The team is back in action, but a new killer is using a dating app to find victims. The Season 2 premiere of The Hunting Party confirmed a major character death, reassembled the team through blackmail, and introduced a chilling killer who preys on women he meets online.
The episode, which aired on Thursday, January 8, 2026, at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, picks up weeks after the explosion at the Pit. Agent Bex Henderson is fighting to get her disbanded team reinstated while hunting a new fugitive: Ron Simms, also known as “The Boogeyman”. This killer uses a service called MatchyMaker to target his victims. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.
How Oliver’s Death Changed Bex Henderson
The premiere resolved a major cliffhanger from Season 1, confirming that Oliver Odell did not survive being poisoned. His death was revealed off-screen. This loss has fundamentally changed Bex, played by Melissa Roxburgh.
Melissa Roxburgh shared that the event has put Bex on a “warpath”. The character’s grief has transformed into a hardened determination to hunt down every escaped killer.
Melissa Roxburgh said: “I think it puts her on a warpath, if I’m going to be honest… she’s ready to set some fires.”
Executive producer Jake Coburn noted that while there is sadness, the show is leaning into a “badass Rambo mode” for Bex as she aims to honor her promise to Oliver. In the episode, she is seen visiting his gravesite, using the moment to confront Attorney General Mallory and force the team back into action.
Bex Blackmails Her Way Back to Work
With the Inmate Recovery Task Force officially disbanded, Bex takes extreme measures to get her team back together. Her plan involves blackmailing Attorney General Elizabeth Mallory.
Bex secretly records a video detailing everything she knows about the Pit—the top-secret prison that wasn’t supposed to exist. She threatens to release the video to the public, exposing government secrets. She lures AG Mallory to Oliver’s grave to deliver this ultimatum, a calculated move to remind Mallory of what’s already been lost.
Faced with potential exposure, Mallory has no choice but to reinstate Bex, Ryan Hassani, and Shane Florence. The trio is immediately thrown into their first case of the season, proving that Bex’s risky gamble paid off, but it creates powerful new enemies in the process.
Who Is the MatchyMaker Killer Ron Simms?
The team’s first target is Ron Simms, a serial killer who escaped from the Pit. Played by Eric McCormack in the present day, with his real-life son Finnigan McCormack portraying a younger Ron in flashbacks, the character is a deeply troubled individual.
Ron’s disturbing pattern involves using a speed dating service called MatchyMaker to meet women. He presents himself as a kind, therapy-going animal lover to attract his dates. His method involves paralyzing his victims with a drug before attempting to have a quiet, terrifying “movie night” with them, often showing the film The Invisible Man.
Ron’s backstory reveals a traumatic childhood, watching his mother succumb to drugs and alcohol, which warped his understanding of affection. Treatment in the Pit, including animal therapy with rabbits, seemed to help him, but the prison’s explosion left him unstable and back on the hunt.
The Team’s Hunt for the Boogeyman
Back on the job, Bex, Hassani, and Shane work with tech officer Jennifer Morales to track Ron Simms. They discover his new tactic of using MatchyMaker and set up a sting operation to catch him.
The plan involves Bex waiting in a car as bait while Hassani and Shane prepare to move in. However, Ron outsmarts the trap, avoiding capture and later managing to kidnap Bex herself. He takes her to a barn, seeking validation and demanding she publicly recant her profiling statement that labeled him a monster.
The situation reaches a critical point where a grieving Bex is pushed to the edge, nearly killing Ron before Hassani and Shane intervene. They stop her, not to save the killer, but to save Bex from the darkness that consuming her grief could bring.
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A Major Leadership Shake-Up and a Secret Mole
Just as the team deals with Ron Simms, a larger power struggle erupts. In a closing cliffhanger, Colonel Eva Lazarus walks into the command center and announces she is now in charge, revealing that AG Mallory has been “relieved of duty”.
This is a major complication. Colonel Lazarus is not just a new boss; she is a former inmate who “graduated” from the Pit’s experimental program, and she is also Shane’s biological mother, a fact he still does not know. Executive producer JJ Bailey stated that her perspective is “much more clouded and subjective” than Mallory’s, and she has intimate, boots-on-the-ground knowledge of the Pit and its inmates.
Furthermore, a secret within the team is revealed: tech expert Jennifer Morales was secretly reporting to AG Mallory as her “eyes and ears”. With Mallory gone, Morales is left in a dangerous position, holding secrets she never wanted, including voice recognition data on Shane.
What’s Next for the Team?
The premiere sets the stage for a tense season. Bex is more driven than ever but is now answering to the unpredictable Colonel Lazarus. The dynamic between Bex and Shane is expected to develop further as they deal with honesty and their growing closeness in the wake of Oliver’s absence.
The show will continue to feature a lineup of notable guest stars as killers, including Niecy Nash-Betts, Kelsey Grammer, Liz Gillies, and Jefferson White in upcoming episodes. Melissa Roxburgh also teased a future guest star from one of her previous shows, hinting at a possible Manifest reunion.
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