‘Tracker’: Justin Hartley on the big twist in the finale and who’s returning for Season 2
Just when Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) thought he might know what led to his father’s death years ago, something happened to change everything.
The ending of Tracker’s season 1 saw him helping an old friend, Lizzy (Jennifer Morrison, in a This Is Us reunion), find her missing daughter. She later revealed that her mother and his father had an affair. After her mother died, Lizzy found a box of files containing research papers and a diary that she recognized from his father (a memory of a visit she witnessed as a child surfaced). Lizzy told Colter’s sister, Dory (Melissa Roxburgh), about it, and she asked her to send it to her. But Dory didn’t mention that when he saw her recently… Here, Hartley breaks down the mysteries and tragedies of the Shaw family, reveals who’s coming back in Season 2, and more.
It’s been a pretty up-and-down season when it comes to Colter’s family, and he still doesn’t seem to have any answers. Instead, there are just revelations like the government job, now the affair that leads to Season 2. I think it’s great that this guy has all the answers, Colter Shaw, who’s figured things out and figured out his world and it’s so simple, has figured something out and now realizes it’s completely different than he thought. I like the idea of a twist. There’s a big twist because now it’s like, wait, now there’s someone else with a motive. The person out there who killed my dad is still out there, maybe. I don’t know if this guy is still alive or something. Russell [Jensen Ackles] says there’s another man out there and now I find out about an affair and I’m like, wait a minute, that seems like a really strong motive. I like the mystery of it.
There’s also all this government stuff, and all this stuff where you’re like, “Oh, my dad’s crazy. He’s getting paranoid, the government’s watching him, people are going to kill us.” And now, the more Colter learns about this stuff, the more he’s like, “Wait a minute, is this actually connected to something? Let’s go back to this.” And why are people keeping all this from him? It’s just a lot of mystery and I love how our writers ended Season 1 and answered a lot of questions and you felt really satisfied when you watched the episode—at least I did, and I hope everyone else did too. But at the same time, it definitely sets up a living hell for Season 2. I also like that, the opening to Season 2 and the big finale.
At this point, Colter probably trusts Russell the most out of any of his family members? Not that he trusts Russell completely, but it seems like Russell is probably the most honest with him.
It seems like that. It’s weird how it’s reversed like that? He’s not revealing everything. I also suspect that there are things that he’s hiding as well and there’s a reason for that. For Colter, I don’t think Colter is like, “I can trust my brother 100 percent.” I think if he’s a percentage guy, then the percentage that he thinks he can trust everyone in his family has dropped a lot after this season finale. I think Russell went up a lot and then dropped a little bit because of everything he found out. But yeah, he definitely has an idea about his life and the circumstances behind his father’s death. It seems like all signs point to him being wrong about that, so let’s see.
Lizzy suggests that Colter talk to his mother, but he says no. Does he want more information before he talks to her or is he just not ready to do so?
No, I think he needs more information before he talks to her because he definitely doesn’t trust her. And imagine going from thinking your brother killed your father to thinking your mother had something to do with his death. That’s pretty weird too. Yeah, there’s a lot going on there. I think he just needs to figure it all out before he opens his mouth. That’s probably what he’s thinking. I rub my head thinking about it. I want more information before I talk to that person.
Do you know of any plans to see Russell and Dory again in Season 2?
Yeah, we have plans – these are our big plans. We hope to bring them both back. We hope to bring Jennifer Morrison back because I think she has more story to tell. We hope to bring Sofia Pernas back, my wife. I know a guy who can talk to her and maybe bring her back. I think we’ll be able to do that. I think all of those characters have more stories to tell and more information that could lead to more answers for Colter.
And I love a show about animals.
