The Hunting Party: Bex Races Against Time in New Episode

In the dim glow of a rain-slicked Vancouver alley—before the production shifted east—Melissa Roxburgh's Bex Henderson corners a ghost from her teenage years, the kind of confrontation that unravels a hunter before she can reload. Episode 2 of The Hunting Party drops that bomb on February 12, 2025, forcing Bex to face Eli, the serial killer she nabbed at 15, only to learn the capture meant abandoning her best friend in the chaos.^{[6][7][8][9][10]}

A Shadow from the Start

Bex doesn't chase monsters for glory. She built her life around corralling them, starting with that raw, personal takedown of Eli—her best friend's dad, no less—back when she was just a kid playing detective in the shadows of suburbia. The episode lays it bare: during the bust, Bex left her friend behind, a choice that echoes through every rainy stakeout and tense briefing that follows. It's the sort of origin that sticks, turning a profiler into a woman who second-guesses every instinct.

By season's end in 2025, the stakes climb higher. Oliver Odell, played by Nich Wechsler, meets a brutal end, shattering the team's fragile balance.^{[6][7][8][9][10]} Bex emerges from the wreckage with fire in her eyes, vowing to reassemble her crew and hunt down the serial killers who slipped free from the Pit—a maximum-security nightmare that's more sieve than fortress. That resolve carries her into the next chapter, where rebuilding means facing not just killers, but the cracks in her own armor.

Relocating the Hunt

Filming for season 2 kicks off in 2025, ditching Vancouver's misty pines for the concrete canyons of New York City, a move that sharpens the show's edge with urban grit.^{[6][7][8][9][10]} The shift isn't just logistical; it mirrors Bex's pivot from isolated pursuits to a broader, more tangled web of threats. Guest stars filter in, including one familiar face from Roxburgh's earlier gigs, hinting at crossovers that could pull old fans into the fray.

Come January 8, 2026, NBC rolls out the new episodes on Thursday nights, thrusting Bex back into action amid fresh frictions.^{[6][7][8][9][10]} She's got Jacob, Shane, and Jennifer at her side now, but the US Attorney General Elizabeth Mallory looms as a bureaucratic thorn, testing Bex's grit against red tape and rival agendas. The team's dynamic shifts like city traffic—unpredictable, charged—while Bex pushes forward, her determination a quiet force against the mounting odds.

Shane Steps into the Light

Josh McKenzie slips into the role of Shane with an easy intensity, becoming the anchor Bex didn't know she needed.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} He's not just muscle; he's the one who offers trust in a world built on deception, though Roxburgh hints at shadows lurking in his past. Patrick Sabongui's Hassani and Sara Garcia's Morales round out the ensemble, bringing layers of loyalty and doubt to the hunts that span episodes.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Roxburgh saw the potential early on. She knew The Hunting Party held the ideal character to flip Josh Dallas's Prince Charming from Once Upon a Time into something darker, a villain with charm that cuts deeper than any blade.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} That twist lingers in conversations with executive producers JJ Bailey and Jake Coburn, who unpack its ripple effects on Bex and tease what's brewing for Shane—secrets that could upend the team's fragile peace.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

"Shane becomes Bex’s safe place, someone she can trust completely. But he’s got his own bag of secrets."

— Melissa Roxburgh^[11]

Roxburgh's Road to Bex

Before Bex, Melissa Roxburgh honed her craft across screens big and small, building a resume that screams versatility without shouting. She anchored Manifest as Michaela "Mick" Stone from 2018 to 2023, navigating the eerie pull of a plane lost in time.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} Then came Tracker on CBS, a turn as Ensign Syl in Star Trek Beyond, a guest spot on DC's Legends of Tomorrow, and voices in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid films—roles that ranged from sci-fi frontiers to awkward adolescence.

That breadth serves her well in The Hunting Party, where Bex demands the same emotional range: steely focus laced with vulnerability. Roxburgh slips into the profiler's skin effortlessly, drawing from those varied parts to make Bex feel lived-in, real. It's no accident; her path through Hollywood's twists prepared her for a character who stares down darkness daily.

Triangles and Tensions

Love doesn't pause for killers. Roxburgh teases a triangle that simmers beneath the surface, snippets of it flickering through the chases and captures. "Everyone loves a good triangle, so we see snippets of that," she says, her tone light but knowing.^[11] Prior bonds run deep—"they shared a lot of love prior"—but now, with Shane in the mix, trust becomes a tightrope, especially as his secrets threaten to spill.

The scope widens too, pulling the story beyond borders. Roxburgh muses on "how international this goes," a hint that the Pit's escapees don't respect lines on maps.^[11] And the hurt? It hangs heavy. "Wonder who’s going to get hurt. And is everyone going to make it out alive?" she adds, leaving that question to echo like a unanswered radio call in the night.^[11] The producers echo the intrigue, dissecting twists that redefine Bex's world and Shane's place in it, building suspense layer by layer.

What We Couldn't Confirm

Reports swirl about Bex racing against a ticking clock in a fresh episode, but details stay elusive—no firm plot points or air dates surface to back it up. Whether that urgency ties into the international threads or Shane's hidden baggage remains guesswork, a shadow without shape just yet.

The Hunting Party thrives on those edges, where personal ghosts collide with global threats. Roxburgh's Bex carries the weight, her team a mix of allies and enigmas, as season 2 unfolds on NBC. In a landscape of procedural sameness, this one cuts deeper, asking what price hunters pay when the past hunts back.