The Hunting Party Season 2: Premiere Date, Trailer Breakdown, Guest Stars & Everything to Know

NBC’s most explosive new crime procedural is officially back on the hunt.

The Hunting Party Season 2 returns in January 2026, bringing more escaped serial killers, deeper conspiracies, and higher personal stakes for profiler Rebecca “Bex” Henderson. With a chilling new trailer, major guest stars, and a prime post-Law & Order time slot, Season 2 is positioning itself as one of NBC’s must-watch dramas of early 2026.

If Season 1 asked who escaped, Season 2 asks something far more dangerous:Who built the system that let them escape?

📅 The Hunting Party Season 2 Release Date & How to Watch

• Season 2 Premiere: Thursday, January 8, 2026

• Time Slot: 10/9c

• Network: NBC

• Streaming: Next day on Peacock

The series will once again air after Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU, giving it one of the strongest lead-ins on network television.

🎬 What Is The Hunting Party About?

Created by JJ Bailey, The Hunting Party is a high-concept crime procedural built around a terrifying premise:

A top-secret prison hidden beneath the Wyoming countryside — known as the Pit — suffers a catastrophic explosion, releasing the most dangerous serial killers in the country back into the world.

To stop them, the government assembles an elite task force led by former FBI profiler Rebecca “Bex” Henderson (Melissa Roxburgh).

Each episode blends:

• Killer-of-the-week investigations

• Psychological profiling

• Action-driven manhunts

• An overarching government conspiracy

Season 2 expands that mythology — and darkens it.

🔥 The Hunting Party Season 2 Trailer: What It Reveals

The Season 2 trailer, released on December 8, wastes no time raising the stakes.

Bex’s voiceover sets the tone:

“The things we see on this job… what these killers do…”

The teaser offers quick, unsettling glimpses of:

• New escaped killers with disturbing signatures

• A suspect surrounded by rabbits (far more unsettling than it sounds)

• A gun-wielding cult leader

• Evidence that the Pit’s explosion was no accident

The trailer makes one thing clear: Season 2 isn’t just about catching killers — it’s about exposing the system that created them.

⭐ Major Guest Stars in The Hunting Party Season 2

Season 2 brings an impressive lineup of guest stars, each tied to a particularly disturbing case.

🧨 Eric McCormack as Ron “The Boogeyman” Simms

• Appears in Episodes 1–2

• Targets women searching for love

• Described as one of the most time-sensitive threats yet

• Finnigan McCormack, Eric’s real-life son, plays the younger Simms in flashbacks

🕵️ Niecy Nash-Betts as Detective Erica Burke

• Appears in Episode 2

• Teams up with Bex due to a personal connection to a killer

• Investigates a murderer who preserved victims in acrylic resin

🔫 Kelsey Grammer as Cult Leader Noah Cyrus

• Appears in Episode 5

• A manipulative serial killer hunting his former followers

• One of Season 2’s most psychologically complex villains

🩸 More Guest Stars

• Elizabeth Gillies as “The Masseuse” (Episode 4)

• Jefferson White as Lou Kaplan, a killer targeting social-media influencers with a new method

This rotating cast ensures Season 2 keeps its anthology-like freshness while pushing the overarching story forward.

🔁 What Happened in The Hunting Party Season 1? (Quick Recap)

Season 1 introduced Bex as a profiler recovering from losing her dream FBI job — until she’s pulled back into action to recapture escaped killers from the Pit.

She teams up with:

• Jacob Hassani (CIA)

• Oliver Odell (former Pit warden and ex-lover)

• Jennifer Morales (Army Intelligence)

• Shane Florence (former prison guard)

Each episode focused on a different killer, but the season ended on a major cliffhanger, revealing:

• A deeper government conspiracy

• Shocking personal revelations within the team

• One team member’s life in serious danger

Season 2 picks up directly from those unanswered questions.

🧠 Melissa Roxburgh on Season 2’s Bigger Stakes

Melissa Roxburgh has teased that Season 2 will dive deeper into the characters’ personal lives — not just the cases.

She highlighted:

• Shane’s mysterious family history

• Hassani’s grief and hidden past

• The unresolved emotional tension between Bex and Odell

Now that the show’s world is established, Season 2 focuses on who these people are when the job follows them home.

🧬 Why The Hunting Party Season 2 Could Be Even Better Than Season 1

Season 2 has several advantages:

• A fully established premise

• Stronger emotional investment in the team

• Bigger, more disturbing killers

• A conspiracy arc that’s no longer background noise

NBC is clearly positioning The Hunting Party as a long-running procedural franchise, not a one-season experiment.

📺 Where to Watch The Hunting Party

• Live TV: NBC

• Streaming: Peacock (next-day episodes)

• Season 1: Streaming now on Peacock

If you’re not caught up, now’s the perfect time to binge before Season 2 premieres.

🧠 Final Take: Why The Hunting Party Season 2 Is a Must-Watch in 2026

With:

• A prime NBC slot

• A darker, more serialized story

• High-profile guest stars

• A growing conspiracy

The Hunting Party Season 2 is shaping up to be one of NBC’s strongest crime dramas of 2026.

The killers are scarier.

The secrets are deeper.

And the hunt is far from over.