'The Hunting Party' Cancelled at NBC, Will Be Shopped
'The Hunting Party' is over at NBC. Might Netflix save the series, as it previously did with Melissa Roxburgh's 'Manifest'?
The party's over.
Three weeks after NBC locked in the rest of its decisions for the 2026-27 TV season, Matt's Inside Line has learned that The Hunting Party has been cancelled by the network after two seasons.
That said, sources tell me lead producer Universal Television will now shop the series to hopefully find it a new home, given that the Season 2 finale set in motion a new storyline engine that would keep Melissa Roxburgh's serial killer-hunting federal agent Bex Henderson busier than ever.
According to the latest Nielsen reports, The Hunting Party through its May 7 finale averaged 3.7 million total viewers — down about 18% from Season 1, and outdrawing on NBC only St. Denis Medical (renewed), Brilliant Minds (cancelled), The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins (renewed), and Stumble (cancelled).
Its multiplatform audience of about 5 million, meanwhile, didn't come close to cracking broadcast-TV's Top 20, where ABC's 9-1-1: Nashville (with 7.2 million viewers) was the cutoff; NBC's #OneChicago trio claimed Nos. 4 through 6.
As recently as mid-May, network insiders were saying that The Hunting Party's fate was very much "up in the air." Its linear numbers, as noted above, were so-so, but it did well on Peacock, and Season 1 has performed very well on Netflix.
Of note, Netflix "saved" Roxburgh's previous, high-concept, cancelled-by-NBC drama, Manifest, for what turned out to be a total of two more, 10-episode seasons. Might the streaming giant try that move again?
At the end of the day, NBC's decision likely was a question of giving the serial killer drama one more chance/vote of confidence, or instead investing that marketing muscle/money in one of its new dramas for the 2026-27 TV season. The network's incoming hourlongs include the Blue Bloods-y procedural Line of Fire (set to air Mondays at 10/9c), and The Rockford Files starring David Boreanaz (launching at midseason).
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