NBC has canceled ‘The Hunting Party’ after two seasons. The crime drama was the last network scripted series still awaiting a decision on its future.
The network announced the cancellation after an extended period of deliberation, nearly a month after the show’s season finale. The decision came three weeks after NBC revealed its 2026-27 schedule, which did not include ‘The Hunting Party’.
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With NBC and Peacock under the same programming leadership, both a third season on the broadcast network and a switch to ‘The Hunting Party’ becoming a Peacock original were considered. In the end, after some number-crunching, neither option panned out.
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What the show was about
‘The Hunting Party’ stars Melissa Roxburgh as a former FBI profiler who leads a team to track down the world’s most dangerous killers, who have escaped from a top-secret prison that does not officially exist.
Series creator and co-showrunner JJ Bailey and co-showrunner Jake Coburn wrote and executive-produced the series. Thor Freudenthal served as director and executive producer, and Michael Jones-Morales served as writer and executive producer. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, produced the series.
The cast also includes Nick Weschler, Patrick Sabongui, Josh McKenzie, and Sara Garcia.
The ratings problem
The show’s linear ratings declined in season two but it received a streaming boost when its first season debuted on Netflix in February.
Season two of ‘The Hunting Party’ averaged 3.7 million viewers after a week of DVR playback, not including streaming, down 13 percent from its first season.
NBC entertainment chairman Pearlena Igbokwe had noted that the show “really did not perform well enough on linear” to earn a third season. NBC entertainment president Bela Bajaria told Deadline that the network was looking for opportunities to grow, and that ‘The Hunting Party”s time slot was an area where NBC believed it could do better. He said there was “nothing negative” about the show, but that the linear schedule required the network to try to improve in that time period.
A path remained for ‘The Hunting Party’ to have renewal, with its streaming performance helping to make up for its generally weak same-day ratings, but NBC opted to move on from it instead.
A crowded schedule
NBC’s final 2026-27 tally includes four new scripted series: dramas ‘The Rockford Files’ and ‘Line of Fire’, and comedies ‘Sunset P.I.’ and ‘Newlyweds’, alongside three cancellations: dramas ‘Brilliant Minds’ and ‘The Hunting Party’, and comedy ‘Stumble’.
NBC’s Bader explained the situation by saying the network had a very tight schedule because of its sports commitments. For its entertainment time periods, the network had to give up on some shows it genuinely liked in order to make room to launch what it hopes will be future hits.
Among the shows renewed for the upcoming season are ‘Law & Order’, ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’, ‘Chicago Fire’, ‘Chicago Med’, ‘Chicago P.D.’, ‘Happy’s Place’, ‘St. Denis Medical’, and ‘The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins’.
NBC announced that ‘Law & Order’ would assume ‘The Hunting Party”s time slot on Thursday at 10 PM, with the civilian season of ‘The Traitors’ taking the vacated hour.
Could the show find a new home?
Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Universal Television, which produces the series, will look to find a new home for it.
Deadline reported that an outreach to Netflix is a logical next step, as the streamer already licenses the show. However, the outlet noted that viewership from Netflix did not help grow NBC’s audience for season two.
NBC and Peacock president of scripted content Lisa Katz had told press in May that the series performed well creatively and that all options were being discussed, including a potential move to Peacock. Those discussions ultimately did not lead to a renewal on either platform.
What comes next
‘The Hunting Party”s second season ended with unanswered questions and major revelations suggesting the mystery at the center of the show was far from resolved. Whether another platform picks it up remains uncertain.
Universal Television is actively shopping the series.
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