Justin Hartley Has Built ‘Tracker’ From the Ground Up
CBS’ hit drama Tracker, which has been picked up for a second season, is wrapping up its first series after bringing Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) back into the lives of both his sister (Melissa Roxburgh) and brother (Jensen Ackles) as they seek his help on various cases, and it’s clear he has a lot of growing up to do before he can mend his relationship with each of them. At the same time, viewers will get to know the team he relies on as he uses his tracking skills to solve mysteries for private citizens and law enforcement alike. Over the course of the first season, the 13 episodes explored who Colter is, why his family is so dysfunctional, the individuals who matter most to him, and what makes him a lone wolf, all of which sets up a very promising Season 2.
In this exclusive interview with Collider, Hartley, who also serves as an executive producer on the series, talked about how lucky he feels to have the stability he has in his career, the early Season 2 renewal they received from CBS, whether he had a vision for what his career would look like when he first started out as an actor, his desire to delve deeper into Colter’s family story in season two, creating a series that’s always moving, their incredible guest cast, whether he’d ever want to direct an episode, and why keeping Colter as a lone wolf made sense, at least for now.
Collider: Congratulations on Season 2. As an actor who’s had the ups and downs of his career like any actor, how does it feel to know that you’re leading a series that’s been successful in keeping audiences engaged, but also keeping audiences coming back, and you’ve got a second season?
JUSTIN HARTLEY: It’s great. The career that we choose, this acting thing, is definitely not for the faint of heart, and there’s not a lot of consistency in it. But I’ve been lucky, for some reason, throughout my career. I was on Smallville, which was a really long-running show. That show was a flagship show on the network, so we had job security there. And then, with This Is Us, they renewed us for three seasons instead of just one, which was amazing on their part. It was really great. We got to see cast and crew members not only buying cars, but you started seeing people buying houses and having kids, and all that stuff, because they knew they had three-year job security, which is unheard of in this business. And then, with Tracker, we got this really early renewal, which we totally deserved, by the way, but it was great that they gave us what we deserved. They let people know really early. I think it was three or four episodes into the season, they told us, “Hey, we’re picking you up.” Usually, they wait until the end, and I get it. They should see how it goes. But it was just a really nice vote of confidence and it doesn’t happen very often. It was totally deserved and deserved, but we’re really grateful that they did it. This network is really great to work with. Building the show from scratch with them is a dream. They know exactly what they’re doing. They have great ideas. They let you in. For a one-man show, honestly, it’s a team effort. I first got to know you, as an actor, with Passions. When you think about your career trajectory since then, how has it compared to your goals or what you might have envisioned? You’ve certainly spent time on some memorable TV series, and you’ve had a successful run on This Is Us. Was that a goal? Did you always want to lead a TV series? What did you envision for yourself? I don’t know if I had a specific vision in mind where I was embodying something like being the lead of a show or anything like that. I think I was just fascinated by the art and the craft and the idea that you could “work” and pretend, and meet all these really interesting people and artists, and take ideas from them, and just work really hard to make something look effortless. I guess that was the goal. Most actors that you watch and admire, when you look at what they’re doing, it looks like they’re not doing much, but it’s so captivating. When you watch Jon Hamm, if you don’t know better, this guy is so natural. He’s just sitting there staring and listening to this guy, but I can’t stop looking at him because he’s doing a million things at once and he makes it look so effortless. That’s an artist. It’s amazing. K
