Tracker showrunner says season 2 will feature more family secrets, Jensen Ackles

Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) is back on the case. After tracker The hit CBS drama, which debuted earlier this year as the most-watched new show on network television, is about a lone survivalist who uses his expert skills to solve mysteries across the country and is set to return with a supersized 22-episode second season and promises , to answer the burning questions raised in the final minutes of season one.

When viewers last met 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 he had an affair with Lizzy's mother shortly before his father Ashton died under mysterious circumstances. After her mother's death, Lizzy found a box containing Ashton's research papers and diaries in a box under her bed. Lizzy sent this box to Colter's sister Dory (Melissa Roxburgh), who did not mention that she had her father's things when she last saw Colter.

The revelation is enough to unnerve Colter, 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 instead of opening the new season with Colter “talking out” his father's affair (and his mother's possible knowledge of his infidelity), executive producer and showrunner Elwood Reid wanted to entangle the protagonist in a major personal case that would leave him with a The thorn in his side was his side.

“What we built in is that he has a case that has been bothering him for 10 years. Reid told TV Guide at the Television Critics Association press tour in July. “In the first episode you will see him deal with the grief and mystery of not being able to solve this case. He doesn't deal with his feelings outwardly all the time, and it comes out in you. “I think that's the trick and the challenge of writing this character.”

Executive Producer Ken Olin – who developed this series based on that of Jeffrey Deaver The never gamefrom the ground up with Hartley – said the creative team 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 realizing right now is that as cool as Colter has turned out to be, or as described by Elwood, we've given him a really complicated, dysfunctional family,” Olin said. “What Elwood has done is create a character who doesn't tend to question himself. It's kind of in the classic movie style. He's not a character who examines himself, and yet he's obviously a character who cares. He has all of those skills that he's trying to use somewhere, (while) his father's inclination was to just go off the grid (and not trust anyone).”

In the season two premiere titled “Out of the Past,” Colter investigates the disappearance of a missing family whose car was found abandoned on the side of the road in the Arkansas woods – and that investigation will take him into the world of organized crime. At the same time, Hartley said, the character will “need a little more time to figure out what his next step is” after feeling betrayed by his own flesh and blood. “It's a strange game he has to play with all the jobs he has,” Hartley said.

“At the beginning of season two, we don't know where Colter is, and he's doing some things that are a little strange,” added Hartley, who also serves as an executive producer. “Is he employed or does he pursue leisure activities? And 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 sees 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 this Supernatural (The star will recur in the series for as long as he is available.)

Hartley noted that Colter's discovery of new information will change the tense dynamic in the Shaw family going forward. “The interesting thing is that Colter had a certain attitude towards his mother and father and he really didn't have anyone to talk to about it. Now he kind of has someone he can maybe relate to.” “Right?” Hartley said, referring to Russell. “Admittedly, Russell isn't particularly close with her mother, although we did reveal that he does hang out every now and then her sister speaks – perhaps more than Colter. You'll start to realize, 'Well, maybe Colter has the most.' “He’s always on the go, always running from his past and chasing other things.”

Reid also confirmed that there won't be many flashbacks (if any) this season unless he finds a way to incorporate Hartley into such scenes. Instead of relying on flashbacks to tell different versions of the Shaw siblings' childhoods, audiences will be able to appreciate the contrast between the way Russell and Dory remember their childhood and the way they remember their childhood , as Colter remembers realizing.

“Her mother is the big thing we're going to pick up this season, and (we're going to ask): What does that mean? Did she (Colter) lie? Did she protect him? Did she help a little bit of both, or was she actively using him for something? I think Colter is a guy who thinks about these things, but he doesn't talk about them to other people,” Reid said.

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“You saw him with Jensen's character, Russell, who deals with it completely differently. He says, 'Ah, screw it. Carry on.' And I don’t think Colter can do that,” the showrunner continued. “I think what makes him relatable and human and interesting is watching him wrestle with the question: Should I deal with this or should I do what my sister and brother tell me and just move on with my life ? I think the answer to that is: eventually he will pick it up, but it will be in a very special way.”

According to Hartley, where does this unwavering desire to search for the truth come from? “I think it drives someone like Colter crazy when he's lied to or manipulated or people think they're manipulating him because that's his game,” the actor replied. “He doesn't really allow himself to be manipulated, but he was a child and he just adopted the belief that this happened (to his father). That's what he was told, and now he has to find out: What are they covering up? Why does everyone seem to know all the information except him?

Although he had previously expressed interest in directing an episode trackerHartley, who cut his teeth behind the camera Smallville And this is ussaid he decided not to take on that additional role this season.

“I thought about it for about half a second and then I thought, 'That would affect my acting,'” he explained. “It’s too much to do right now. I think if we flesh out these other characters and maybe give them a stronger storyline, and it's not just me in every picture, maybe I'll have a little more time to direct. But for I'm supposed to direct an episode tracker Where I am in every frame is like… What is this, ego? What do I do? How can I watch it? Count me in!'”

In the second season, Reid said that he and his writing team were interested in gradually fleshing out the personal lives of those who worked closely with Colter. The showrunner teased that there's an “interesting” storyline for tech genius Bobby (Eric Graise) that will “expand his world a little bit.” Following the news that Robin Weigert will not be returning as Teddi Bruin this season, Reid confirmed that while Teddi's wife Velma (Abby McEnany) will continue to direct Colter, she will be taking a different path.

“The Velma character is going through some difficult things at home, and she's going to find some kind of new meaning in life by helping Reenie open her own business,” Reid said. “Reenie is taking some risks by opening her own business and we will also explore some of Reenie's romantic past, which is often hinted at. It was hinted at in the pilot and elsewhere, and (we'll see) how Colter responds to it.

Although he has had affairs, Colter's nomadic life as a “lone wolf survivalist” isn't particularly conducive to long-term relationships. Hartley agreed that his character has more pressing concerns than a romantic relationship at the moment: “I don't think it's very practical to travel around the country rescuing people and finding missing people in an Airstream with your girlfriend, so I think where the lone wolf is.” (Label) kind of suits him at the moment.

As the world of tracker As the game continues to grow, there will be opportunities to introduce new characters – and Hartley already has a few in mind.

“I don't think (the Shaws) had many friends in the family, but certainly there are neighbors or people who knew family members in the past,” Hartley said. “We don't have anything in it yet, but I always thought it would be cool to get reacquainted with someone that Colter knew from his childhood, from his early teens – maybe a friend he hasn't spoken to in 20 years, 30 years, and then he comes back and maybe he needs something from his past, and (Colter) says, “What do you mean?” I talk about it. I was a child.' There are just so many possibilities to explore on the show.

Hartley has already cast Ackles, one of his oldest friends in the industry, to play his brother. Could he recruit another of his former co-stars to play a role like the family friend he just talked about? Maybe a certain actor who played Superman?

“I love Tom (Welling),” Hartley said of the man who played Clark Kent opposite his Oliver Queen Smallville. “We would have to find something for Tom though – something he would be really happy about. If I read something and think, 'Oh man, that's totally Tom Welling,' I would love that.” nothing more than that, and that will be the first call I make.

tracker Season two premieres Sunday, October 13 at 8/7c on CBS.