Summer hiatus of the 2024 TV schedule has meant that fans of Justin Hartley's hit CBS drama Tracker have been waiting since May for the fallout of the game-changing Season 1 finale. Despite some recent good news about the premiere date, there was some question of what Season 2 had planned for Colter's siblings, particularly in light of Jensen Ackles landing a new show. Well, the Supernatural vet just proved that I was worried for nothing with a recent Tracker post!
Jensen Ackles joined his fellow CW alum on Tracker back in the spring, playing Russell Shaw as Colter's oldest and long estranged brother. Theirs was a fun episode of Season 1, and not just because of all the Supernatural Easter eggs. The actor – who is set to star in his own spinoff of The Boys for Amazon Prime Video subscribers – took to Instagram to confirm that Russell will be around for at least one episode this fall:
Unsurprisingly, the caption of the post doesn't drop any huge spoilers, and Ackles describing Vancouver as " this beautiful city" isn't a shocker after fifteen seasons of Supernatural filming in the area. "Till next time" is reason to hope that Tracker isn't just bringing Russell back to kill him off, and my worries that Ackles landing his Prime spinoff meant no more of the Shaw brothers were clearly unwarranted. Sometimes, it's fun to be wrong!
Considering that Justin Hartley posted a "Back at it" photo on his own Instagram account just days before Ackles shared that he'd returned to the show, the timing suggests that the Season 2 premiere could be when the Shaw brothers are back together. This tracks with how Season 1 ended, when Colter learned some disturbing news about their sister: Dory was keeping secrets about their dad.
At the time of writing, Melissa Roxburgh hasn't been confirmed to return as Dory for Season 2, but she told us in the spring that she would "love to come back and play" on Tracker again. She has landed a new show of her own, however, after she made her Tracker debut and reflected on her "hot mess" Manifest days.
Justin Hartley spoke with CinemaBlend earlier this year about the "grueling" schedule of Tracker as both star and executive producer, and took some credit for recruiting guest stars like Ackles, Roxburgh, and his former This Is Us co-star Jennifer Morrison. Hopefully more fun guest stars are on the way when the drama returns – at least we can count on Ackles!
If you missed any of Tracker Season 1 or just want to revisit the episodes featuring the Shaw siblings reuniting with Colter, you can find the full first season streaming with a Paramount+ subscription now. Instead of the initial Season 2 premiere date of October 27, CBS tweaked the fall schedule to debut the new season on October 13. So, even though there are still months left before Colter and Co. are back, at least the wait isn't as long as it could have been.
