By the time Tracker had wrapped up its first season in mid-May, the Justin Hartley-led series had already established itself as an undisputed smash hit for CBS. Impressively, in its freshman season, the series became the most-watched network television series and still retains the same record for new network series of the 2023-2024 season. As expected, the show which sees Hartley star as a self-proclaimed rewardist, Colter Shaw, was renewed for a second season given its undeniable success. The procedural drama is set to return to screens later in the fall, and ahead of Colter’s return, there is an exciting update for the coming season.
Over the course of 13 episodes, the first season explores Colter’s personality, his dysfunctional family dynamic, and the many private citizens, including law enforcement who the lone wolf helped to unravel mysteries. Looking ahead to the sophomore season, while CBS is yet to announce an official return date for the show, Tracker season 2 is scheduled to begin production on July 16 according to a listing on Creative BC, with filming on the series expected to run well into the new year, ending on April 22. As the upcoming 2024-2025 TV season shifts back to its usual schedule, the second season of Tracker is expected to have more episodes than the first.
Based on the 2019 novel The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver, the CBS series follows Colter as he traverses the country, solving the mysteries of others while having to contend with an unsolved mystery in his own family – the death of his father. The Shaw family drama is the expanding dynamic of the show, looming over everything else, and the season 1 finale sets up Colter to dig deeper into unraveling his father’s death.
What Was ‘Tracker’ Season 1 About?
The first season of Tracker follows rewardist Hartley’s Colter Shaw as he traverses the country helping people locate loved ones for significant cash rewards. While a lone wolf in the wild, Colter has a team behind the scenes with Teddi (Robin Weigert) and Velma (Abby McEnany) in charge of finding the cases; skilled hacker Bobby (Eric Graise), provides tech support, and attorney and friend, Reenie (Fiona Rene), offers legal assistance. Beyond his deeds to aid others, Colter’s personal life is non-existent. Living in his mobile trailer, Colter has no roots. His family is estranged after his father, Ashton Shaw, died mysteriously with his elder brother, Ackles’ Russell, believed to be the offender. Laden with his own pain, Colter soon discovers as the series progresses that perhaps his brother wasn’t responsible for dad’s death afterall. He always suspected there was more to it, and his family will soon have to reckon with their demons.
More From the Shaw Family in Season 2
Should Hartley’s Colter be able to unpack the mystery his father’s passing, he will need the help of other menbers of his family. Jensen Ackles portrays Coller’s elder brother, Russell Shaw, and Melissa Roxburgh as Dory, their sister, and the youngest of the Colter siblings. Hartley, who serves as executive producer on the show, revealed, in a conversation with Collider, that the pair will be returning. “Jensen is gonna come back. Melissa is gonna come back. There’s another leak for you,” he said. He also explains that the family story will be more prominent in the coming season:
“Hopefully, they’ll tell a little bit more of the family backstory. We do a little bit of that at the end of the season. And then, hopefully next season, the supporting characters might get a bigger chunk, just because we know them now. When I started this show, you have to tell the story of the lead character, so you don’t have a lot of time to dive into the supporting characters’ lives, especially in the pilot , so we’ve gotta tell his story. But as the season has gone on, as inevitably happens with any show, the audience starts to really enjoy and like the supporting characters because they’ve been exposed to them a little bit more throughout the season. So, starting with Season 2, we should be able to tell a little bit more of their backstory and what’s going on with them to make this world a little bigger Plus, your boy could take a day off.”