How Much Does Jacob Know About the Pit? ‘The Hunting Party’ Stars Talk Trust

What exactly was happening to the prisoners — serial killers the world thinks have been executed — down in the top-secret Pit before an explosion killed some and led to others escaping? That’s the big question for The Hunting Party (Episode 2 airs February 10 on NBC after an early premiere), but what’s also important is catching those now out there, and that’s up to the team of FBI profiler Bex (Melissa Roxburgh), the CIA’s Jacob (Patrick Sabongui), and Pit guard Shane (Josh McKenzie). Given the nature of what they’re doing and the secrets surrounding the Pit, it’s not much of a surprise that trust is a bit of an issue.

That’s “a hot button for Jacob,” Sabongui tells TV Insider. “I don’t think he’s a guy that trades in trust a lot. I think the way someone in that line of work survives for so long and excels and moves forward is an absolute lack of trust. I think Bex hits several soft spots for him and so that’s the challenge. But I think he’s still working on accepting trust. He is more interested in being able to trust her allegiance. But I don’t know that he necessarily doles out trust freely.”

Roxburgh’s Bex is on the same page. She’s “coming into all of this so blind that I don’t think she trusts anyone at first,” the star admits. But things will happen over the course of the season to show her that her teammates are “on her side [and] do have her back, and they’re a team.”

That also plays into her “taking at face value” anything Jacob — who was involved before she was brought on board — tells her about what was happening in the Pit after that point. Before that, “she’s a profiler and so she’s reading people and obviously she knows people are going to lie or twist things, but I think by asking all of the questions that she could possibly ask to whoever she can ask them to, she puts together her own package of information,” says Roxburgh.

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But exactly how much does Jacob know about what was going on? “That’s one of the interesting storylines to follow is how much he thinks he knows and how much he starts to discover that he doesn’t know,” shares Sabongui. “It kind of relates back to the trust issue in that I don’t think he’s a blind rule follower, but he’s committed to the mission and if the mission is clear, he can stay on track while also learning who he can trust, what new information he has and what truth he needs to drill down to get to. And that’s one of the things I love about this universe is that everybody’s duplicitous and you never know what the Truth always is.”

What do you think of The Hunting Party after one episode? What are your theories? Let us know in the comments section below.

The Hunting Party, Mondays, 10/9c, NBC

From TV Guide Magazine

What to Expect From 'The Hunting Party's Love Triangle and Mystery

Manifest alum Melissa Roxburgh and the showrunner of NBC’s Hunting Party tease TV Guide Magazine about what’s ahead for the “government conspiracy that just keeps unfolding” — plus, the series’ “good” love triangle. Read the story now on TV Insider.