Someone Finally Asked The Hunting Party's Star About The Show's Brutal 0% Rotten Tomatoes Score

Warning! Major spoilers ahead for the Season 2 premiere of The Hunting Party, streaming now with a Peacock subscription.

After a delayed start to Season 2, NBC’s The Hunting Party has finally premiered on the 2026 TV schedule. The Melissa Roxburgh-led drama premiered in January 2025 and was renewed for Season 2 in May of that same year. Despite keeping viewers on the edge of their seats with a “serial killer of the week” format, the show had a brutal Rotten Tomatoes score, and Roxburgh is finally addressing it.

While the score is now at 25%, as of this writing, The Hunting Party debuted with a 0% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. There have only been a select number of shows (or movies, for that matter) to have the distinction of starting with such a low number. However, the audience score has been a solid 83%. It was probably just a matter of time before the rating was brought up to the cast, and ScreenRant asked Roxburgh, who plays FBI profiler Rebecca “Bex” Henderson, about it. The seasoned actress explained that she was aware of the critiques, but she also shared another point:

The Manifest star also said that The Hunting Party “is a fun show” centered on a group of agents who are trying to catch “serial killers who are weird as heck.” So, from her perspective, it’s “not supposed to be high art.” Roxburgh doesn’t seem to hold any hard feelings towards those who don't like Season 2, as the series is meant to “entertain” audiences and “give people a spook before bed.”

Despite the negative reviews, the cast and crew have seemingly done something right, given The Hunting Party managed to nab that Season 2 renewal. It was one of the final shows on NBC to secure a spot for the 2025-26 season, and that may have come as a relief to fans, since the Season 1 finale ended on a cliffhanger. Since Season 2 of the crime procedural only just premiered, it has yet to have a rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but that will likely change in the coming weeks. Whether it will be higher than Season 1 remains to be seen.

That being said, what matters most to Melissa Roxburgh is that the fans are liking The Hunting Party and, as a fan myself, I definitely find it entertaining. The show has been unpredictable, and the wait for Season 2 was worth it, even if it did end in heartbreak. After being poisoned and collapsing in the final moments of the Season 1 finale, Nick Wechsler’s Oliver Odell was revealed to have died.

Despite that tragedy, I look forward to seeing how Roxburgh's “strange” series continues to develop. And, who knows, maybe the show might eventually catch on with more people. In any case, new episodes of The Hunting Party air on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, so tune in to make up your own mind on the show.