The sophomore season of the breakout CBS hit “Tracker” brings back Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw, a man driven to finding people. The show has garnered the attention of viewers who have been craving a new drama. Recently, Hartley spoke with the media about the show and his character.

When asked what he thought was the reason for the show’s success, he was quick to answer: “I have a theory. I think that sort of like anything else, but in particular this business, there are hundreds if not thousands, probably thousands, of people that work collaboratively to produce a show like this.” He mentioned the cast, crew, producers, directors, head writer and the studio who all work to create this hit drama.

He added, “Just like anything else, like in sports, if you put your best foot forward and you surround yourself with the best people, which I do, … then your chances increase. And there was a little bit of luck in there too, I guess.”

The realization that “Tracker” is the No. 1 new show has hit the actor with surprise and delight. “I just thought we were so lucky. … The networked liked the pilot so much that they gave us the No. 1 spot of the season, after the Super Bowl.” He went on to say that the more people asked him if he felt the pressure being placed in that coveted spot, he began to actually feel some stress.

“It ended up working out great. … I would just say a lot of this is a team effort and I’m certainly not carrying this on my own.” He is humble, giving much of the accolades to the team that puts on the show every week.

Hartley stated, “I know what I like to watch — I like to think that I have decent taste — and I love watching shows like this. So, I’m a huge fan of it and I just sort of get caught up in that.”

Hartley is not a stranger to success, having been on the hit show “This is Us” from 2016-2022. It was fortuitous that he happened on another successful series immediately after that one.

“Ken (Olin, the executive producer) brought me this book,” Hartley explained about how he came to the new series. “Ken and I have been talking about working together after ‘This is Us.’ It’s something we really wanted to do. And he found this book, and he said, ‘I think you’ve got to read this book. I really love this character.'”

The actor continued, “He didn’t tell me anything about the book.” He was simply instructed to read it. “And I loved it. I loved the character, I loved the book, and then I also realized that there’s a huge challenge of adapting something that is a novel into something that’s made for the screen.”

The show, as he describes it, is a combination thriller and adventure with a character who is in constant danger. He has “a sorted family past, but he’s not haunted by it in terms of how he deals with other people necessarily in a bad way.” His character, he says, leads with his heart. “There’s something very, I think, masculine about that.”

The character of Colter Shaw is complex. “The fact that he’s got this broken family, this missing family, he’s trying to fill this void, and what he’s done is he’s manufactured his own family,” said Hartley, who admits he is fascinated by the character and looks forward to exploring more during this next season.

Just as a side note, “Tracker” is the No. 1 non-sports show on network TV for the 2023-2024 season. To date, it averages 11.58 million viewers per episode. It is not only the No. 1 show on CBS but also on the Paramount+ steaming channel.

Unlike the first season with 13 episodes, the second season will have 22 episodes. “Tracker” returns to CBS on Sunday.