Tracker is finally returning to CBS in the 2025 TV schedule, nearly two and a half months after the winter finale ended on a “To Be Continued” with Colter getting a promising – albeit bloody – lead in his quest to find the long-lost Gina. Whether or not he can pull off his quest to find her is the biggest question, as he’s been trying to solve this mystery for years and years now. Star Justin Hartley spoke with CinemaBlend about the first episode of the new year and why Colter isn’t giving up. And it’s going to get intense!
As anybody who has been watching Season 2 on CBS to add to the hit drama’s high ratings or streaming with a Paramount+ subscription knows, the ongoing storyline has involved the disappearance of Gina Picket ten years ago, with Colter increasingly desperate to find answers for her sister, played by A Million Little Things alum Floriana Lima. Even with that ongoing storyline, Tracker episodes ending on a “To Be Continued” doesn’t exactly happen every week.
So, when I spoke with Justin Hartley ahead of the winter premiere on Sunday, February 16 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, I asked: does the first episode of 2025 truly pick up where the last episode of 2024 left off? The This Is Us alum explained:
It does. It picks up where it left off, and he’s got this new lead from this other guy, this retired detective who put a fresh set of eyes on it, this Keaton guy, and was able to come up with something. It picks up pretty much right where it left off. He’s now hot on the trail and trying to figure out all this new information that he got, as you know, and off we go.
Colter in fact got his big break of new information from Keaton, played by Bosch‘s Brent Sexton. The scoop from their not entirely willing source revealed that the man behind Gina’s disappearance is known only as “Teacher,” and the credits rolled before the bloodied man answered whether Gina was still alive or not.
With 2024 ending on Colter getting a break in the case but also aware of how much time has passed since he first looked into Gina’s disappearance, how hopeful is he about finally getting answers? Hartley shared:
That’s a good question. Realistically, every week that goes by, every minute that goes by, every second that goes by, all that, it becomes less and less likely that you’re going to find somebody alive. Less and less likely to find her alive, but he’s this guy that never stops looking. He’s a dog with a bone, and he’s gonna look for the rest of his life until he finds something.
For better or worse, Colter isn’t giving up on finding Gina and getting answers for Camille, and it seems like those answers could finally be within reach after ten years of wondering. In a fun twist – for viewers, anyway – this storyline has been unfolding throughout all of Season 2 so far, adding some extra depth to the usual procedural cases of the week. Hartley went on, expressing that he’s a fan of that serialization:
And every year he’s going back and visiting this guy [Frank Whales], because he knows he has something to do with it. He just hasn’t figured it out yet, and he knows that he will figure it out. I just love that about him. There’s no quit in him. He’s gonna figure it out. I love that about our show, that we have a procedural with a serialized element. I think that’s pretty unique and great, in my opinion.
Given that Tracker still has more than half a season left to go before summer hiatus kicks off, there’s no guarantee that the “To Be Continued” finale and this weekend’s midseason premiere will actually resolve Gina’s story. Of course, there’s plenty of lore in Colter’s own family to drive the drama, and fans surely wouldn’t mind returns from Jensen Ackles as Russell Shaw and Melissa Roxburgh as Dory Shaw if the stars align!
For now, check out a promo for Tracker‘s midseason return to CBS below:
Be sure to tune in to CBS on Sunday, February 16 at 8 p.m. ET for the midseason premiere of Tracker Season 2, called “The Disciple.” Justin Hartley’s show becomes the lead-in to Morris Chesnut’s freshman series Watson, which has mysteries of its own to resolve with a twist on typical Sherlock Holmes stories.
