Welcome back to Tracker, Jensen Ackles.
The Countdown star promoted the latest episode of his Prime Video series with a video from a TV show set, revealed to be Tracker‘s, with the name of his recurring character on the CBS drama on the trailer door on Wednesday, July 30. “Good to be back in action,” he captioned the video. He reminded fans of the new episode of Countdown (read what he had to say about it here), encouraged them to check it out, “then eventually, down the road,” with the camera panning to Justin Hartley‘s character’s name, Colter, “you can see those guys doing other things.” See the video below.
Ackles has played Russell Shaw, Colter’s brother, in two episodes (one per season) so far of Tracker. The drama follows Colter, a rewardist who travels the country helping find missing people. The through line of the series so far involves the mysterious death of their father when they were younger. The brothers were estranged at the start of the series, with Colter even thinking that Russell may have had something to do with their father’s death. Once they talked, however, Russell shared what he knew about that night, and in the Season 2 finale, Colter started getting answers about what happened to their father.
Ackles’ return isn’t much of a surprise, given that earlier this month, he told TV Insider there was “probably a good chance” he’d be back. He also spoke with us about the similarities between his Tracker and Supernatural characters.
“I’m playing the older brother of somebody that I know very well, and I get along with very well. I mean, Justin and I have known each other for over 20 years, and we’ve been buds and we’ve never gotten to work together. So it was really fun for us to get on set,” Ackles said. “But it was also very easy because it’s just hanging out with your buddy and we get to have fun and we get to mix it up. And it’s nice that he’s an executive producer on it so he can be like, ‘Do you like that word? Do you like that line?’ Just change it, whatever you want.’ So it kind gives us a little freedom.”
He also had history with showrunner Elwood Reid from his time on Big Sky. “When he trusts his actors, he encourages that,” he shared. “He’s like, ‘Make it your own.’ He knows me well. He’s obviously Justin’s guy, and it’s made it very easy. So it’s not just Justin that I get to go and work and play with. I get Elwood as well. And there’s some familiar faces in the crew because obviously it shoots up in Vancouver, which I’ve spent some time there, so I know that town very well, and I know a lot of crew members and a lot of crew faces, so it is a little bit kind of stepping back into an old coat.”
With Ackles filming early on in Season 3’s production schedule, might Russell be part of the conversation that Colter needs to have with their mother (Wendy Crewson) about just why she asked Otto (Alex Fernandez), who pushed their father off the cliff, for help?
What are you hoping to see when Jensen Ackles returns to Tracker? Let us know in the comments section below.
Tracker, Season 3 Premiere, Sunday, October 19, 8/7c, CBS