Justin Hartley’s Wife Played His Nemesis in This Tracker Season 1 Episode
Tracker has become one of CBS’s hottest new shows, returning for a second season on October 13, 2024, and renewed just a month after the first season premiered following Super Bowl LVIII in February 2024. Justin Hartley (This Is Us) stars as Colter Shaw, a survivalist and loner who uses his skills to help find missing persons.
Colter doesn’t work directly with law enforcement, however. He, along with the help of other independents, runs his own investigations for reward money. The show is a thrilling procedural-style drama with a new case in every episode along with an over-arching story about Colter’s personal life. In fact, the show has become personal for Hartley as well, as his real-life wife played a pivotal role in a season one episode.
Who Is Billie Matalon?
She’s Colter’s Biggest Rival
In Season 1, Episode 6, “Lexington,” Sofia Pernas, who is married to Hartley in real life, played Billie Matalon. The case highlighted in this episode, which is one of the lowest-ranked episodes of season one of Tracker, is centered around a missing horse named Argo. Colter is hired by Hugh Laslow, one of the horse’s four owners, to try and find the animal, along with papers required for Argo to be permitted to race. The stakes are high because Argo has a shot at joining the Kentucky Derby.
Through his investigation, Colter runs into Billie (Pernas). It’s clear there’s history between them, and things did not end well. She does the same job Colter does, and she’s working this particular mission as well. Colter initially isn’t happy about this, though he doesn’t seem threatened by the competition.
It’s later revealed that during the last mission they did together, Billie betrayed him. She stole the large sum of reward money and left, leaving him high and dry. Colter is understandably still bitter about this, and Billie seems less than apologetic, chalking it up to nothing more than a regret but a reality of the job.
When Colter runs into Billie again at a swanky event where he’s trying to suss out information about Argo and its owners, he relents to teaming up with her. He is worried that she might betray him again, but also committed to solving the case. If it means he could get back-stabbed in the process, it’s a risk he’s willing to take. But Colter also plans to handle things with a much more watchful eye this time around and won’t let that happen.
It turns out that the pair work great together, and their real-life chemistry spills over to the roles, as there’s clearly romantic tension between them. They even almost kiss in his vehicle until a phone call rudely interrupts the moment. As they get closer to the answer and identifying the kidnapper, the situation gets increasingly more dangerous, as is typical with all of Colter’s cases.
Much like other shows like Tracker, the pair end up in unbelievable situations. They have to escape a burning barn together, then are held hostage, Billie’s life on the line with a gun to her head. They work together to disarm the kidnapper, save Argo, and return the horse to its rightful owner.
Interestingly, as arrests are made, bank accounts are frozen, which includes the money that would pay Billie and Colter their reward fee. So neither of them get anything. Because of this, however, it’s unclear if either had planned to double-cross the other. While Colter seems more trusting of Billie this time around, even appreciating her company, their planned celebratory dinner never materializes. She leaves once again to continue her work in solitude, proving that she’s essentially a female version of Colter. But she’s also the only one able to stay one step ahead of him.
Who Is Sofia Pernas?
She’s Had a Few Notable Roles
Sofia Pernas grew up in California, but only began acting in 2009. Her first role was in a TV movie called The Immortal Voyage of Captain Drake. After a guest role in a two-part episode of NCIS, she had a series of smaller roles until securing a recurring role on The Young and the Restless. She starred as Maria Sierras from 2015 to 2017. It was there that she met Hartley, who also appeared on the soap opera from 2014 to 2016.
She next had a recurring role as Catalina on Jane the Virgin where she appeared in five episodes in season three. Her biggest role to date has been a starring role in the short-lived series The Brave, which also starred the late Anne Heche. The series only lasted one season.
She then had a main role in the action-adventure series Blood & Treasure. Interestingly, she plays a similarly cunning character in this series as Billie in Tracker. She’s Lexi Vaziri, an art thief who teams up with former FBI agent turned lawyer and art expert Danny McNamara (Matt Barr) to help take down a terrorist. That series also starred The Walking Dead’s Michael James Shaw as a main character and John Larroquette (Night Court) in a recurring role. It aired for two seasons from 2022 through 2023.
Pernas will next appear in the action-adventure comedy movie Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in an undisclosed role. She will work alongside actors Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Krysten Ritter, Adam Pally, and Shemar Moore with the voice cast including Ben Schwartz, Idris Elba, and Keanu Reeves.
Not much is known about Pernas’ personal life and career beyond these roles and her marriage to Hartley. According to TVOvermind, she speaks multiple languages and had initially planned to pursue a career in journalism before she was approached by a modeling scout. That, in turn, led to acting gigs, and the rest is history.
Screen Rant reports that the character of Billie will be returning for season two of the show, one of the most anticipated book adaptations released in 2024. Based on her performance, the unresolved issues, and the sexual tension, sparks could fly romantically (or otherwise) between these two, just as they do in real life. Stay tuned.
