Hunters, which just premiered its second and final season on Prime Video, is meant to be a response to modern antisemitism, according to series creator David Weil.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Weil explained that, despite the Nazi-hunting action show's dark subject matter, he wants the show to combat antisemitism and bigotry in a cathartic way. "It’s an attempt to portray Jewish characters in a light and in a way that we don’t often get to see onscreen," Weil said. "Jewish characters with might, with power, with agency; Jewish characters who are badass, who are strong, who are benevolent, who are sexy — all those traits and qualities that are often not reserved for Jewish characters."
The Nazi-hunting action drama takes place in the 1970s, but Weil draws parallels to current events and attitudes throughout the new season. This includes more modern Neo-Nazi villains and, toward the end, visuals that evoke the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol Building. While Weil explains that antisemitism is something that Jewish people have always felt, society is now paying much closer attention, which makes telling this story all the more "urgent." "So, I almost think, unfortunately, society and culture has caught up to understand and to see how urgent this series is because of the epidemic of hate, of antisemitism, of racism in our world," he added.
Hunters Season 2 Dials Down the Violence for Justice
Even so, the first season was more violent than the second, which sees the protagonist Jonah (played by Logan Lerman) pull away from his quest for revenge and focus more on justice. "And so, I hope that the series provides a sense of catharsis, of wish-fulfillment, even in this fictional way, in this trial in episode eight, that people can come away feeling that our hunters got some sense of justice, that there is some sense of characters fighting for their right to exist and winning," said Weil. "And that’s what I hope the series does."
Hunters follows a young Jewish math prodigy named Jonah as he joins up with a group of Nazi hunters living in 1977 New York City. The group is led by the secretive Holocaust survivor Meyer Offerman, played by Al Pacino in one of his first lead roles on a TV show. Season 1 focused on the hunters as they pursued former Nazi officers who'd fled to America, some through Operation Paperclip. Eventually, the hunters uncover and have to foil a massive plot by the Nazis to create a Fourth Reich in the U.S.
Season 2 raises the stakes, with an older Jonah discovering that Adolf Hitler is still alive. Due to the hunters disbanding after the events of Season 1, Jonah and a new mysterious character named Chava (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) must reform the group and catch an aging Hitler while continuing the battle against the Nazis and Neo-Nazis protecting him.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter