Jenson Ackles to Play Justin Hartley’s Estranged Brother on ‘Tracker’

Justin Hartley revealed that Supernatural alum Jensen Ackles will portray his estranged brother on the hit CBS drama series, Tracker.

Hartley, 47, who portrays Colter Shaw, shared the exciting casting news with followers in a video posted via Instagram on Thursday, April 25.

“It’s been a great response, we’re thrilled and over the moon,” the This Is Us alum began after thanking fans for supporting the show in its first season. “I have a little bit of news for you. We’ve been talking about Russell Shaw, my brother, all season, [with] this family drama that’s been going on between Colter and Russell.”

He continued, “We finally came up with what I think is the perfect casting choice. This person knocks it out of the park every time.”

Before his reveal, Ackles, 46, could be heard tapping on something in the background. After Hartley repeated the phrase “knocks it out the park every time” while looking visibly annoyed, he flipped the camera to the Days of Our Lives alum, who was playing an arcade game.

“We agreed to do this together, but he is in the middle of something,” he joked before ending the video by posing with Ackles.

“I had too much fun mixing it up with you, Hartley. Let’s do it again,” Ackles wrote in the comments section of the post.

Fans couldn’t contain their excitement upon hearing the news, with one social media user writing, “This is BRILLIANT casting, Jensen and you are definitely cut from the same cloth of awesomeness.” Another added, “So excited! Best casting choice for sure and you two will have awesome screen brother chemistry.”

Ackles is slated to make his Tracker debut in the May 12 episode.

Though this is Hartley and Ackles’ first time working together, Tracker reunited Hartley with his This Is Us costar, Jon Huertas.

While speaking exclusively with Us Weekly earlier this month, Huertas, 54, opened up about directing an upcoming episode of the series and how Hartley – who also serves as producer – made his time on the Tracker set so easy.

“Because Justin and I had this history together, it was like we just fell in lockstep again from when I directed him on This Is Us [and] when we worked together in scenes as stepfather and stepson,” Huertas shared. “We fell into that rhythm so naturally that it was easy. It made it really easy.”

He continued, “Justin has such a handle on his character [Colter Shaw] and I feel like the writer of the episode [Sharon Lee Watson], the showrunner Elwood [Reid] and Ken Olin really in prep got me deep enough into the story so that Justin and I aligned when it came time to start filming.”

Tracker airs on CBS Sundays at 9 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Paramount+.