Collider: When this came your way, what was the thing that hooked you?
Was there one specific thing that really grabbed you with this?
NICK WECHSLER: At first, I think I misunderstood.
Some real-life locations did inspire this dangerous place.
Is every episode going to feel very heightened, in that sense?
Are there going to be moments to breathe this season?
Image via NBC
WECHSLER: I dont think there are any moments to breathe.
Its go, go, go.
Were just moving, trying to get these people back.
Image via NBC
Its just a whole lot of really bad things on top of really bad things.
WECHSLER: Its like America.
This blast hits, all these inmates escaped, and we know that it wasnt an accident.
Someone wanted these killers out in the world.
WECHSLER: Yeah, thats exactly it.
How would they benefit?
Is my character involved?
I was like, Oh, right, he might not be a good guy.
We have to see.
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I like that part of it.
The Hunting Party isn’t a whodunnit.
We start to get to know your character through flashbacks of Oliver and Bex.
How did you view that relationship?
What does he think of her, in comparison to what she thinks of him?
WECHSLER: He understands why she doesnt trust him and she keeps him at arms length.
She cant unsee what she saw when he killed that guy.
A lot of us maybe have fantasies of at least being able to erase people like this from life.
In some ways, its defensible.
He is clearly a bad guy, and I let him burn to death.
She has every right to feel the way she does.
She doesnt trust him.
And then, Hassani worm-tonguing and screwing things up for me.
What do you think Oliver learned from what he did?
Do you think it made it so that he wouldnt do something like that again?
Do you think it just taught him how to get away with it the next time?
How did it affect him?
WECHSLER: Its a good question.
Whether hes good or bad, it puts him on an island alone.
Theres a loneliness to being him.
I dont think that bad people are just bad because of recent events.
I think it starts out in childhood.
He did a horrible thing that cost him his job.
He lost social standing.
He lost a whole life he could have had and it was really isolating.
It put him in a difficult situation.
Does he learn how to maybe get away with it?
JJ Bailey and Jake Coburn discuss the creation of ‘The Hunting Party.’
Did you just try not to think about that?
WECHSLER: Were still figuring it out, to a degree.
Where I come down is, if hes good then you play him kind of good.
If hes bad, you play him kind of good.
Otherwise, if youre playing him bad, then youre telegraphing that hes bad.
You have to let the writing reveal his badness, rather than playing his badness.
For the most part, I had to make the decision to play him good.
Will we still have questions, just a different set of questions?
WECHSLER: Yeah, youll have at least one big question at the end.
We do get some clarity, but I dont think it fully answers things.
And then,a whole other can of worms is opened by the end of the season.
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