***The following interview contains spoilers for episode one***

The Hunting Party, which debuts its second season tonight on NBC, follows a small team of investigators, including ex-FBI profiler Bex Henderson (Melissa Roxburgh), CIA Agent Jacob Hassani (Patrick Sabongui), and prison guard Shane Florence (Josh McKenzie) who track down the worst of serial killers who have escaped the top-secret prison known as the Pit. The series, which is a hybrid of both procedural manhunt and serialized conspiracy thriller, picks up where last season left off, with the team having been disbanded and Bex pushing to get the hunting party officially reinstated in the aftermath of Odell (Nick Wechsler)’s attack.

Recently, star Roxburgh spoke with SciFi Vision about the tone of season two, how the new players and loss of Odell affect the dynamics, Bex and Shane getting closer, guest stars this season, and more.

Watch the interview and read the full transcript below.



SCIFI VISION:   Really enjoying this this season so far. I wanted to ask you though, and I don't know if this is just kind of my interpretation because they're the ones I just watched from the screeners, but I felt especially with episode two, but also episode four, they seem a little bit darker to me. Do you feel like the tone shifted or maybe it's just, like I said, it might just be the ones I happened to watch felt like it.

MELISSA ROXBURGH:   I mean, I think the show itself has dark elements, for sure. We're in a serial killer world. But I think what I actually find for the season is that the darkness has some quirks to it.

Like, it's almost in a weird way like the comic book version of the darkness. You know, you're seeing killers that don't do what a normal killer would do. You're seeing bizarre left turns and plot twists that you're like, “Okay, I don't know how the writers came up with that, but they did.”

So, I think, yeah, I think it's definitely still a dark, dark premise, but I think we get some like, what the heck's in there as well.

SCIFI VISION:   Yeah, I don't know. The resin thing really freaked me out. That's probably why.

So, you talked a little bit about this last time, but you couldn't really go into it, because we didn't know what was going to happen with Odell. But when we start the season, he's gone. So, how is the team going to be different because of that? And also, they have new people now too. They have Lazarus (Kari Matchett) in there and everybody else. How's it going to be different?

MELISSA ROXBURGH:   It's going to be different, because, you know, end of episode one, we see Lazarus take over. And as far as we had known, AG Mallory (Zabryna Guevara) was in charge, and we couldn't totally trust her. We knew there were secrets, but now this is a whole different level of, who are we dealing with?

Especially given the fact that we find out Lazarus is a serial killer herself. We're not sure how that's going to play out. Then, she brings in her own people to our command center.

So, now we have people watching us. We have people checking in and giving our secrets to her, so it's just a mess. It's a whole, whole darn mess.

SCIFI VISION:   Speaking of secrets, obviously Shane is not telling everybody about, knowing that he might be close to his finding his mother, but [Bex] may also be keeping secrets from him. So, how, I guess, is that going to affect the relationship? The fact that they're not sharing things? I'm just kind of curious, like going forward, will they be more open with each other, Bex and Shane?

MELISSA ROXBURGH:   Yeah, that that's a whole storyline. I think Bex and Shane have always been honest with each other, and I think for the most part. The fact that there's now the secret, that there's a reason neither of them are telling each other yet, because they want to see how things play out. They want to get some more information. They don't know how it's going affect everything. But because of that, and because of the fact that the two characters themselves are becoming closer and closer, it does kind of come to a head where it needs to either come out or explode or whatever. So, audience members can look forward to that storyline.

SCIFI VISION:   All right. That was the other thing. Can you talk sort of about the relationship though? You said they're going to get closer. Is there anything you can say beyond that?

MELISSA ROXBURGH:   I think that, you know, Odell was her partner, her mentor, he really taught her a lot, but then he messed up quite badly, and so that became a very confusing relationship for Bex. There was so much love between them, but it was never safe.

Then, I think, going into season two, now that she's really lost that person, Shane becomes her light. He becomes the one that makes her laugh. He becomes the one that reminds her that there is still beauty in the world, despite his own demons.

And I think that the two of them, yeah, they share something outside of the work that neither one of them really knows what to do with. But it starts to grow, and I don't think either of them can ignore it, whatever it turns into, but there's definitely something happening.

SCIFI VISION:   Talk about working with the guest stars this season. I know you have Eric McCormack, Niecy Nash. I'm not sure beyond that, but talk about some of the guest stars.

MELISSA ROXBURGH:   Yeah. We've had a really awesome group of people come in. And I think what makes it so fun is that these are notable actors and actresses that you've seen on other shows, and a lot of them have been comedic shows. So, to see them dive into this dark

SCIFI VISION:   Yeah, not quite comedy here. [laughs]

MELISSA ROXBURGH:   Yeah, I think that the fans of these actors themselves will be really pleased, because it's so different from what they've done in the past.

Then, yeah, we've got Kelsey Grammer. We've got Liz Gillies. We have one that hasn't been announced yet that I'm super excited about, because I think fan bases will also be really excited about it. And yeah, I'm curious to see who else comes down the pipe, because we've had some amazing guest stars so far.

SCIFI VISION:   Are you going to get a lot more stunts this season? I know you were hoping to get some more.

MELISSA ROXBURGH:   Yeah. Episode three, I think. I can't remember which episode. Marcus was our director, and he comes from a fight background, and he knew, he was with us season one. He heard me say the same thing. So, he was like, “I built a whole sequence for you.”

So, I think episode three, I have to check my brain, but we do see Bex kind of get into it, which is so fun. I got to do a lot of it myself. Obviously, I had help from my stunt person, Ashley, but yeah, she gets to kick ass a little more.

SCIFI VISION:   Awesome. Other than the stunts, was what else is there anything specifically that you're looking forward to people seeing this season, like a scene or something that you can [tell me], without spoiling too much, obviously.

MELISSA ROXBURGH:   We really dive into Shane's personal story, and I think that that's been a nice secondary story to catching the killers, because we get to know Shane a lot more. And then through that, we get to know how Bex handles him a lot more.

I think it's really cool diving into that character, because he's such a mysterious character with what he's been through and where he came from. So, I think audience members will really love that.

SCIFI VISION:   We spoke earlier about the darkness. Does any of it ever freak you out doing [it]? I don't know. I mean, I don't know how much you go into the research for it, but yeah, does any of it ever freak you out? And is it hard to kind of, I guess, get around that darkness, or does it really not bother you?

MELISSA ROXBURGH:   I mean, to say it doesn't bother me would sound a bit psycho, but I think that I separate the fact that it's a story. So, personally, I'm not hanging on to it when I come home. I did have a moment though the other day where I was like, “Wait, people kill people.” And Josh and Patrick were like, “Yeah, kind of the show we're doing.” And it just dawned on me for a moment that we're not just playing Mapley. Like some, some of this stuff happens in real life, and I think that was the first time that I really like, took it in. But apart from that, I'm pretty good at going, “We're just telling a story. It's it's all make believe.” So, I'm not losing sleep for that reason.

SCIFI VISION:   All right. I was going to say, it seems like, and again, it might just be the first couple, but it seems like maybe they've shifted where it isn't quite always the same formula of the person immediately goes out and kills again. So, I like that, but it seems to be a little bit different in that sense.

I was going to say what, but maybe it's the same thing [as what you mentioned before]. Do you have a favorite scene?

MELISSA ROXBURGH:   Favorite scene. Yeah, I mean, this is not necessarily favorite. It's just the one that's coming to mind at the moment. We get to see, the trio really talked to each other about this thing that happens, and it involves Shane, and it's a moment of things kind of all coming out and things coming to a head. And the three of us, I don't think there's been a scene where there's tension or fight yet. So, it's the first time we've got to play with that. That was fun, because we got to play with each other rather than attacking a serial killer. Yeah.

SCIFI VISION:   Now that you've been at it, and this is the second season, is there anything that you still have difficulty connecting with her, or are you pretty used to it by now that you've gotten into it okay?

MELISSA ROXBURGH:   Yeah, no, I'm for sure still figuring her out, especially when storylines change a little bit where it's not what I expected. I mean, she's a mom, but we don't see a ton of Sam this season. So, I'm still trying to figure out how to give Bex that aspect and not ignore the fact that she's a mom, but she's also catching bad guys, so she can't really stop to be a mom. And then just trying to understand how much she lets people in has been interesting, because there are moments where I'm like, she's so soft, but she still has her walls up, and how much do I play that? So, yeah, I'm totally still figuring her out.

SCIFI VISION:   Are we going to get more of her backstory this season? I know when I talked to you last, you said you wanted to learn about her dad. I don’t know that we’ll specifically [get] that but…

MELISSA ROXBURGH:   I do. I haven't gotten there yet, but we still have some episodes left, so who knows? We could still play into it. I think the writers are really focused on the Shane storyline at the moment and figuring that out, so it might not be this season. It might be next season, but I think it's definitely necessary to meet the dad.