NBC's new drama, The Hunting Party, is a thrilling adventure that follows Agent Rebecca "Bex" Henderson (Melissa Roxburgh), who works to recapture serial killers who have escaped from a top-secret facility called "The Pit" after a massive explosion has taken place. The only thing more terrifying than a bunch of murderers being set free into the world again is what was actually taking place within that facility before it was blown up. Although only one episode of the drama has aired so far, it seems like these killers were likely being studied and experimented on. This fascinating premise of the show may have viewers wondering: is "The Pit" a real prison?
Luckily, "The Pit" from 'The Hunting Party' Is Not a Real Place
As realistic as "The Pit" looks in The Hunting Party, the creators of the series have been quick to point out that it's not an actual place. In fact, co-showrunners JJ Bailey and Jake Coburn stated that they purposefully avoided any straight-forward comparisons to real-life prisons, such as Guantánamo Bay, because they didn't want the fictional facility to look like a "human rights violation-type of thing." The series needed to exist in its own world, where it actually seems possible to have rounded up many dangerous killers and confined them in one location. Bailey also noted that the goal of the series is "to feel fun. It's crazy and weird and it's dark. We always want it to be fun and interesting and feel like a fun ride." If "The Pit" had been portrayed like a real facility, there would have been a much more sinister and serious vibe to the entire series.
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'The Hunting Party' Team Was Inspired By Actual Prison Locations
Even though "The Pit" might not be an actual place, that doesn't mean that The Hunting Party crew wasn't inspired by real buildings. There are many supermax prisons (which hold some of the most hardened criminals) in the U.S. that are fairly similar to what "The Pit" looks like. These types of prisons, such as ADX Florence in Colorado and Pelican Bay State Prison in California, are designed to house individuals who are often so violent that they can't be held in general population jails or prisons. It makes sense that the fictional "Pit" would share some similarities with these kinds of prisons, since they would both contain the most dangerous and lethal people.
The setting of "The Pit" in an underground, nuclear missile silo is also based in fact. "The Pit" is located in an empty nuclear missile silo in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and there are actually many atomic intercontinental ballistic missiles (or ICBMs) that need to be housed around the country (starting during the Cold War period). Many of them can be found in places like Wyoming because of all the wide open space. The United States currently has more than 400 missile silos that most people don't even know about, mostly because they're pretty off-limits to the general public. These facilities could technically be transformed into a supermax prison with security that would ensure no one escapes, just like in The Hunting Party.
Having "The Pit" be based somewhat on real-life places helps bring an exciting authenticity to the thrilling series. These kernels of truth make the action all the more heart-pumping, and the fictional prison is even scarier when you think about who its inhabitants were (or what type of experimentation might have been going on underground). Although it might not be real, The Hunting Party team did achieve their goal of making the place a compelling setting for this type of drama. A New York Times article in 2015 investigated ADX Florence, which is thought to be the most secure prison in the entire country, with a warden named Robert Hood stating, "This place is not designed for humanity... It's not designed for rehabilitation. Period. End of story."
It's no wonder that The Hunting Party used these types of facilities for inspiration. The criminals who have now been set free in the series have been locked underground and have likely been victims of experimentation. They were no longer treated like humans, which means that no one can guess what they'd be capable of now that they've been set loose in society once again. This makes for a fascinating set-up of what could be in store for Agent Bex and her team as they work to find and capture these individuals. It doesn't matter that "The Pit" is not an actual place because its origins do have some truth to them. The rest of The Hunting Party's first season will continue to play out over the next couple of months, and there will likely be much more exploration into what exactly went on at "The Pit" before the mysterious blast decimated it. Fictional or not, it's probably a good thing that "The Pit" doesn't exist any longer.
New episodes of The Hunting Party air Monday nights on NBC, with episodes available to stream on Peacock in the U.S.
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