Going strong now in its second season, Tracker premiered on CBS following Super Bowl LVIII to high praise. The action drama based on the Jeffery Deaver novel The Never Game has drawn comparisons to shows like Reacher. Leading the series is Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley), a skilled survivalist who lives as a nomad. He travels from state to state, taking on challenging and dangerous jobs and finding missing persons. He's not law enforcement but a private citizen working with his team behind the scenes, getting paid solely with reward money.
Colter always finds his mark and then moves on to the next job. But it's never easy, and there are roadblocks and life-threatening dangers at every turn. The episodes are procedural in that each sees Colter take on a new case in a new place. From missing hikers to runaway teens and even cults, there's nothing Colter can't handle. But as much as he's a loner, he doesn't work alone.
Updated by Lauren Younkin on March 26, 2025: With each episode released in Season 2 of Tracker, more new faces join the cast to help Colter in his search for missing persons. Though many are only present for a case in a single episode, some others stick around in a more permanent capacity. This article is updated to include additional characters introduced in Season 2 and reflect CBR's current publication standards.
Colter Shaw Is the Eponymous Tracker
Played by Justin Hartley
Colter Shaw is played by Justin Hartley in Tracker, which was one of the most anticipated book adaptations of 2024. Colter grew up under odd circumstances, to say the least. His father was a brilliant professor at Berkeley who one day decided to move his family completely off the grid. He taught Colter and his siblings everything they needed to know about surviving in the wild, turning Colter into a talented tracker. Colter not only knows how to find anyone just about anywhere, but he can also survive dangerous situations. It’s a skill he often uses when he finds missing persons injured in the woods, for example, or has to quickly dress a wound until he can get help.
Colter turned his experiences into a profession that allows him to have a nomadic lifestyle. He only has infrequent social interactions with others that don’t involve his work. He lives in a trailer connected to his truck and travels to jobs as they come up. Colter only takes the reward money for a job if he is successful, and he thrives on helping those who don’t believe that the police will go to the necessary lengths to find their loved ones. Ironically, while Colter is able to solve just about any case, his father’s death is one that he can’t seem to crack.
Hartley, of course, is best known for his role as Kevin Pearson in the highly successful drama This Is Us. He got his start, however, on the soap opera Passions and had supporting roles in Smallville, The Young and the Restless, Revenge, and Mistresses. He has also starred in movies like A Bad Moms Christmas.
Reenie Greene Swoops in to Save the Day
Played by Fiona Rene
Image via CBS
Crucial to helping with Colter’s cases is Reenie Greene, played by Fiona Rene. Reenie is an attorney who is there in a heartbeat whenever Colter needs help. She might need to bail Colter out of jail, and her access also leads to valuable information when unraveling a case. Usually, whenever Colter is out of options and in a jam, it’s Reenie he calls.
The pair have an interesting friendship with some obvious sexual tension. It’s clear there was something physical between them before, but they have remained friends, largely due to Colter’s desire to be on his own. They have a mutual affection and respect for one another. Their personalities clash at times since Reenie isn’t one to back down nor be taken advantage of, but this is precisely why Colter knows he can count on her.
Fiona Rene has been acting since 2004 in minor roles. She appeared in single episodes of Jane the Virgin, L.A.’s Finest, Grey’s Anatomy, and NCIS: Hawai’i. Her most notable prior roles were in nine episodes of Stumptown from 2019 through 2020, as Lyla in the TV series adaptation of I Know What You Did Last Summer in 2021, and in five episodes of Fire Country in 2022. Most recently, fans may also recognize her as Gloria Dayton from The Lincoln Lawyer, which has a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score for its third season.
Bobby Exley Is the Guy in the Chair
Played by Eric Graise
Image via CBS
Every show like Tracker needs someone like Bobby Exley. He is a computer whiz and hacker working behind the scenes, providing information that Colter could not do his job without. Bobby can hack into a security system, get a background check on someone, locate a lost phone, decipher a message, or see the schematics of a building. With his extensive skill set, he seems to be able to accomplish just about anything.
On a personal level, Bobby, like Reenie, tries his best to develop a closer personal friendship with Colter. But he, too, understands that Colter will always be Colter. In one defining episode, however, Bobby turns to Colter for help in finding his own missing friend. It’s the one time Bobby doesn't sit by on the sidelines, and he puts his own life in danger to help a girl he clearly has feelings for. Eric Graise, who plays Bobby, has previously starred in movies like The Tomorrow War on Amazon Prime Video and TV series like Locke & Key on Netflix.
Teddi Bruin Is One Half of a Handler Duo
Played by Robin Weigert
Image via CBS
How does Colter find all his cases? That’s thanks to Teddi and Velma, a married couple who work from home searching the web and chat rooms to find people who are putting out rewards for missing family and friends. Though they are effectively Colter’s handlers, Teddi and Velma obviously care a lot about Colter and act as almost maternal figures for him. Teddi is certainly the more stern of the two, but she can't help but indulge either Velma or Colter whenever they want something.
Aside from finding him cases, Colter often reaches out to them for additional assistance. Both Teddi and Velma appear to have some high-level computer skills, though not on the same level as Bobby. Robin Weigert is known for her roles in Deadwood (for which she received an Emmy nomination), Sons of Anarchy, Big Little Lies, and Concussion.
Velma Bruin Steps Up as the Primary Handler
Played by Abby McEnany
Image via CBS
Velma Bruin works alongside Teddi and appears to be the more active one in the business. When Reenie decides to quit her job and start her own firm in Season 2, she shares a workspace with Velma and the two grow closer. Velma sometimes reveals details about her childhood, including her mother being institutionalized when she was young.
Abby McEnany is best known for her starring role in the series Work in Progress. As an improvisational comedian, this is one of her first dramatic roles. She also had a small guest role in And Just Like That… in 2023.
Russell Shaw Is Colter's Mysterious Brother
Played by Jensen Ackles
Image via CBS
Fans were excited when Jensen Ackles joined the cast at the end of Season 1 of Tracker to play Colter’s mysterious older brother Russell Shaw. Despite Russell trying to call his brother numerous times over the years, Colter has always avoided talking to him. But when Russell’s old army buddy is missing, he finds a way to corner his brother into talking. Russell is sweet, talkative, and fun — the antithesis of Colter.
He’s more outgoing and personable, taking every chance he can to hit on Reenie and rib his little brother. Dealing with his own traumas after working in the military and then with a special group handling clandestine operations, Russell doesn’t stay in one place too long either. But he pops up every now and then when Colter needs his help, or he needs his.
Jensen Ackles’ biggest role to date is as Dean Winchester in Supernatural, a role he played from 2005 through 2020. Most recently, he appeared in the Amazon Prime Video series The Boys as Soldier Boy. He’s also known for projects like Days of Our Lives, Dark Angel, Smallville, and My Bloody Valentine 3D.
Dory Prefers to Stay Out of the Family Drama
Played by Melissa Roxburgh
Image via CBS
While she has only appeared sparingly thus far, Dory is Colter’s younger sister and the youngest of the three Shaw children. Working as a physics professor in Wyoming, she appears to have given up on trying to contact her brother because he always puts his work first. Colter interacts with Dory in an episode where he has a case that involves her university, and the pair find themselves in grave danger. While Colter is fixated on finding out what happened to their father, Dory has gone the opposite route. She wants to leave the past in the past and move forward.
However, following an incident where Colter discovers some family secrets, it becomes evident that Dory knows more than she has ever let on. There’s clearly more than meets the eye to Dory, which will likely be further expanded upon as the series continues. Dory is played by Melissa Roxburgh, best known for starring in the hit NBC series Manifest, which was revived by Netflix to complete its run in 2023. She has also appeared in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, Supernatural, Star Trek: Beyond, and Valor.
Billie Matalon Is a Formidable Rival
Played by Sofia Pernas
Image via CBS
With a guest starring role, Sofia Pernas as Billie Matalon will likely pop up from time to time on Tracker. She is introduced as Colter’s adversary, a woman who does the same profession as him. Billie once betrayed Colter during a job and ran off with the money, leaving him unable to trust her and creating tension when he runs into her again as they both work on the same case. Cunning, clever, and skilled, Billie ends up partnering with Colter on further jobs.
She seems to share Colter’s desire to be alone, revealing her own sordid past in an episode when she visits her old hometown. Billie has been shunned because of things her mother did that harmed the community. Though she was a child at the time, the community never looked favorably on her again.
Sofia Pernas is married to Hartley in real life, which explains their wonderful on-screen chemistry. They met on the set of The Young and the Restless when they were both appearing on the series. She is best known for starring in the NBC series The Brave and the CBS action/adventure series Blood & Treasure. She also had a role in the series Jane the Virgin.
Randy Temporarily Takes Over for Bobby
Played by Chris Lee
Image via CBS
Introduced in Season 2, Randy (played by Chris Lee) is Bobby's cousin who has also acted as his stand-in while he's been away. While Bobby's absence from Tracker remains unclear, Randy has mentioned to Colter that he's dealing with family issues. Apparently, Randy taught Bobby some of what he knows about being a hacker, making him the perfect replacement for Bobby while he remains away.
Randy and Colter don't have quite the same rapport that Bobby and Colter did, but it's clear that the two have already worked together in the past. Randy has a more lively demeanor in contrast to Bobby's laid-back style, and as a result, fans have been enjoying Randy's time on the show despite missing Bobby. Chris Lee has had previous stand-out roles in television, his most notable being Kaleb Hawkins in The Vampire Diaries spinoff Legacies.
