Prime Video's Hunters is finally back for its second and final season and ahead of the action-packed premiere, we sat down with series creator David Weil about his decision to resurrect one of the world's most unspeakable evils and the threat he poses to our favorite band of Nazi killers.
In our informative chat, he tells me about the process behind writing for a despicable character like Hitler, bringing Al Pacino back into the mix and telling more of The Wolf's story, and how that 1975 story informs what's happening in 1979 with Jonah (Logan Lerman) and the Hunters.
Plus, we also talk about what a potential season three could've looked like and where Jonah's mission could have ultimately taken him.
Check out the full video interview below and please remember to SUBSCRIBE to my channel!
ROHAN: In season one, you resurrected this unspeakable evil and now you actually have to write dialogue for [frick]ing Hitler. How does that process work, cause I imagine it has to be incredibly tough? Are you taking stuff from what he said in real life? How do you even take your mind to that place to write for that character?
DAVID: Yeah, you know, it's a great question. Unfortunately, part of it is studying what he said in certain speeches and things and in private, but there's also fictionalization, and ideation, right? Trying to get the essence of this incredibly evil, sociopathic individual, and put it on-screen, but you're right, it was a huge sort of responsibility and weight, that if we invoke this character - How do we treat this character? And more importantly, how do we exact justice and revenge and vengeance against him?
ROHAN: Al Pacino is back as The Wolf for season two, was that always the plan to bring him back to tell this new story? Or was that something that developed through the pandemic?
DAVID: Yeah, at the end of season one, Al and I had many conversations together, we had such an incredible time shooting season one together, and really, we became so interested in this character of Meyer Offerman and believed that he had so much more story to tell, those depths and dimensions within him to mine that and be explored. So, at the end of season one, he and I started those conversations, and we sort of together came through this incredible origin story, really, for the Hunters, that he's a part of, obviously, in a big way, and what is exciting to me about this season is with these dual timelines, it's about how the past informs and is in conversation with a call of the future, but it's really 1979, right? How ‘75 and ‘79 are so in concert with each other, and how Meyer’s story in the past informs Jonah's story in the present.
ROHAN: I think Jonah's decision with The Wolf really informs the big decision he makes in episode six. Was that a natural progression? Was it always the journey you intended for Jonah?
DAVID: Absolutely, what a great point. I think Jonah gets lost along the way in season one, right? He delves into the darkness, he loses the light that his grandmother had tried to protect within him. So, in season two, he begins in a place where he is lost, and over the course of season two, he becomes found again, and he becomes found, in large part, through the introduction of the character of Chava, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, who we discover is his great aunt, his grandmother's long thought dead sister, and, you know, look, with great trauma, the antidote, or when you're lost in the world, the great antidote or medicine to that is always family, and so, season two is really about Jonah finding his way back to that light and to that moral compass.
ROHAN: After what happened with Meyer in season one, I think it would've been fair to assume Jonah would be going down a lone wolf route, but instead, he does almost the complete opposite. He finds love with Clara, he still cares for the Hunters, and family remains very important to him.
I know the show is ending, but have you ever envisioned what Jonah's life could look like 20-30 years down the line?
DAVID: What a great question. I thought about it many times, and I do have a story for the future, for Jonah, that we'll see if we have a chance to make it in some form or fashion, but I think that this conflict within him, the desire to lead a normal life, to follow the light, and then, also the alter ego within him, wearing the mask and the cape, and fulfilling that legacy and that birthright will constantly be at war within him, and I think that that conflict leads to unfortunate circumstances for him in his life because he just can't give up that sort of double life.
After an accident derails their exploits in Europe, The Hunters must band back together to hunt down history's most infamous Nazi—Adolf Hitler—who's hiding in South America. Meanwhile, a look to the past reveals Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino) encountering a dangerous threat that could unravel his secret and expose his true identity, with explosive reverberations for our Hunters.
Al Pacino returns for the epic series conclusion of Hunters alongside previously announced new series regular Jennifer Jason Leigh and returning series regulars Logan Lerman, Jerrika Hinton, Lena Olin, Josh Radnor, Tiffany Boone, Carol Kane, Louis Ozawa, Kate Mulvany, and Greg Austin.
Hunters is produced by Amazon Studios, Monkeypaw Productions and Halcyon Studios. The series is created and executive produced by David Weil, who serves as showrunner; Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld from Monkeypaw Productions; Phil Abraham, David J. Rosen, Jerry Kupfer, and Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. David Ellender and Matt Loze from Halcyon Studios also serve as executive producers.