Justin Hartley Confirms Wife Sofia Pernas Will Come Back ‘Several Times’ for ‘Tracker’ Season 2
Justin Hartley‘s wife, Sofia Pernas, will make multiple appearances on season 2 of his hit CBS series, Tracker.
“She’s definitely coming back. We have some pretty cool stuff for her to do next year,” Hartley, 47, told Deadline on Sunday, May 19. “She’ll be back several times next year.”
The actor — and executive producer — isn’t just stopping at Pernas, 34, who played Colter’s rival Billie. Hartley confirmed plans to bring back multiple memorable guest stars including Melissa Roxburgh as his onscreen sister and Jensen Ackles as his onscreen brother.
“We have plans to bring back my whole family. We have a lot of questions to answer with Colter’s mother,” he said about his character’s season 2 arc. “Jennifer Morrison does this really wonderful performance [as Colter’s childhood friend Lizzy]. I think we’d be remiss not to bring her back.”
Hartley continued: “We built this really great group of actors [who are] hopefully more than willing to come back, because we’d love to play more with them. We have a bunch of stories to tell with all [of them].”
After the season 1 finale aired on Sunday, Hartley reflected on the highlights from the CBS procedural so far. He specifically opened up about working with Pernas, whom he has shared the screen with multiple times.
“We have a great time together. I just thought it would be a really cool idea. It was sort of my idea from the beginning to have this character that comes on that you just mentioned,” he explained to Deadline about preparing for Pernas’ debut as Billie. “I think it was in the second episode, there was a big reward for a car. There was a line that one of the ladies said, ‘Word on the street is that Billie is circling the case.’ And then Coulter kind of eye rolls. If you’re really paying attention, you go, ‘Oh, he’s got a rival, this guy Billie.’”
Hartley wanted to lay the groundwork for Pernas’ character — who has left quite an impression on Colter.
“My idea was to tease that and intentionally name the character Billie, and then reveal that Billie is, of course, Sofia. We didn’t get to tease that as much as I would have liked, just because we were so pressed with time. But that was the intention,” he continued. “Then when she came on, to be honest with you, I’m not sure how much of that character aspect that she brought was actually written.”
Hartley praised Pernas for her devotion to the role, adding, “You’re just watching a talented actor. There were a few things we had the benefit of discussing privately that, normally, you don’t have time to do that. But when you live with the person, you can talk about that stuff at dinner, and go, ‘Hey, what about this?’ So we really got a chance to dialogue about that.”
Tracker isn’t the first time Hartley and Pernas worked together. The couple originally met on the set of The Young and The Restless in 2015. It wasn’t until they reconnected years later that they started dating and subsequently tied the knot in 2021. Since then, the pair have shared the screen on Quantum Leap and now Tracker.
“It’s amazing. It’s good for the environment, too. You can carpool and everything, so it’s wonderful,” Hartley told E! News in February 2023 about plans to star alongside Pernas in future projects. “Absolutely we’ll do that. For sure.”
Tracker has been renewed for season 2 on CBS. All episodes are available to stream on Paramount+.
