CBS’s record-setting Tracker returns for season two on Sunday, October 13, 2024. Based on Jeffrey Deaver’s bestselling novel The Never Game, Tracker stars Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw, a survivalist who makes a living traveling the country and collecting rewards for finding missing people.
In season one, Colter was supported by a team that included the dog-loving married couple Velma (Abby McEnany) and Teddi (Robin Weigert); attorney Reenie Green (Fiona Rene); and tech expert Bobby Exley (Eric Graise). Season two changes things up, with Velma, Reenie, and Bobby working together much more closely.
Series star and executive producer Justin Hartley joined showrunner Elwood Reid at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con to promote the new season. During our small roundtable interview, Hartley and Reid discussed Colter’s journey, Jensen Ackles returning as Russell Shaw, and Colter’s support team. Reid also dropped a teaser that this new season will “wink” at Green Arrow, a character Hartley played in multiple seasons of Smallville. And since I’m a Corgi owner, I had to ask if we’d see more of Velma’s four-legged family members in the upcoming season.
Justin Hartley and Elwood Reid Tracker Season 2 Interview
Is the second season going to give us more with Reenie and Velma? Are they going to be incorporated more into the second season?
Justin Hartley: “Yeah, I think so, right?”
Elwood Reid: “Yes, and there’s going to be a big change that’s coming for the Reenie character and also for Velma. We’re reconfiguring some of that stuff.
And there’s going to be a surprise. In the first episode, we’re going to introduce a little piece of Colter’s past which we’ve not talked about before. It’s pretty dark, let’s say, and it’s something that haunts him. And you’re going to see the repercussions of that through the season. So, we’re starting that storyline in the first episode so it’s going to introduce something from his past.
And then, of course, our normal people like Jensen will be back, who plays Russell, and Dory will be back, played by Melissa (Roxburgh). And then the mother, of course, will be back. But those are all things that are going to be promised this season.”
How does Jensen Ackles shake things up on the show, and how does it impact your performance?
Justin Hartley: “Well, it’s great. I mean, I think it’s a good … you’ve written a great dynamic. The brother, you know, taken right from the book, it’s a tough relationship, but the way that he’s written it, there’s tension, of course, because of what happened, what they went through, but then also they’re brothers. And I mean just from the very beginning, the silence that they have, and they haven’t spoken, they haven’t talked, they haven’t done anything, no contact at all. Now here they are side by side, and they have to sort of do this thing together. So, it’s been great.
I think that dynamic is cool, too, because we see this lone wolf character. He’s always by himself; he’s always doing his own thing. And then all of a sudden you see this other dude next to him, right? And there’s a little bit of tension there, but also, I think towards the end, some respect and love. So, it’s an interesting place to see Colter that we haven’t seen before.”
Elwood Reid: “Not so much acting, because when you see these two together, it’s crazy. You always get nervous when you’re writing something to see if they’ll have chemistry or the dynamic. I didn’t say a f**king thing. I didn’t say anything. And these guys are just … I was like this could be a disaster because I’ve worked with Jensen before…”
Justin Hartley: (Laughing) “And it’s always a disaster.”
Elwood Reid: “And you never know. And I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ It was so funny because the first couple of days you guys were filming, I was up there and I was just, ‘Oh, okay, I see what this is.’ But they showed me how to write it. It was just to see the chemistry they had, it was crazy.”
Justin Hartley: “[Elwood] came in and we were doing it. He came in about 10 minutes after we started, 15 minutes after we started, whatever. And he walks onto the set. We didn’t know he was on the set. And he just comes over, we were in the truck, and he goes, ‘So I’m over here just listening. I guess you guys are just saying whatever you want now, just whatever you guys feel like,’ which is not what we were doing. He was joking.”
Elwood Reid: “But he goes way back with (Jensen), too. So, the minute they step on set, I think you just feel it. And that’s rare in this business to have that.”
You said we’re going to get more of his dark past, but we’ve already seen so much of that. How much darker can you go?
Elwood Reid: “Well, I don’t mean … the family stuff is different. I think the big question that’s ticking from the books and also from the first season is, what would compel a person to live this lifestyle and why would you do this? Because people keep asking, I get asked this question, ‘Why would he do this? What’s driving him?’
And this first episode in the second season is going to give you insight into something that haunts him. I’ll let him talk about it, but I think it’s a case that he did not solve. And we’re going to see how that sort of bleeds out through the season. And it’s something, in keeping with the way Justin plays the character, he keeps it in. I think that’s something he and I, from day one, have been very on board with, is not giving too much away. I think there’s a lot of layers here that we can play with.”
Justin Hartley: “It’s interesting to see him, the way he deals with people on a daily basis, right, people that he’s helping in the present moment versus, like you said, something that haunts him and someone that’s known him for a long time and how he deals with and talks to that person. What he allows that person to see. And you just sort of see a different side of him. You go, ‘Wow, that’s a personal connection that we sort of didn’t see.’ And it happens with, you know, when Russell came in, Billy – the Billy character – his sister, Dory, the mom, you see him interact differently with these people. If he doesn’t trust his mom, that’s a tough thing, right? I mean, can you imagine that? Hopefully not, but that can’t be a good feeling.”
Green Arrow is one of my favorite characters ever and a lot of times watching Tracker, I just feel there are very Oliver Queen moments. Do you feel any qualities in Oliver that have bled through to your performance here?
Justin Hartley: “Yeah, I certainly try to learn from all of the characters that I play, like personally. And so, I guess, you know, throughout life you sort of then hopefully change in a good way. Maybe not change, but adapt and hopefully become a better person. And so, I don’t know. I think I try to keep the characters different because they’re all so different, but I like to make a list of things that I have in common with these characters that I’m playing and things that I don’t have in common with them. That’s sort of how I start.
And then, interestingly enough, for this one, I kind of did a list of Kevin Pearson and Colter Shaw because I’ve been playing Kevin Pearson for so long. But I never really thought about the Green Arrow. I mean, he was sort of a loner at times. He had strong convictions about certain things. Oliver was a little bit more – the way that I played him and it was really important for me to do this – he was a little bit more politically motivated than Colter. I don’t know if Colter has that, necessarily.”
Elwood Reid: “Well, if you did, you’d never know.”
Justin Hartley: “Right, exactly. I guess Colter, you could call him a vigilante in ways. He breaks the law every once in a while. He does what he needs to do to sort of get the job done. Oliver was a lot like that, maybe a little more bold. He had more resources, for sure. (Laughing) He was richer and he dressed differently.”
Elwood Reid: “We’re going to wink at Green Arrow. Just wait, there’ll be something. We’re going to wink at it.”
Justin Hartley: “You’ll be happy. We have a plan.”
Is there any chance of a Smallville reunion on Tracker?
Justin Hartley: “I don’t know. I don’t know. We have everyone’s number. We’ll see, yeah. I don’t know how busy people are, but it would be lovely. It would be wonderful. I would love that.”
At the end of each episode, there’s that healing moment where you allow the families or whoever to understand what the person’s gone through, and there’s kind of a healing. Is it also healing for Colter? Is that kind of a therapy for him?
Justin Hartley: “It’s both, I think, and you can speak more about this as well. But for me, it’s both. It’s like sort of a double-edged sword, right? I mean, it’s great and it’s wonderful, but he has this void left by his own family in his relationship that he has with his sister and his brother and his mom and his deceased father and all that huge tragedy that is just sort of like, ‘Man, wouldn’t it be nice?’ You know, that kind of thing.
So, it’s healing in a way, but it’s also sort of dredges up, I think, those feelings. It’s also what motivates them, I think, in a way.”
Elwood Reid: “No, it’s funny. We’ve never talked about this, but those moments that you talk about at the end, I talk about a lot with the writers. He can’t fix some of the stuff in his past, and so that moment when he does fix for those things, and he’s just – this was never scripted – you see him pull away from that moment.
It’s really interesting. He walks right up to it and then he steps away from it. And I think that’s part of what keeps him kind of like unknowable. I think about his character all the time. He’s just this unknowable thing. There are parts of him that he’s going to keep in, and you see that in every episode. He just naturally does that. You don’t lean in, ever. And I’ve never told him that. And he just naturally does it.”
Justin Hartley: (Laughing) “Now I’m gonna do it.”
What surprised you the most about working on Tracker?
Justin Hartley: “That, I mean, Elwood is actually not that bad of a guy. I was shocked because it’s not what I was expecting. No, the size of you. Just how big you are. You are such a big guy.”
Elwood Reid: “I don’t look like a writer, I suppose.”
Justin Hartley: “No, I can’t believe it. You know, gosh, it’s a lot of work but it really is our pleasure, isn’t it? I mean, we really do love the work. And I think it makes it easier when you have such a big fan base and people are really enjoying it as well. For me, it makes it easier because you just go’ ‘Wow, it’s impacting people’s lives in a positive way in so many people.’ It’s been our pleasure, really. It’s been wonderful.”
Elwood Reid: “I’d say it’s as a writer you don’t get this flow state. Again, Justin and I did not … we got thrown together pretty quickly. And there’s also Ken Olin who’s our other partner that took the book with Justin. There was so much that we didn’t have to say that we knew. And I’m afraid to talk to him about some of this stuff because I don’t want him to know. It’s that weird, you never know when you go into these creative partnerships if that person’s going to sort of pick up your end of things. And it’s rare. It has not happened to me very often in my career. It’s happening here. I think he knew all this, but I did not.”
We just got the signal to wrap up, but I need to know if there will be more Corgi in the second season?
Elwood Reid: “It’s funny. Are these people on payroll?”
Justin Hartley: “No!”
Elwood Reid: “Last night we’re at the bar and he’s pitching me. We have a dog episode to do, too. It’s his idea. I don’t know if it’ll be a Corgi. There’s also a dog in first episode. You with some steaks. I’m not kidding. There’s a little dog stuff.”
Justin Hartley: “That’ll be a cool episode. It’ll be great.”
- Tracker Season 1 Episode 1 “Klamath Falls” Recap
- Tracker Season 1 Episode 2 “Missoula” Recap
- Tracker Season 1 Episode 3 “Springland” Recap
- Tracker Season 1 Episode 4 “Mt. Shasta” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 5 “St. Louis” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 6 “Lexington” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 7 “Chicago” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 8 “Camden” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 9 “Aurora” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 10 “Into the Wild” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 11 “Beyond the Campus Walls” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 12 “Off the Books” Preview
- Season 1 Episode 13 “The Storm” Finale Recap
The post ‘Tracker’ Season 2: Justin Hartley and Elwood Reid Interview appeared first on ShowbizJunkies.
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