Tracker Fans Might Have to Wait a While for Answers to That Big Mystery

Tracker continues to power through its second season, showcasing lead character Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) tackling all types of weird and wonderful cases involving missing persons. The action drama is episodic, with Colter being handed a new case in every episode in a different location across the U.S. However, an overarching story about his own family history was introduced at the beginning of the series.

However, this mystery continues to be abandoned as we near the end of the season, suggesting that the story won’t be resurrected until Season 3. Thankfully, Tracker has been renewed. But this leaves fans itching to learn more about Colter’s sordid past and wondering when that storyline will be revisited.

The Mystery of Colter’s Past in ‘Tracker’

At the beginning of the series, fans learned that Colter’s father, Ashton (Lee Tergesen), wound up dead at the bottom of a cliff near the family’s off-the-grid home. A respected professor, Ashton had grown increasingly paranoid and moved his family to the wilderness, where he taught his sons and daughter how to live off the land. It’s these survivalist traits and instincts that led Colter to pursue his career.

Colter hadn’t spoken to his older brother Russell (Jensen Ackles) in some time. He saw Russell at the top of the cliff that fateful day when he found his father’s body and had since believed that Russell had pushed him. At the end of Season 1, Colter finally reunites with his brother, who assures him he did not kill their father. He adds that he saw someone else in the woods that day, and though he doesn’t know who it was, he knows it was a man he had seen their mother talking to before.

As for his mother, Mary (Wendy Crewson) lives independently and supports Colter’s decision not to talk to Russell. In fact, she encouraged him not to do so, suggesting that nothing good would come of it. This raised suspicions about what really happened to Ashton, what work he was involved in, and how much Mary knew that she wasn’t telling Colter.

While working a case in Season 2, Episode 2, “Ontological Shock,” Reenie (Fiona Rene) calls Russell to help when she’s worried Colter is in trouble (he was). A man working at a secret government black site investigating alien life forms tells Russell he knows who he is and says his father “asked too many questions.” This further suggests that Ashton might have been right about his fears and had a legitimate reason to move his family away.

During another case, when Colter travels to help Lizzy (Jennifer Morrison), an old family friend, he learns that her mother and Colter’s father were having an affair. She thought he knew about it, but Colter is completely in the dark and shocked to learn this news. Lizzy also reveals that Ashton went to visit her mother just before he died, and they had an argument.

She tells him she found a box of Ashton’s belongings among her mother’s things following her passing and gave it to Colter’s younger sister, Dory (Melissa Roxburgh). Colter had just seen his sister and brought up the topic of their father, but she didn’t mention anything. This further raises questions about what happened to Ashton, what he knew, and why both Colter’s siblings, as well as his mother, seem to be hiding something from him.

The ‘Tracker’ Mystery Has Taken a Back Seat

As the show has progressed through Season 2, little to nothing has been addressed about this mystery. Ackles hasn’t been seen in Tracker since the second episode of Season 2, while Dory hasn’t been seen since the first season. Instead, Colter shifted his attention to another cold case of the missing sister of an old friend, which became the new multi-episode case. That has since been solved.

With Ackles, Roxburgh, Crewson, and Morrison all supposedly reprising their roles, fans are confident that this storyline will pop back up again. But it’s looking less and less likely that it will be this season. If so, it might be part of a cliffhanger teaser ending that leaves fans anxious for Season 3.

For now, the last mention of Colter’s family was when he sat down at a diner with Reenie after they solved a big case. She commented on his choice of pancakes for dinner, and he referenced his childhood. He recalled that when his father was having one of his “episodes,” his mother would make the kids pancakes as a symbolic way of restarting the day.

This is the first time Colter mentioned his mother, or anyone in his family, in some time. It’s possible that maybe he took Dory’s advice to leave the past alone and focus on moving forward. But Colter doesn’t seem like the type who would leave any case unsolved, much less one about his own family.

Why Was the ‘Tracker’ Mystery Paused, and When Might It Come Back?

The reason this story was paused may not have anything to do with intentionally trying to draw it out for the sake of anticipation. There are possible practical reasons. Two actors whose characters are key to the storyline have been busy with other projects. Roxburgh is leading the series The Hunting Party, a procedural crime drama on NBC that premiered in mid-January and might have been filming at the same time as Tracker. However, that show was filmed in Vancouver, BC, the same location where Tracker is filmed.

Ackles, meanwhile, handled a voice role as Bruce Wayne/Batman for the 2024 movie Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths and has two projects in the works. Countdown is an upcoming Prime Video crime drama where he stars as the lead character. It was filmed from September 2024 through March 2025 in Los Angeles, likely eating up much of his schedule.

He is also starring in and executive producing Vought Rising, a prequel series where he reprises his role of Soldier Boy from the series The Boys. With a premiere date still to be announced, Ackles may be spending most of his time on this project and thus was unable to fulfill guest-starring duties on Tracker.

As fans wait for more information, theories continue to pop up in the Tracker community. The latest relates to Season 2, Episode 13, “Neptune.” Its storyline might be gearing up to reveal another nugget of information before the season is over. In this episode, a character is introduced (but not seen) called Deputy Director Bartholomew. They are the mysterious boss of a secret government organization, and fans think this person could be somehow tied to Ashton.

While investigating the disappearance of a woman who worked with that secret government team, Colter receives a call from an unknown person who warns him to stay away. After solving the case, Reenie receives a letter from Deputy Director Bartholomew thanking Colter for his assistance in taking down a rogue agent. But even Reenie is suspicious that the letter sounds more like a veiled warning.