Spoilers are ahead for the Season 2 premiere of Tracker on CBS, called "Out of the Past."
Tracker is officially back in primetime in the 2024 TV schedule to continue Colter Shaw's story after he received a backstory bombshell in the Season 1 finale. The first case of the season started innocuously enough with a family going missing from their car, but went through twists, turns, and then more twists for good measure until a reveal of crime and witness protection. One big question going in was about the fate of a character who would be MIA moving forward, and actress Fiona Rene – who plays Reenie – opened up about the new partnership in the wake.
How Tracker Wrote Out A Series Regular
News broke ahead of Tracker's return to start off CBS' much-hyped premiere week that Robin Weigert would not be returning as a series regular, despite Season 1 ending with Teddi still very much part of Colter's team alongside wife Velma (Abby McEnany). With McEnany still on board the series, the question was how Tracker would write out Teddi while keeping Velma on board.
The answer really comes in two parts, with the first being Velma's explanation for why Teddi was absent in the first episode of the fall as well as why she wasn't going back and forth with her wife. Speaking to Colter, Velma exposited:
She's gonna be there for a while. She's helping her mom get sorted... I was getting in the way, you might say, and it really wasn't good. So I came back.
Admittedly, there weren't a lot of details there about what Teddi is helping her mom with or why it's seemingly been taking a while, but Tracker is already setting up marital strife that could result in a split to keep Abby McEnany as Velma. The show found a way to make it happen in the premiere in the form of a new partership with none other than Reenie, which would be the second part of the answer.
Fiona Rene's character recruited Velma to help set up her new office as she gets ready to open her own criminal law firm. The two made for a good team in "Out of the Past," and allowed Reenie to actually interact with somebody from the team in the flesh instead of just over the phone. So, what's next?
What Fiona Rene Told CinemaBlend About Reenie And Velma
I spoke with Fiona Rene ahead of Tracker's second season premiere, and she opened up about everything from the craziest part of playing Reenie opposite Justin Hartley to Reenie's new Season 2 partnership with Velma. When I noted to the actress that we didn't really see much of Reenie interacting with Velma in Season 1, Rene responded:
Never together, at least! I'd like to think that the off-screen dynamic that we've created in friendship will really play on screen. Abby McEnany is so awesome and such a unique talent. I'm really blessed to get to spend time with her on set. It's interesting. I think that they meet each other in a similar place. Reenie is going out on her own for the first time, opening her own business. It's so much work.
While Reenie proved that she was very capable of getting Colter out of sticky legal situations in Season 1, starting her own law firm is a whole different kind of challenge. Rene went on to note some of the stressful issues of opening an LLC in your own name, including "documents and things you have to file with the city and the county." With all that load on her shoulders, joining forces with Velma could only be a good thing. The actress elaborated:
I feel like Reenie is inundated with doing a lot of this work on her own. Meanwhile, and I won't spoil anything, but Velma is inundated doing some stuff on her own, and so the two of them being able to rely on each other and develop a new friendship, where they can really rely on each other personally and professionally is rock solid. It's a dream, and I think it's going to build a foundation for the rest of the season.
Well, if there was any concern that Tracker would struggle with stories for Velma without her usual scene partner or Reenie out of her Season 1 element, teaming up Reenie and Velma is very promising twist coming out of the premiere. When asked if working with Abby McEnany in person stands out to her after Reenie spent so relatively much of Season 1 as a member of the team over the phone, Fiona Rene shared:
I feel so lucky that I was able to work opposite Justin on the field so many episodes last season, and we get some of that this season too. But we’re like these cohorts – Bobby, Velma, and Reenie – supporting the tracker and becoming this family unit. I think it was really pertinent that we had stuff together. Not just me and Velma, but also me and Bobby, and Velma and Bobby and the trio of us, which you'll get a taste of as you continue the season.
Fortunately, Tracker should be able to air a full season this time around, since the WGA writers strike and SAG-AFTRA actors strike of late 2023 meant many shows could only broadcast a limited number of episodes in the spring. In addition to setting up a new dynamic for Reenie and Velma in Season 2, "Out of the Past" also debuted Floriana Lima as a woman from Colter's past with a tie to one mystery he was never able to totally solve.
If/when Lima will return remains to be seen, but CBS isn't making fans wait long for Jensen Ackles' return as Russell Shaw. He'll be back in the second episode of Season 2, and the promo below gives a hint of the hijinks on the way:
Keep tuning in to CBS on Sunday nights for new episodes of Tracker. If you've missed any of the episodes so far or just prefer to stream over watching live on CBS, you can find the full series so far streaming with a Paramount+ subscription now.
