It’s rewarding.
Justin Hartley stars as Colter Shaw, a survivalist who travels America to track down missing people for reward money, in “Tracker.”
The CBS show (which Hartley also exec produces) was a hit when Season 1 aired, becoming the most-watched primetime series of the 2023-24 broadcast season, snaring an average of around 20 million viewers per episode. Season 2 premieres Sunday, Oct. 13 (8 p.m. ET/PT) on CBS and Paramount+.
“It’s a relief,” Hartley, 47, told The Post about the show’s success.
“When you put something out there and give it your all – and when you build something that has your taste profile – you hope that other people like it. And you never know. So it’s been really great.”
Colter is a lone wolf, but he’s got a remote team that helps him, including Teddi (Robin Weigert), Velma (Abby McEnany), Reenie (Fiona Rene) and his tech guy, Bobby (Eric Graise). He’s also got a complicated relationship with his brother, Russell Shaw (Jensen Ackles).
“We always had the idea that the character Russell Shaw would come on the show, we didn’t have it cast yet. And Jensen was watching football, and he just texted me to get my ugly mug off of his screen – because he was trying to watch the game, and I guess there were too many ‘Tracker’ commercials for him to bear,” Hartley explained.
“And I said, ‘If you can’t beat them, join them, why don’t you come on the show?’ That was pretty much how it happened.”
Hartley and Ackles have been friends for “so long” and tried to work together for a while, said Hartley, so “this was the perfect storm; he had a little bit of free time, and we had the perfect window to bring him in.”
As for how much Ackles will appear in Season 2, he said, “He’s in the second episode of the season, and then…a lot of it has to do with logistics, when actors are free, and a lot of it has to do with story. You don’t want to have someone on the show just for the sake of it, I respect him too much and I want it to make sense.”
But Hartley added, “They have a lot to talk about. We have quite a bit more [story] to tell with his character.”
Hartley’s wife, Sofia Pernas, 35, also appeared in Season 1 as Billie, a fellow reward seeker with a romantic history with Colter. She’ll be back for Season 2, too.
“It’s wonderful. There’s nothing like waking up, carpooling to work, and knowing you’ll spend the whole day with your best friend,” the “This Is Us” star said.
“She’s so talented, as well. I love having a scene partner that’s that good and pushes you. We laugh all the time. That’s all we do. We’re a couple of fools. It’s a pretty wonderful life.”
Season 2 will also explore an old case that Colter feels “haunted” by, he shared.
“He wasn’t able to find the person he was looking for, and it’s been 10 years. When that happens to Colter, he suffers. So that lays even more groundwork for telling his backstory and why he behaves the way he does.”
Although “Tracker” gets intense, with Colter in dangerous situations, Hartley said there’s levity behind the scenes.
“We have a lot of fun with it. Same thing as ‘This is Us.’ People are always surprised when I tell them how much we were laughing on the set of ‘This Is Us.’ We were dying laughing. Same thing on ‘Tracker.’ We have high-intensity moments, high stakes, people shooting at us… Everyone’s having fun.”
Two of his former “This Is Us” co-stars, Jennifer Morrison and Jon Huertas, were in “Tracker” Season 1. When asked if more will show up, Hartley said that the opportunity is “always open,” but “it would have to be the perfect place for them to join us… as much as I’d love to see them every single day in every episode, we’d just be doing an outdoor version of ‘This Is Us.’”
But he added, “If I could get every single one of them up here, I would love that. We talk quite often. With family things going on, it’s a lot of texting because people are busy, but I know all about their lives and what’s going on, and they know about mine. We’re a family, and I don’t think that will ever change.”
