Tracker's Showrunner Says Season 2 Will Have More Family Secrets, Jensen Ackles

Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) is back on the case. After Tracker debuted earlier this year as the most-watched new show on network television, the hit CBS drama, about a lone-wolf survivalist who uses his expert tracking skills to help solve mysteries across the country, will return for a supersized second season of 22 episodes, promising to answer the burning questions raised in the final minutes of the first season.

When viewers last caught up with Colter, he learned a devastating secret from Lizzy (Jennifer Morrison), a close family friend whose missing daughter he had just tracked down. Lizzy told Colter that, shortly before his father Ashton died under mysterious circumstances, he had an affair with Lizzy's mother. After her mother's death, Lizzy found a box of Ashton's research papers and journals in a box under her bed. Lizzy sent that box to Colter's sister, Dory (Melissa Roxburgh), who neglected to mention, during her last encounter with Colter, that she had their father's belongings.

The revelation is enough to throw Colter for a loop, and he is now forced to question everything he thought he knew about his father's death and how much he could trust his surviving family members. But rather than opening the new season with Colter "spinning out" about his father's affair (and his mother's possible knowledge of his infidelity), executive producer and showrunner Elwood Reid wanted to throw the protagonist into a big personal case that has been a thorn in his side.

"What we built in is he has a case that's been his bugbear for 10 years. It's been the thing that's haunted him. He never solved the case, and we're going to meet a woman who he's involved with related to that case," Reid told TV Guide at the Television Critics Association press tour in July. "You're going to see the way that he processes the grief and the mystery of not being able to solve that case, in the first episode. He doesn't outwardly deal with his emotions all the time, and it comes out in a different way, and I think that's the trick and the challenge of writing this character."

Executive producer Ken Olin — who developed this series, based on Jeffrey Deaver's The Never Game, from the ground up with Hartley — said the creative team has always wanted to portray Colter as a classic male hero with "a very contemporary psychological backstory" that makes him feel more emotionally accessible.

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"One of the things I'm just realizing is so cool about Colter, as he's evolved or been delineated by Elwood, is we gave him a really complicated dysfunctional family," Olin said. "What Elwood's done is create a character who is not inclined towards self-examination. It's sort of in that classic film [way]. He's not a character who self-examines, and yet he's obviously a character that cares. He has all these skills that he's trying to put somewhere. He uses these skills to help people, [whereas] his father's inclination was to just get off the grid [and not trust anyone]."

Titled "Out of the Past," the Season 2 premiere will find Colter investigating the disappearance of a missing family whose car was found abandoned on the side of the road in the backwoods of Arkansas — and this investigation will pull him into the world of organized crime. At the same time, Hartley said, the character is "going to take a little more time to figure out what his next move is" after feeling betrayed by his own flesh and blood. "It's a weird game that he's got to play whilst having all of these jobs that he's on," Hartley said.

"At the beginning of Season 2, we don't know where Colter is, and he's doing some things that are a bit odd," added Hartley, who also serves as an executive producer. "Is he on a job, or is he doing leisurely activities? And then even after you figure out what he's doing, it kind of begs the question: Why the hell is he doing this?"

The second episode will see the return of Colter's brother, Russell (Jensen Ackles), who is recruited by Reenie (Fiona Rene) after Colter goes missing on a case. (Reid confirmed the Supernatural star will continue to recur in the series for as long as he is available.)

Hartley noted that Colter's discovery of new information will shift the strained dynamics in the Shaw family going forward. "The interesting thing about that is Colter felt a certain way about his mother and his father, and he really didn't have anyone to talk to about it. Now, he kind of has someone that he might be able to bounce things off of, right?" Hartley said, alluding to Russell. "Granted, Russell's not particularly tight with their mom, although we did reveal that he does talk to their sister every once in a while — more than Colter does, perhaps. You'll start to realize, 'Well, maybe Colter is the most estranged one of the whole bunch. He's constantly on the road, constantly running from his past, chasing other things.'"

Reid also confirmed that there won't be many flashbacks (if any) this season unless he can find a way to incorporate Hartley into those kinds of scenes. Instead of relying on flashbacks to tell different versions of the Shaw siblings' childhood, the audience will be able to recognize the contrast between the way Russell and Dory reminisce about their childhood and the way Colter remembers it.

"Their mother is this big thing that we're going to pick up this season, and [we'll ask]: What does it mean? Was she lying to [Colter]? Was she protecting him? Was she doing a little bit of both, or was she actively using him for something? I think Colter is a guy that thinks about those things, but he doesn't talk about them with people," Reid said.

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"You saw him with Jensen's character, Russell, who deals with it in a completely different way. He's like, 'Ah, f*** it. Move on.' And I don't think Colter can do that," the showrunner continued. "I think what makes him accessible and human and interesting is watching him wrestle with: Should I deal with this, or should I do what my sister and brother are telling me and just move on with my life? I think the answer to that, ultimately, is going to be he's going to pick it up, but in a way that's very distinctive."

Where does Hartley think that unwavering desire to search for the truth comes from? "I think it drives someone like Colter crazy when he's being lied to or manipulated, or people think they're manipulating him, because that's his game," the actor responded. "He doesn't really get manipulated, but he was a kid and he's just kind of taken on [this belief that] this is what happened [to his father]. It's what he was told, and now he's got to figure out: What are they covering up? Why does everybody seem to know all the information except him? That's kind of the opposite of what he's used to."

Although he had previously expressed an interest in directing an episode of Tracker, Hartley, who cut his teeth behind the camera on Smallville and This Is Us, said he has decided not to take on that additional role this season.

"I thought about it for about half a second, and then I was like, 'That would be taking away from my acting,'" he explained. "It's too much right now to do. I think as we flesh these other characters out and maybe give them more of a storyline, and it's not just me in every frame, maybe I'll have a little more time to direct. But for me to direct an episode of Tracker where I'm in every frame is like … What is that, ego? What am I doing? How can I watch it? I'm in it!'"

In the second season, Reid said he and his writing staff were keen to gradually flesh out the personal lives of those who work closely with Colter. The showrunner teased that there is an "interesting" storyline for tech whiz Bobby (Eric Graise) that will "start to build out his world a little bit." Following the news that Robin Weigert will not be returning as Teddi Bruin this season, Reid confirmed that Teddi's onscreen wife, Velma (Abby McEnany), while continuing to handle Colter, will have a different kind of trajectory.

"The Velma character is going through some difficult stuff at home, and she's going to find sort of a new purpose in life by helping Reenie open up her own business," Reid said. "Reenie is taking on some risks by opening up her own business, and we're also going to explore some of Reenie's romantic past, which is hinted at a lot. It was hinted at in the pilot and in other places, and [we'll see] how Colter reacts to that."

Although he has certainly had dalliances, Colter's nomadic life as a "lone wolf survivalist" doesn't particularly lend itself to forming long-lasting relationships. Hartley agreed that his character has more pressing concerns than a romantic relationship right now: "I don't think traveling around the country to save people and finding missing people with your girlfriend in an Airstream is very practical, so I think where the lone wolf [label] kind of fits him for now."

As the world of Tracker continues to expand, there will be opportunities to introduce new characters — and Hartley already has some in mind.

"I don't think [the Shaws] had a lot of family friends, but certainly, you have neighbors or people that knew family members from the past," said Hartley. "We don't have anything in there yet, but I always thought it'd be cool to reacquaint with someone that Colter knew from his childhood, from his early teen years — maybe a friend that he hasn't spoken to in 20, 30 years, and then he comes back into the fold and maybe he needs something. And then the friend's reminding him of something from his past, and [Colter's] going, 'What do you mean? I don't remember what you're talking about. I was a kid.' There are just so many avenues to explore on the show."

Hartley has already enlisted Ackles, one of his oldest friends in the industry, to play his brother. Could he recruit another one of his past costars to play a role like the family friend he was just talking about? Maybe a certain actor who has played Superman?

"I love Tom [Welling]," Hartley said of the man who played Clark Kent opposite his Oliver Queen on Smallville. "We'd have to find something for Tom, though — something that he'd be really excited about doing. If I read something and I'm like, 'Oh man, that's got Tom Welling written all over,' I would love nothing more than that, and that'll be the first call I make."

Tracker Season 2 premieres Sunday, Oct. 13 at 8/7c on CBS.