The Hunting Party has explored Shane’s identity since the beginning. He’s often struggled with watching these serial killers, knowing that his birth mother may be one, too.
No one ever thought his birth mom would be Col. Lazarus, an inmate who graduated from the Pit and became a calculated Army colonel.
We’ve all had questions, including whether she influenced where Shane worked. The Hunting Party Season 2 Episode 6 ended with Col. Lazarus at Shane’s door.
Whatever she tells him could alter his life forever, especially since Shane gets kidnapped in the next episode by Sidney Fairfax, a neuroscientist, who may have answers about Shane’s past.
TV Fanatic chatted with Josh McKenzie about how finding his birth mom would change things, especially Lazarus’s reveal, and how much danger Shane found himself in.
Check out the interview below.
Hi Josh. Shane has been searching for his birth mother since The Hunting Party Season 1. What prompted him to change his mind?
It’s a great question. We play with this idea of a found family. His relationship with Bex and Hassani, and his new purpose, fulfill him in a way he hasn’t been before.
So, he’s got this big hole in his life that he thought finding his mother would fill. And he’s starting to find that, actually, it’s these new relationships he’s made and this job that are filling that hole.
His searching for his mother outside of that seems to be negatively impacting that little family unit. So, there’s a fear now that if he keeps pursuing his mom and keeps keeping these secrets, it’s going to destroy the good thing he’s already got.
It doesn’t seem like a good idea for Shane to keep pursuing this information. But I do think that he believes it, and he’s not lying or misleading Bex. However, he does still want to know who she is. Of course he does.
He spent his whole life looking for her. It’s just in that moment, he feels filled up, and he’s worried about losing what he’s just got. He doesn’t want it to be his focus anymore.
But that doesn’t mean he’s not still curious, or that, given the opportunity, he wouldn’t want to know. I think if Bex said she knew, he would still want to know.
The Hunting Party Season 2 Episode 6 ended with Col. Lazarus at Shane’s door. Is Shane’s life about to be blown up? How will that affect his plan?
I can tell you this. Yeah, it’s definitely going to change everything for him. Whether she tells him, whether she doesn’t, we know that whatever she’s going to do, it’s not going to be good.
Whatever happens out of that conversation is going to shatter the foundations of what he’s got going on anyway. He’s been trying to protect this family relationship he’s got going on, but she’s about to ruin that for him. So, it’s going to change things.
When Shane learns that all his friends knew about it ahead of time and didn’t tell him, will that affect those relationships, or will he realize they were trying to protect him?
That depends on whether he finds out. I know that he loves them, and he feels a real kinship and trust with them. Shane feels like he’s withholding stuff and feels awful about it.
So, if it comes that he finds out they’ve been keeping it from him, that would hurt him, especially with Bex, and how honest he’s been with her. I don’t think he’s going to like it that his friends have been keeping stuff from him.
Yes. Many of the fans love Shane and Bex and are rooting for them to become a couple. What do you like most about their dynamic?
I like that they bring out the fun in each other. It’s such a morbid job. Oliver and Bex had such an intensity, history, and weight to their relationship.
Shane is the counterpoint to that. He’s the levity, and he takes that weight off her shoulders. It’s interesting, seeing people on either side, you know, the Odell shippers and the ShaneBex shippers.
I think both sides are right, like sometimes that weight, that history, that intensity is what leads to happiness and a relationship. But other times, that levity, that kind of best friend, that joy, that fun, that’s what somebody needs.
So I like that Shane can get that out of Bex. A lot of stuff weighs her down. She’s seen a lot of bad shit. She needs liberty, I think.
He offers that to her without forcing it upon her. They have such a strong friendship and a lot of banter.
I also like that Shane is starting to read up on things now to impress her. So he throws in a bit of information now and again, and Bex is quietly impressed. Those are some of my favorite moments.
Hassan’s kind of just like, what the hell’s going on here? But yeah, because you know, he knows what he’s doing.
How will we see their relationship progress for the rest of the season?
Look, you’ll definitely see the relationship progress, whether it’s towards romance or just a strong platonic friendship. That’s anyone’s guess.
Shane’s never been in a relationship before. He’s never dated. Like that’s just not what he’s had, he’s always been quite a lone wolf, an isolated kind of person.
Then you’ve got Bex, on the other hand, who’s had these intense, heavy relationships. I don’t think either of them is really itching to jump into anything, because I don’t think Shane even knows how to do that or how to differentiate.
I think Bex is still dealing with a lot of baggage from her past. I think it’s just a slow burn for sure, and it could go anywhere, such as Shane being her light, or Bex being there for Shane and understanding him in a way that he doesn’t understand himself.
Those are the things that matter right now. The romance you can give or take, despite what some audiences would like to see; we definitely see it develop, mature, and grow, which is really cool.
And to wrap up, can you give us a quick tease on what we’ll see when Shane is in danger in the next episode?
Well, you’ll see him tied up and gagged, that’s for sure. You’ll also learn a little bit about Shane’s history as a child in the Pit, and what Pit Doctor Dulles was actually doing with him and those experiments.
Sydney Fairfax, the next episode’s killer, is the key to all of that. He’s the key to the other wing of the Pit of Experiments they were working in.
He’s kind of needling Shane, asking those hard questions about whether you’re a good guy or a bad guy, and about nature versus nurture.
When he brings up killing people, Shane has killed people while in the military.
Is he just like serial killers, or is there an argument that, you know, he was doing it in the protection of people? So, is he different? We learn a lot about Shane’s psychology in that episode, which is really interesting.
The Hunting Party Season 2 airs on Thursdays at 10/9c on NBC and streams on Peacock.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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