Just over a year ago, Tracker star Justin Hartley took a break from Super Bowl festivities in Las Vegas to share the vision for his new show, launching that same eventful night, about loner Colter Shaw, who offers his services to find missing people all over the country.
In 2024, Hartley was betting on Tracker endearing itself to an audience that missed the throwback style of thrilling ‘70s series like The Rockford Files. Hartley wanted to introduce a show that was less political or controversial; something that could offer good old fashion entertainment.
Now nearing the end of its second season, Hartley and his former This Is Us executive producer Ken Olin’s gamble is paying off. Tracker instantly became most-watched show on TV in its first season, the first new series to achieve such a ranking since Survivor premiered in 2000. And season two is holding that audience.
THR recently caught up with Hartley as he was finishing production for the final episodes of the second season, and could finally get on a flight home to relax with his family and dog. But the actor, still pumped over the episodes that have yet to air this season — as well as the ones to come, and the possibilities of what a third season might look like — shared his thoughts about the show that has surpassed all of his hopes and expectations.
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What direction did you take season two that’s different from the first season?
I talked about this with the other producers and writers… what I really enjoy about our show, and something that’s really important to me is that I wanted to make sure it wasn’t your typical procedural show. As the character does these jobs and as these people enter and leave his life, I wanted to make sure that he’s affected by them, and that this character evolves. So if you’re watching episode 10 of season one, and you watch episode 10 of season two, it’s important to me that we showed that this character grows; that’s evolved and has learned.
His core values aren’t changing. So when you watch the show, you’re still going to see it’s the same man. But he definitely gets affected by these things. I mean these are big events that happened to him in his life. I didn’t just want it to be this thing where when you watch it you go, “I know how this is going to happen,” or “Oh, I know how he would react here.” I wanted the character to be forever evolving. I think our audience deserves that. Hopefully that’s what we did.
The first time we spoke, there was nothing but positive vibrations from you about this show. Looking back, did you have any clue that the series would be received like it has?
No, I think I was hopeful. I wouldn’t have done it if I thought no one was going watch it or that it wasn’t good. So I was very hopeful that people would see what I saw, and what I loved in the character and the format. I was hopeful that I would have that in common with our audience, and it wasn’t just me by myself thinking that it was cool and great. But the truth is you never know. You never ever know.
The same thing happened on This Is Us. I watched the pilot and I really felt like we did something great, and that it was the type of show that could capture a huge audience. I never know. Oddly enough, what helps is when you do something, every project that you do pretty much, especially nowadays, I think it’s great. That’s why I get into it. I am not doing a project to pay the bills. You’re doing the project because you think it’s great and wonderful, and people are going to love it. But I don’t think you really know until you know.
In our first conversation, before season one started, you were excited and hopeful about various actors you wanted to invite onto the series. Are you now inundated with people asking, “Hey Justin, how do I get on your show?”
(Laughs) Yeah, it’s really the cool show now, right? So, we actually got really lucky. I feel like I blinked, all of a sudden woke up and it’s been 20 years. But I’ve been in this business long enough to have developed these relationships. When you see the people on our show that are familiar faces and actors you know, like Jensen Ackles and my wife [Sofia Pernas], these are relationships I’ve had for a long time. I was really grateful I was able to do that. I think they trusted me knowing I’m not going to call them and ask them to do something, or invite them to do something unless I think it’s really cool and fun and would be good for them as well.
So we start off on that foot, and then this show became what it is. It’s huge. People think it’s cool and want to be a part of it, which is also nice because it allows you to get a bigger pool of talent. And then you end up with a better show, right? That goes for writers and directors and actors, all across the board. We’re really lucky in that regard.
I’ve noticed in season two that some of the episodes took surprising directions. Episodes 14 (“Exodus”) and 16 (“Mercy Seat”) gave the audience a more spiritual, supernatural or horror element. Episode 16 reminded me of Deliverance [the 1972 thriller starring the late Burt Reynolds]. Was this intentional?
I don’t know about the supernatural but I think it’s important to keep upping the stakes. I like being Colter as a hero, finding people and all that. I also really like seeing him in a suspenseful thriller and a dangerous situation. I don’t want our audience to forget that this man is mortal, he’s not a superhero. He can die! The things he is doing are very very dangerous. So, [in episode] 16, we wanted to put him in a really dangerous situation that was almost too strange to explain. Now that he’s in there, how does he get out? And who can he pull out with him? So that was the idea behind that story.
For the other ones, I think our show has something for everyone. That’s why our audience is so wide-ranging. We want to make sure there’s something for everyone, without losing sight of who the character is and what our show is. We have an obligation to tell compelling stories, and this season we have like 20 of them. That’s a lot. But there’s a lot to pull from because there’s a lot of untapped things we haven’t even discovered yet as well.
Did you increase your physicality more for this season? Are you doing more stunts?
I definitely tried to bulk up a little bit. When I started the show, to be totally honest with you, I read the source material, obviously, and then when we got the show and started developing [the character], I had this idea. I was like ”Well, this guy is a rock climber.” That came from the book. And one thing I noticed about a lot of climbers is they’re very slight. They’re thinning people because they’re pulling their body weight all the way up, right? They’re not like what you saw in Cliffhanger, when you had Sylvester Stallone with that incredible physique.
I didn’t want to get skinny but I wanted to stay on the thinner side to support that idea of the character. Then as soon as we started to get into the show, and the show started to change a little bit, I was like, “Oh no, this guy is not a slight man; this guy needs to have some meat on him. He fights; he needs to be strong.” So that is what got me going the other way as I was on This Is Us. As the character has gotten a little bit more physical, I have gotten a little bit more physical myself.
Was it difficult shooting episode 16 being out in the elements with all of that cold and snow?
Anytime you get elements like that it’s worth it. We shot in Whistler [Ontario, Canada]. I don’t know how many times I was walking and all of a sudden — I’m 6’3” and boom, I’m 2 feet tall (laughs). That happened quite a bit. I think there are a couple of falls in the episode you see; those are not stunts, that’s me falling and we decided to keep it in. I took a couple of really nasty spills, and to be totally honest with you, I’m still healing up a little bit. But that was months ago; it was worth it.
One of the hardest parts of that episode was they had all of these huge fans, it was like eight of them. I think eight fans were around me at one point. We were outside and they’re shoveling snow in the front of them blowing snow and ice in my face for the blizzard that we’re supposed to be in. But there was no wind, just these eight fans that are bigger than you and I put together.
The problem with those fans is that they were so loud that almost every single line said outside was ADR. It was like 120 sentences and I had to dub every word. It was incredible! Not fun, but it was worth it.
As we approach the end of season two, what can you tease about the final five episodes?
You are going to get the last five episodes in a row. So, you’re getting five separate sort of movies. We call them little movies. As we’re inching closer to the end of the season, we creep closer and closer to the mystery of what the hell happened to Colter’s father. How did he die? Was there in fact another man in the woods? Did he get pushed; did he get killed? Was it an accident? What the hell is going on with that? I end up with this box that’s been talked about and Dory, my sister (Melissa Roxburgh), brings it to me. And now that I have it, does he go through with it? Does he go through with it and open up that box? Does he want to go down that rabbit hole? He gets a lot of clues and a lot of details about what happened to his father, and who was actually involved. And to see the damage I think is an incredible payoff.
And what can your audience expect in season three?
Of course, we have many more stories to tell. Now we’re in new territory. We have a couple of ideas. One of these is that Colter has all of these skills; he’s a survivalist and he knows how to be alone, and he knows how to find people and he’s gifted in that regard. He’s a great listener. But it would be interesting, I think, to see him be set up. In other words, to see him using all those skills to run from the authorities, because you’ve been set up for whatever reason. I’d love to have all that tie into the family background, the government. So, we’ll see. We’ve been kicking that idea around. We have a lot of different stuff that we’re talking about. We have the underlying theme of what we’re going to do next year, while not really changing the direction of where our story is going.
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Tracker airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on CBS.