Jensen Ackles has officially wrapped filming for Episode 2 of Tracker Season 2, reprising his role as Russell Shaw, the older brother of Justin Hartley’s Colter Shaw. Ackles took to Instagram to express his love for Vancouver, where the episode was shot, thanking Hartley and the entire Tracker team for the experience. “Love this beautiful city! Thanks [Justin Hartley] and all the folks at [Tracker]. It’s always a blast! Till next time. See you when I see you,” Ackles shared.
While fans might have hoped to see more of Russell Shaw in the upcoming episodes, it’s been confirmed that Ackles won’t be back for Episode 5. Episode 2, which began filming at Martini Studios in Langley, later moved to a location on private farmland near the iconic “Kent Farm” set from Smallville—also in Langley.
A Deeper Dive into Colter Shaw’s Family
Tracker follows Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw, a lone-wolf survivalist who travels across the country, using his expert tracking skills to solve mysteries for private citizens and law enforcement alike. However, the heart of the series also lies in Colter’s complicated and fractured family relationships.
In Season 1, Colter believed that his brother Russell was responsible for their father’s death two decades earlier. However, in the penultimate episode, Russell convinced Colter that someone else was involved in their father’s mysterious demise. “I don’t know if he fell, or if somebody else pushed him, but I do know that there was somebody else in those woods that night. Dad had enemies…. He was a crazy son of a bitch,” Russell revealed.
Season 2: A New Chapter
Season 2 of Tracker picks up a few months after the events of Season 1. According to showrunner Elwood Reid, both Jensen Ackles as Russell Shaw and Melissa Roxburgh as Dory Shaw will have recurring roles, coming “in and out” of the series. Reid shared with TV Insider that the characters will bring new challenges to Colter’s life, further complicating his already tumultuous journey. “If we can drop a few bombs into Colter’s life with those characters and then see how he wrestles with those, then we’ll earn them coming back,” Reid explained.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Episode 2 is the revelation that Russell has memories of a significant event from their past that Colter doesn’t recall. “The evidence we have in the show right now is his sister definitely has a point of view about what he should do, which is just forget about it and leave it. And then you look at Jensen’s character, Russell; he seems to have sort of put it all away in a box in some way and kind of just dealt with it. But you’ll learn in Episode 2, he’s got very different memories of something that happened in their past that Colter has no memory of,” Reid told TV Insider.
As Tracker delves deeper into the mystery of the Shaw family’s past, the dynamic between Colter, Russell, and Dory promises to be one of the most compelling elements of Season 2. With Ackles and Roxburgh bringing their characters back into the fold, fans can expect more twists and turns in the unraveling of Colter’s family history.
