With the Season 2 finale of Tracker, aptly titled “Echo Ridge,” we now know that Wendy Crewson’s Mary Dove Shaw is hiding something far more sinister than Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) ever expected. As it turns out, Mary was seemingly responsible for killing Colter’s father, Ashton Shaw (Lee Tergesen). But while Crewson has played the character for three episodes of the series (the first two of Season 1 and the last of Season 2), Tracker very nearly had a different actress playing the deceptive Mrs. Shaw, not to mention a different role for her on this unconventional CBS procedural.
Back when Tracker was still titled The Never Game (the title of the first Jeffrey Deaver novel on which this series is based), Deadline reported in 2022 that Mary McDonnell was originally set to play Colter’s mother on the series. Yes, the very same Mary McDonnell of Battlestar Galactica, Independence Day, and Dances With Wolves fame. Having previously been featured in Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher, not to mention playing Sharon Raydor in both The Closer and Major Crimes, McDonnell has had many years of television experience. What’s even more interesting is that, back when this casting was first announced, the character of Mary Dove Shaw was set to be a series regular, described in official reports as “the emotional center of Colter’s restless life.”
All this may come as a bit of a surprise to Tracker fans these days. After all, Mary Dove Shaw is often an afterthought on the show, and considering that the character has only appeared in a small handful of episodes, there’s not much to her other than what Colter just recently learned in the Season 2 finale. It makes one wonder how different McDonnell would’ve played Mary Dove Shaw in comparison to the way Wendy Crewson tackles the character. Of course, Crewson does a fine job with the little she’s given, but McDonnell could have blown it out of the park.
‘Tracker’ Missed an Opportunity To Make That Season 2 Reveal Even Bigger
Again, back when the show was still titled The Never Game, Mary would have been a far more important figure in Colter’s cross-country adventures than what we see on the show now. Whether this change was due to turning Tracker into more of a procedural format as opposed to a serialized show is unclear, but we know that, had this been the case, her continued presence would’ve added to the mystery and intrigue of the series. The heartbreaking reveal at the end of “Echo Ridge” would most certainly have been more impactful for both Colter and the audience if McDonnell’s Mary had been a regular feature on the show, allowing us to connect with her character and showing us the strong bond between mother and son. Instead, while we see that the reveal breaks Colter personally, it fails to break us as well. It doesn’t help that many of us considered this reveal a possibility back when Mary was first written off Tracker in Season 1’s “Missoula.” Her brief and sudden return in the final moments of Season 2 felt far too convenient.
Crewson’s version of the character has only shown up in small increments on Tracker, whereas it seems that McDonnell would have been featured far more regularly, perhaps not unlike Robin Weigert in the first season. It’s also possible that the show’s shortened 13-episode first season had something to do with this change, but that’s just speculation. All we know is that, at some point in the show’s development process, TV Line reported that McDonnell was no longer attached to the series, though the details are scarce. It makes us wonder what could have been, and if Tracker would be an even better show today had Mary been a more centralized figure. The possibility that she murdered her own husband is certainly a fascinating thread to follow, but it would’ve been a lot more compelling if we cared more about Mary as a character rather than as simply a part of Colter’s life.
‘Tracker’ Needs To Do Better With Mary Dove Shaw in Season 3
It’s not Wendy Crewson’s fault that we’re not as connected to Mary Dove Shaw. It seems that the intention of the character initially was to anchor Colter in family rather than sending him out as a perpetual lone wolf. Instead, the creatives decided to take the character in another direction. The Mary we meet these days on Tracker doesn’t even remotely match the character description first reported when Mary McDonnell was attached to the show, and that’s a shame. No, we’re not advocating for Colter to settle down and get more in touch with his roots.
We like the way Tracker is structured, but for the sake of our hero’s emotional arc throughout the second season, it may have been better for him to have someone that he could really talk to, and Mary would’ve been a prime candidate. No matter which direction Season 3 takes her story, Tracker needs to give Mary Dove Shaw the time of day. Instead of just writing her into the background, she ought to be a bigger part of the story, especially if she is so deeply connected to the show’s overall mythology.
