‘Tracker’ Boss Wants Jensen Ackles Spinoff
What To Know
- Tracker showrunner Elwood Reid has expressed interest in a spinoff series focused on Colter Shaw’s brother Russell, played by Jensen Ackles.
- The show has left Russell’s storyline open-ended, with hints about his future and personal struggles, allowing flexibility for potential future appearances or a spinoff.
- Reid praises the chemistry between Ackles and Justin Hartley and hopes to further explore Russell’s character if scheduling allows more episodes with Ackles.
If Tracker showrunner Elwood Reid had it his way, there would be a spinoff all about rewardist Colter Shaw’s (Justin Hartley) brother Russell (Jensen Ackles).
“That’s always my dream,” he tells TV Insider. “Look, Jensen is very well-employed by Amazon right now. He’s on The Boys spinoff [Vought Rising]. But you never know. A boy can dream. I can hope for it.”
The end of Ackles’ latest appearance — Season 3 Episode 2, and Reid hopes he returns this season, should scheduling allow — did, after all, set up the possibility, with Russell “between gigs.” He’d offered to look into the phone number Colter found in their father’s journal since he didn’t have anything lined up. As for what was next, “I don’t know. Maybe I’d like to be my own boss,” Russell suggested. “Maybe something adventurous. Help people who need help, that kind of thing. Any tips? I’m all ears. … I guess I just want to do something to use my skills for good, like the greater good.”
When it comes to hearing or seeing anything specific about that, it all comes down to scheduling.
“Who knows what the future holds,” says Reid. “I love writing for Jensen, and I think he and Justin are so good together. There’s just a chemistry that those two have. It would be fun to continue to play with Jensen in our world or in a possible world of his own. I mean, one can always hope. That’s me shamelessly planting little things for the studio network to pick up on. Normally in those cases, it just felt natural because why is this guy just available to go help out his brother?”
But right now, with Russell not knowing what’s next, the writers are able to use that to keep things vague with Ackles’ availability up in the air. (Colter will be following up on a lead that Russell gets him —offscreen — from that phone number in coming episodes.)
“If we had him for more episodes in the middle of the season, we would play this out. He’s a little bit at loose ends, but he’s a guy that covers things. Unlike Colter, who you can feel when he’s carrying something, I think Russell’s character would rather crack a joke to take the pressure off,” Reid explains. “But clearly, something not so good happened to him that found him looking for his brother. So he’s worried about his brother, but he does hint at he got fired or quit from his job, and there’s a story behind that. So those are all things we’d like to get into if we had him for a little more episodes.”
Would you watch a Jensen Ackles Tracker spinoff? What are you hoping to see with Russell this season? Let us know in the comments section below.
Tracker, Sundays, 8/7c, CBS
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