Eric McCormack and Finnigan McCormack discuss ‘The Hunting Party’ on NBC

Eric McCormack as Ron Simms in ‘The Hunting Party.’ Photo Credit: Ralph Bavaro, NBC.

Emmy award-winning actor Eric McCormack (“Will & Grace”) and his son, Finnigan McCormack, discuss their experiences in “The Hunting Party” on NBC.

The synopsis is: Melissa Roxburgh is back on the hunt as Bex – a former profiler tracking down the nation’s deadliest killers in order to unravel a conspiracy that threatens us all.

“The Hunting Party” Season 2 will premiere on Thursday, January 8th on NBC and it will stream on Peacock.

‘The Hunting Party’ on NBC

On “The Hunting Party” experience, Eric said, “It was an absolutely unexpected father-son experience, and we both credit the creators, Jake Coburn and JJ Bailey, for coming up with the notion that we might be older and younger versions of the same character.”

“They were very insistent that I play the older character, and I don’t like to be boxed in, but I went along,” Eric said with a sweet laugh. “They didn’t see the vision; it’s okay,” Finnigan added.

Playing Ron Simms

On playing the nefarious character (Ron Simms), Finnigan stated, “I mean, for being as terrifying as he is, he is multifaceted. He is not the kind of maniacal psychopath who wants to inflict pain intentionally. Ron is a very lonely and sad person who has — through trauma — decided that the best way to create connection is to enforce it.”

“That’s the really freaky part… you can have these slivers of empathy for a character who just wants connection, but of course, the way he goes about it is monstrous. It’s terrifying,” Finnigan noted.

“I think that’s what makes it so interesting, is that he’s not straight evil. He really thinks he’s doing the right thing, which he’s not,” Finnigan added.

Lessons learned from this screenplay

On the lessons learned from this screenplay, Eric said, “Well, the writing on the show is really strong, and certainly for the lead characters, they’ve got to be solving crimes every week.”

“For us, though we didn’t have scenes together, the one thing we could share was that the other characters talk about Ron all the time and discover new things about him,” Eric said.

“So, I think the beautiful thing was having a few days before either of us were on camera to put those pieces together and have all those clues in the script,” Eric acknowledged.

“I think they had all the pieces there laid out for us to kind of pick apart and create our own idea of Ron as he was,” Finnigan said. “Also, since we had different shooting days, I got an opportunity to find out how his first day went so I could apply that work to my own shoot and vice versa.”

“It became this back and forth as we created a very full character. It was cool, and something I’ve never done before,” Finnigan added.

The digital age

On being actors and storytellers in the digital age, Eric said, “Personally, I come from a time when we didn’t, we couldn’t promote anything on social media. We just had to wait to get on ‘The Tonight Show’ or talk to ‘People’ magazine.”

“So, it’s amazing to be able to promote the biggest or smallest role where everybody can just tune in from their homes,” Eric added.

Advice for young and emerging actors and storytellers

For young and aspiring actors and storytellers, Eric said, “Well, I always say the same thing. The rules that I followed and the rules that worked for me are ancient. Regarding digital storytelling, my advice to young people is to take advantage of it.”

Eric continued, “Make a movie with your friends on your phone, record your songs and just let somebody hear them. In the old days, everything was gatekeeping. You couldn’t get, you couldn’t get a job unless somebody gave you a record contract or a network.”

“Now, I think young people really have more power than they think, but there’s also a lot of it out there,” Eric added.

Emmy win for ‘Lead Actor’ for ‘Will & Grace’

In 2001, McCormack won the Primetime Emmy Award for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series” for playing Will Truman in “Will & Grace.”

“That was terrible,” Eric said with a sweet laugh. “The Emmy is right over there… in my house.”

“It was one of the proudest moments of my professional life, for sure. You don’t go into this business for people not to like you. So that was great,” he explained.

Finnigan on his ‘aha!’ moment to go into acting

On his “aha” moment that inspired him to go into acting, Finnigan said, “I’ve been playing pretend games with my dad ever since I can first remember. So, you know, it has always been a thing.”

“As soon as I started high school and I joined a drama club, I got to do a play or two and a musical, and then I went to college and did some student films there,” he said.

“I knew acting was something I loved,” Finnigan noted. “I love learning a script!

“I love learning a character, and creating a character,” Finnigan said. “I love being a little action figure for directors to mess around with and create a story.”

“This is the first time it’s all becoming something, which is scary, but really cool and really special,” Finnigan added.

Stage of their lives

On the title of the current chapter of his life, Eric said, “Act III.”

Regarding the title of the current chapter of his life, Finnigan said, “I would call mine ‘Act II’.”

Success

On his definition of the word success, Eric said, “My definition of success has changed over the years. I would have given you a different answer at 25 than 35 and 45.”

“Right now, I’m sitting promoting work I did with my son, Finnigan. That feels as the most successful I can be,” Eric concluded.

To learn more about Eric McCormack, follow him on Instagram.