The biggest shows of the 2025 TV schedule have wrapped for the year by this point, but it’s not too early to look ahead to series that will be back in the 2026 TV schedule. The Hunting Party returns to NBC for Season 2 for the first time since the Season 1 finale back in April, with Melissa Roxburgh’s Manifest follow-up moving to Thursday nights. If you’re in the market for a show to stream during the holiday hiatus, the leading lady shared why anybody with a Peacock subscription should check out The Hunting Party in time for Season 2.
The Hunting Party’s first season also stars Roswell’s Nick Wechsler, The Flash’s Patrick Sabongui, La Brea’s Josh McKenzie, and The Flash’s Sara Garcia. The series is a procedural crime drama, but that doesn’t mean it’s another entry in the Law & Order franchise. Roxburgh plays Bex, a former FBI profiler who works with her team to track down and capture some of the most dangerous killers in the world who have escaped from a top-secret government prison known as “The Pit.”
When I spoke with memorable Tracker guest star Melissa Roxburgh ahead of Season 2, she also shared a pitch for newcomers to give her show a shot:
It’s your serial killer show with all the things that you love, with a bit of a twist, because I feel like the serial killers in the storylines that we have are quirkier. They’re strange… it continues on into all the other episodes where you’re like, ‘I’m sorry, what?’ It’s kind of normal, but with a twist. It’s a little off the beaten path.
I won’t get into spoilers here, but I will say that I would have loved the option of binge-watching the first season back when it was first airing on NBC in early 2025. That is an option for any newcomers who are looking for a new show. Is The Hunting Party a merry and bright option for December 25? Maybe not (although that’s also the case for Stranger Things), but most big network TV options won’t be back until a couple of weeks after Christmas, and Season 2 of Melissa Roxburgh’s time as Bex premieres on January 8.
Plus, the first season only runs for ten episodes, so a binge-watch (or even leisurely watch) to catch up wouldn’t even take too long. If you need more convincing, take a look at the Season 1 trailer:
It’s also worth noting that some of network TV’s biggest hits, such as CBS’ Boston Blue and Sheriff Country, won’t be back until much later in the new year. This is likely due to the upcoming Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games, which kick off with the Opening Ceremony on February 6 and last until the Closing Ceremony on February 22. CBS’ first major network TV premieres of 2026 won’t arrive until February; The Hunting Party will presumably air the first four episodes of Season 2 before the Olympics take over NBC.
Tune in to NBC on Thursday, January 8 at 10 p.m. ET for the Season 2 premiere of The Hunting Party, whether or not you recently binged your way through the first season on Peacock. The show previously aired on Monday nights; the move to Thursdays places it directly after new episodes of Law & Order: SVU, which certainly isn’t a bad lead-in for an NBC drama.
