different motivations for extreme behavior was fascinating to me. That was one of the elements that attracted me to it.

What was it like working with JJ as a creative and helping to bring his vision to life?

Oh man, I honestly genuinely loved working with JJ Bailey and [EP] Jake Coburn. They're such passionate storytellers. They're not just pumping out a product or following a formula. They have this unique idea, and then they're open to discussing it with you. Like they're into it, and as a cast, we're genuinely into this. We get to engage in dialogue, and it's not like we must follow…it's different than doing something like 'The Flash,' where you're beholden to an intellectual property that came before you. You're beholden to the comic books and the story as it's already been told. This is something completely original, hatched out of their minds, so we could discuss, deliberate, and debate what, why, and how – so I enjoyed that process of being able to engage them on a narrative level about what we were doing.

What does a series like 'The Hunting Party' allow you to do as an actor compared to your other roles in the past?

It's got its unique properties. It's once grounded in reality but takes a lot of creative liberties at the same time. In 'The Flash', like films and other stuff like that, there's been some magical realism or supernatural component that exists in the universe of the story. In ['The Hunting Party'], everything is grounded in reality. and we're playing by the rules of physics. We've got more resources than your average CIA team would have in catching bad guys. We take a little bit more liberties, we jump on a jet, and we got an old prison guard who's a military vet, join the team, and like, "Does it all check out in terms of real-world task force operations?" Maybe we take a little bit of freedom and liberty, but that's what makes it fun and exciting.

How do you describe your rapport in chemistry with Melissa, Nick [Wechsler], Josh [McKenzie], and Sara [Garcia] in the series?

Actors have to say this all the time about working with their cast, but we genuinely enjoy each other. We genuinely enjoy hanging out, even on set. We joke around a lot. You can ask the crew. We usually pull it together by the time to roll and call action, and then everybody's a professional. Everybody takes the work seriously, and even so we take the time to keep it light and keep it lively in between takes. Between action and cut, everybody shows up and is prepared to do their work, so it's a real pleasure to work with this cast.

Which serial killer stood out to you most so far, or have we not seen it yet?

Which killer? I got to say, what was the killer's name? Kevin Corrigan played him. The guy who was killing folks and then bringing them back to life and asking them what they saw.

Doctor Malak, right?

Dr. Malak. Kevin did an incredible job embracing that genius of the doctor, but that sick serial killer mentality. He made him so quirky and weird and creepy, and such a joy to work with, a consummate professional like a true artist. Just the concept, it makes my skin crawl thinking about how he stood out.

The Hunting Party airs Mondays on NBC and is available to stream on Peacock the following day. You can also check out our interviews with Bailey, McKenzie, and Garcia.

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