‘Tracker’: Justin Hartley Enjoys There’s a Major Secret Colter Doesn’t Know

Tracker is doing something different when it returns for Season 4: The audience knows something rewardist Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) doesn’t.

In last spring’s finale, his brother, Russell (a returning Jensen Ackles), agreed to do a shady job in exchange for keeping Colter in the dark about something their father did to him as a kid. But rather than focus on that when the season begins on October 4, it’s back to the usual for Colter: tracking down missing people.

Below, Hartley shares more about the new season. (Plus, get scoop on Ackles’ return here.)

Last season left off with that tease of something that Colter’s father did to him, with Russell taking that new job to ensure he doesn’t find out. What can you say about Colter finding out anything about that file and what his dad did to him?

Justin Hartley: What’s going to happen here in this season is we’re going to put that sort of away for a little bit. I feel like, and I think we’re all on the same page over here, that’s such a big discovery for Colter. It changes a lot of things. I think it’s a fun fact — We don’t do a lot of this on our show where the audience is ahead of Colter. And I think this is one of those times where we can actually do that, where the audience knows something about Colter and his life that Colter is not aware of. Quite frankly, I think it’ll be the first time that we’ve ever done that. So we’ll see how that plays out.

So this is the new ongoing mystery like we had with what happened to his father? 

We have other ideas about the ongoing storyline. There’ll be something that sort of haunts Colter and you’ll see a little bit of a hint of it in the premiere. And then of course, as we do on Tracker, it comes back full circle, but you’ll start to see something that has been around and lingering for a bit that we reintroduce in Colter’s life, but I guess introduce to the audience for the first time in this season.

Mike Taing/CBS

Is this another white whale case or something else?

It has to do with his job. It’s not necessarily a white whale case, but it does have to do with his job for sure. It’s just sort of a color that you haven’t seen before with him. We’re used to seeing him look for someone or something and then find it after a struggle. I don’t think that’s always the case, where people get everything they want.

There’s that old saying — what is it? ‘If you work hard enough, you can accomplish anything.’ I don’t really think that’s true. I really don’t. I think if you work really, really hard at something, or the hardest you’ve ever worked at something, I don’t think that means you’re going to get that thing. I think there are other elements at play. So, in keeping with our theme of the show where he’s human, he’s not a superhero, he does have faults, he does fail, that kind of stuff does weigh on him and bug him, we’re going to tap into that a little bit, which, of course, I’m excited about.

Besides that, how is Colter doing when the season begins? He’s pretty much in a good place because he doesn’t have this thing weighing on him about his dad, right?

No, he is. Yep, absolutely. He’s in a better place. His mind is cleared out a little bit. You know how that is when you have questions about something that is really important to you, or even if you do a little bit of research about it and it just doesn’t add up, and you’re like, “Wait a minute, this is nagging at me”? He’s sort of free of that; we haven’t seen him like that before. And usually, when people are in a healthier place in their life, they’re open to different kinds of relationships and different kind of experiences.

And I think Colter has this code that he lives by. And again, I love when we see him be human because it’s like, he does all these really heroic things. And then when we see the human side of him, I feel like that’s when we earn all that we go, “Oh, OK. Yeah.” So, he has this code that he lives by, and as we do as humans, you run into a certain situation, and then you go, “Oh, maybe I might be able to make that work. Even though I said that I would never do that, maybe I can make this work.” And then, of course, it doesn’t work. So it’s all innocent stuff. Human beings aren’t, I don’t think, designed to be cruel, but it’s all about just, I don’t know, relationships. … We’ll see him do different things that we haven’t seen him do before and how that affects his life going forward when you stray away from your code.

And are we going to see Sofia Pernas (Hartley’s wife) again as Billie?

She will come back as Billie. And I think that’s part of the fun of our show is to get these recurring characters that come back and pop in and do meaningful stuff from time to time. So, we’ll see her. And then there’s talk of other characters that we’ve seen before that we’re trying to get. And you don’t want to get these actors just to get the actors, but I think if the story fits and everything, it’s worth revisiting. We’ve got a few people that have run into Colter over the years that I think would be really fun to bring back.

In the finale, Colter was fixing up his dad’s car. Is there anything significant to that car, and what might be inside that we’re going to see this season?

Yes. Good question. Yes, that car, it will come back — Well, that’s the plan anyway. It will come back in a very big way. That truck will come back in a very big way to be very beneficial to Colter.

And then we also got that shock that Colter actually has a home. Are we going to see it again?

I don’t know. I mean, I had an idea for that. I thought it would be kind of cool to see that the guy had — he does have [a home] — because he has a lot of stuff. I first got that idea by thinking — I was sitting by myself — “Man, he’s got a lot of jackets and a lot of different coats, and where does he keep all this s**t? He’s only got this Airstream. How can he have 35 jackets in one Airstream? Who has that?” And I was just making a joke about it, and then I thought, well, maybe he has a storage locker or something. And then I was like, maybe it’s not a storage locker. Maybe it’s a piece of land or something. And then maybe there’s a structure on it, and maybe, kicking it around with Elwood [Reid]. He liked the idea. He was like, oh, yeah, maybe — I think for a minute it was like, maybe it was a boat. We were thinking maybe he has a boat. And I was like, no, no, let’s make it a piece of land and whatever that structure was, like a sort of a home.

I don’t think we’re ever going to see him dwell there for much because I think that kind of goes away from what makes the show work, which is a road show and traveling from place to place. And if we see Colter at home and too comfortable, then it’s sort of like, what is he, retired?

Are there any new guest stars that you can talk about?

We’ve got some really good ones in the first — what are we on right now? We’re shooting Episode 5. We’ve had some really good acting. Jensen, like I said, he’s working with me right now, and we have Sofia coming back. There’s a plan to bring Keaton [Brent Sexton] back, which will be fun.

Keaton’s always the best.

Yeah, we bring him back in a big way. He’s always very impactful when he comes back. He’s always got something really, really, really important to say, or something really important is found out when he comes back. So, there’ll be that, and you’ll see some familiar faces.

Related

'Tracker' Casts Michael Malarkey — What's His Connection to Reenie?

In the premiere, Colter’s search for a teen boy’s missing father leads him to a dangerous criminal operation. What can you preview?

Yeah, so we have a situation where this really precocious teenager gets a hold of Colter and his information through a Reddit forum and calls him to the house under false pretenses. Colter ends up finding out that the guy is really young and [asks], “Why did you lie to me?” And he goes, “Well, I didn’t think you’d take a job from a kid.” He explains, and Colter’s looking around and seeing himself in this kid. He doesn’t know what happened to his dad, but he’s managed to get his younger brother ready for school, and he is taking care of the house. He’s doing all this kind of stuff. He’s very resourceful. And so he says, “Well, let me investigate this for you, figure out what’s going on.”

And yeah, it leads to a much, much, much bigger thing. When I was reading the script, I remember thinking, “Well, hello. I did not see it going there.” But it makes sense. When it starts to unravel, and then you start to unpack things, things just get bigger and bigger and bigger and more stressful. And then all this huge mess has to get all wrapped up.

I think that there’s a really good twist in the episode, and it’s not a twist for the sake of just being a twist. It really has a lot to do with the story and how things are covered up. They hide in plain sight, these really evil things sometimes, and unless you really go digging for them, you can’t figure it out. And then once you do find it, it’s like, wow, it’s been here for a long time. It’s that.

What’s going on with Reenie (Fiona Rene) this season and in that office?

She’s finding a new office. And she’s, I think, diving into her personal life a little bit. I hope a little bit more, even. I’d like to find a little bit more about her backstory and things like that. So hopefully they’ll go there a little bit more, too, in the writers’ room.

Are we going to see Colter with the rest of the team a bit more this season or still just the phone calls?

I don’t think a bit more. I think our show works the way it is. I’ve already read something where I am going to see them here soon, so we’ll all be together at least once, maybe more than once, hopefully twice. But I don’t know if the show is just a bunch of people hanging out in an office. I don’t know if that’s our show. But they definitely will help him out a lot in the season and have things to do on their own as well. And I think it’s time. I mean, I think here we are in Season 4, it’s like, as a fan, I’m watching the show, and I’m going, “Well, where does Randy [Chris Lee] live? What does Randy’s family look like? Where does Reenie live? What’s her apartment look like? What’s she do when she’s not in the office?”

So, hopefully everyone is on the same page with me and agrees. Plus, they’ve earned it. They’ve been here for a long time, working and stuff. Let’s find out a little bit more about these characters. I sure as hell want to know. … Let’s find out a little bit more about these people that are on our TV every week. That’s what I say.

Tracker, Season 4 Premiere, Sunday, October 4, 9:30/8:30c, CBS