Justin Hartley Eager to Explore the Endless Possibilities of ‘Tracker’

The CBS series Tracker is back for Season 2, with Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) continuing to find the missing and collect rewards. With the help of his survivalist instincts and his friends – lawyer Reenie Green (Fiona Fene), business handler Velma (Abby McEnany) and tech expert Bobby (Eric Graise) – Colter is uniquely qualified to complete just about any type of job that comes his way, as long as it doesn’t require resolving his own family drama.

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Hartley talked about Colter’s procrastination in dealing with the family bombshell that was dropped on him last season, why it’s very Kevin Pearson of him, the series’ incredible guest cast, what he most enjoys about having his wife to play off of, continuing to explore the relationship between Colter and his brother (Jensen Ackles), and why he thinks Tracker is perfectly suited to trying anything without jumping the shark.

‘Tracker’s Colter Shaw Is Avoiding Dealing With His Own Family Drama in Season 2

Collider: Colter Shaw had some bombshells dropped on him last season. How long is he going to stay in denial about them?

JUSTIN HARTLEY: I don’t know if he’s in denial necessarily. He got asked that question at the end [of Season 1] when [Jennifer Morrison’s character] told him all that stuff, and she said, “What are you gonna do now?” You tell that guy that stuff and he’s a dangerous dude. He goes, “Right now, nothing.” I don’t think he’s in denial as much as he is just biding his time to figure this out. What is he gonna do? You don’t typically see Colter in situations where he doesn’t know what to do, and I think he truly needs a minute to mull it over and think about how to go about it. He’s putting all those pieces together. He’s like, “Okay, so that means potentially Dory lied to me. My mother’s been lying to me. My brother could possibly still be lying to me. This woman who was supposed to be a friend of mine knew all this stuff and didn’t tell me. Affair? What affair? What are you talking about? Does that implicate your dad? Did he push my dad? This is crazy.” So then, he just goes surfing.

Where will he start with all this?

HARTLEY: He’s one of those guys that will bury it and work a little bit, until he’s ready to deal with it. It’s also something that you don’t think about a lot when you think of Colter, but he’s got feelings. He’s probably hurt by it all. He’s like, “Sure, I’m brave, but I get my feelings hurt.” It’s very Kevin Pearson. Your life’s a mess and you’re telling other people, “You know what you should do ….”

The casting for Colter’s family has been top-notch. Were you ever worried when you lined up these actors that you wouldn’t be able to get them back?

HARTLEY: No. They’re friends of mine and I like them a lot. I really like Jensen [Ackles] a lot. I’ve always admired his work. Even before we became friends, I admired his work. I always thought it would be cool to work with him and never got a chance to work with him, and then this presented a great opportunity and I knew he’d have fun. We have fun on set. It’s hard work, but it’s a lot of fun. And he’s used to hard work and a lot of fun. I thought, once he gets a sense of what we’re doing here, he’ll wanna come back, and we had so much fun together. Same with Melissa Roxburgh. She was just a dream to work with, and she’s a friend as well and a great actor. And then, with Sofia [Pernas], I know where she lives. I’ll just drive her to set and not tell her where we’re going.

Even working with a spouse, that doesn’t mean the chemistry will translate on camera. Did you know how well that would work?

HARTLEY: I love the story of how they had a thing in the past and she might have screwed him over a little bit. That’s how he feels, anyway. They haven’t addressed it, and he’s forced into this uncomfortable situation to be with this person that he probably doesn’t wanna be with right now, not because he doesn’t like her, but because it’s painful. Again, Colter has feelings. He’s just a real softie. We had a good story, she’s a great actor, and we had a little fun with it. There’s pain there, there’s history there, and it’s a pride thing, trying to make sure that she doesn’t know how hurt he is. It’s a really great take on an ex-relationship, and I’m glad people liked it. I was hopeful that people would like it. It’s such a different character than she really is in real life. She’s nothing like that. And I’m not a rewardist. We just have a good time on set. She’s coming back early in the season.

Did she have any suggestions for things she would like to do on the show?

HARTLEY: We’re very collaborative with our writers and our actors. People that come on that have ideas about their character and what they wanna do, we’re always wide open to things. Changing plot points is not something we can do, but if someone has an idea about something, my ears are wide open and we’ll give it a shot, if it makes sense. She’s very collaborative and she’s got a lot of ideas. I like when actors can come on feel like they can make it their own because I do feel like one of the hardest jobs in Hollywood is to guest star on a show. A lot of times, you’re not allowed to do anything but say the words, which is not really what we do. It’s mistaken for what we do sometimes, but we don’t just repeat words. Anybody can do that, if you can read. We do other things. So, we let our actors understand that we hired them, so show us that, and I think they enjoy it.

Justin Hartley Hopes That Colter and His Brother Can Get on the Same Page About Their Family

What would you still like to see with the relationship between Colter and his brother Russell?

HARTLEY: When Colter finds out exactly what’s going on – and I’ve struggled with that because there are so many different ways to skin this cat and I don’t know which way is better or more interesting – and he learns the absolute, undeniable truth, does he find out from his sister? Is it from his brother? Is it his mother? Is it a combination of all three? Is it none of them? Is it Jennifer Morrison’s character coming back? Is it a new character? There are so many different ways we could do that, and they’re all interesting. I don’t know which one is better. But it would be nice to have a resolution between the two. They kind of had that when Russell came on, by the end of it, but the two of them could have more conversations about their childhood. A lot of times, two kids growing up in the same house have completely different recollections of what went on in that house, even though they were living in the same house at the same time with the same parents and in the same circumstances. It’s amazing what the human brain will do to protect the heart. So, I think those could be some interesting episodes. It’s also cool to go out and do a two-hander show and kickass.

Do you think Colter will get jealous about Reenie doing her own thing?

HARTLEY: No, I think he’ll love that. That’s great for him. It’s gonna be wonderful. She’s a strong woman who’s gonna do her own thing. And if she’s not available, he’s got Bobby. I think it’s great that we could expand her world a little bit and get her out doing her own thing. And getting to see Reenie and Velma is cool too.

Would you like to stretch some of the jobs out more and not resolve them in one episode?

HARTLEY: Yeah. It’s my opinion that the 22-episode season lends itself to being able to do that. I love shows like that. It also doesn’t have to be resolved in two episodes. He could be working on more than one job at a time, which is pretty cool. But I’m up for anything, honestly. The scenarios are endless.

With ‘Tracker,’ The Possibilities for What They Can Do on the Show Are Endless

The possibilities seem endless for what you could do with Colter Shaw on this series. Have you had a personal wish list of things you’ve wanted to work into the show?

HARTLEY: They are endless, and I’m open to anything. I’ve done quite a bit now in my life. I love the action aspect of it. I love the mystery. I love a cold case. I really love a murder mystery. And I think we can do it all without jumping the shark.

You’re doing more episodes in Season 2 than you did in Season 1.

HARTLEY: My body is going, “Uh, oh.”

Was there anything you felt really worked in Season 1 that you wanted to make sure to carry over to Season 2?

HARTLEY: We always had this idea that the show was gonna be this really grounded, character-driven procedural. A lot of times, procedurals are really plot-driven, and in some respect, it does have to be, and it should be. But to have the backstory and to figure out how much to dial up or dial down the backstory in every episode is the key to the show. You don’t wanna get it all at once, and you don’t wanna not get any anymore, and you don’t wanna be inundated with it, but you want it. It’s a matter of just figuring that out. And then, also not just doing it for the sake of doing it, as a shtick thing. Maybe you wanna make one of the jobs have something to do with something that triggers something that makes him ask a question about it again, even though he’s trying not to think about it. You wanna do it in ways that make sense. Family seems very basic, but every single person that walks the earth has a story about their family. Even if you’ve never met your family, that’s a story. Everybody has wants and desires when it comes to their family, and things they didn’t get and regrets. Family is something everybody can relate to. It’s never resolved. It just gets more and more complicated. It’s very relatable, which is key.