The Hunting Party Stars on Facing a Killer Who Makes "The Whole Series Feel More Dangerous"
Melissa Roxburgh and Patrick Sabongui talk about facing their most daunting killer yet.
This story contains spoilers for The Hunting Party Season 1, Episode 4, "Doctor Ezekiel Malak."
Just four episodes into NBC's new procedural The Hunting Party, and do we have our candidate for the scariest serial killer of Season 1?
The team is on the hunt to find Dr. Ezekiel Malak (Kevin Corrigan), a disturbed serial killer who medically "kills" his subjects, and then brings them back to life so he can quiz them about what they see in death. In a terrifying swap in position, Special Agent Rebecca "Bex" Henderson (Melissa Roxburgh) gets taken by Malak, so it’s up to CIA agent Jacob Hassani (Patrick Sabongui) and recent Pit prison guard Shane Florence (Josh McKenzie) to find her before it’s too late.
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In our exclusive NBC Insider post-mortem, Roxburgh and Sabongui talk about how this episode changes the series' stakes and explores the team when they’re made vulnerable.
Bex and Hassani chase a "dark and twisted" Dr. Malak
"There was something special about that episode and how high the stakes were for us,” Sabongui said of the February 24 episode. "There was kind of a vibration around that whole episode, knowing that the killer is going to get the upper hand on us. He's going to infiltrate the tight unit that we've become."
In the course of the chase, the audience also gets to see a new, vulnerable side to the CIA agent.
“There's emotional vulnerability, but there was situational vulnerability that we're not infallible,” he said of the huge threat Malak turns into.
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"I couldn't help experiencing some of that responsibility, like it was our fault, you know?” Sabongui added. "I didn't write the episode, but when you have to step into that preparation of, 'You're not the infallible tough guy, you make mistakes, and people close to you can pay with their lives for it.' I don't know, it just elevated the stakes of the whole thing. It made the whole series feel more dangerous."
Roxburgh said she appreciated that Malak set a new bar for what the team could be up against.
"I liked it in a dark, twisted way, because it is the first killer that does to them what they're doing to the killers, as far as playing with them psychologically. [Clayton] Jessup doesn't really mess with us psychologically. Brenda [Lowe] doesn't really mess with us psychologically. And then by the time we get to Malak, it's like, 'Oh, he's not stupid. He's the worst, but he's not stupid.'"
Bex gets killed… then brought back to life
In the first four episodes of the new series, what Bex goes through in Malak’s clutches is by far the most dire situation we’ve seen yet.
"I think it was fun to be vulnerable for a second and to let the bad guy win for a second. As opposed to just having a gun trained on these people, being like, 'I know I'm going to get ‘em,’” Roxburgh said of Bex’s time in Malak's sinister care. “Though it's nice to be reading the script, knowing you're going to get them. But this is an interesting point along the way."
Bex is really put through the wringer being medically “killed” then brought back to life in one of the strangest interrogation scenes ever. Roxburgh said figuring out how to navigate that scene was a big acting challenge.
"I was more confused as how to handle the conversation part of it as she's dying, coming back to life, dying,” she explained. "I mean, I've never died, so I don't really know how to play that, so that was challenging. Then also the duct tape over your mouth... it’s really hard to breathe. Typically, there were a few moments of panic where I couldn't breathe when we were filming it.
"I don't know if there's tons of preparation,” she said of going into that moment. "You go in hoping that you can go off of what the other actor is giving you. And [Malak actor Kevin Corrigan] was so creative and he played so much that a lot of moments felt easy. It's just like trying to figure out the line of 'She's dead and she is scared, but she's also in control' and how to package that all together."
By episode's end, Bex is saved but much worse for wear. Even Oliver Odell (Nick Wechsler) is freaked out by almost losing her when they’ve just come back into one another’s lives.
"Nick Wechsler is such an awesome guy that I always want to just be like, 'Yes, Odell! It's all good,’” Roxburgh said, chuckling. "But I think she is struggling with that dynamic. She had feelings for him and then he murdered someone. Now he's standing in front of her, back to the version of himself that she loved. Can she trust him, given what Hassani is telling her?"
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Asked if she thinks Bex did have a real connection moment of seeing him when she “died,” the actress offered, "I think when she did pass away, she did see him. But now we're back in reality. And what is reality?"
New episodes of The Hunting Party air on Mondays at 10/9c on NBC and stream next day on Peacock.
