Though NBC originally announced that The Hunting Party would return for season 2 as part of the fall 2025 schedule, the series has been pushed to midseason, and that move could be great for the CBS drama, Tracker. The two shows air on rival networks, but they share a connection.
Tracker follows Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) through a case-of-the-week format as he tracks down missing people for reward money. The show has a procedural format, but it also features an overarching mystery concerning the death of Colter’s father. All of his surviving family members have recurring roles, which is where the link to The Hunting Party comes in.
Melissa Roxburgh Leads The Hunting Party
Roxburgh Also Recurs In Tracker
Melissa Roxburgh as Bex Henderson in The Hunting Party season 1 finale
Hassani, Bex, Florence, and Odell in The Hunting Party.
Melissa Roxburgh talking into a walkie in The Hunting Party
Melissa Roxburgh is the lead as an FBI agent who specializes in profiling serial killers in The Hunting Party. She also happens to appear in Tracker as Colter Shaw’s sister, Dory. Dory has only appeared in one episode of each season so far, and both of her appearances have been tied to the Shaw family mystery:
- Season 1, Episode 11 “Beyond The Campus Walls”
- Season 2, Episode 19 “Rules Of The Game”
With NBC moving The Hunting Party to midseason to make room on the schedule for Law & Order: Organized Crime to air season 5 (which previously streamed on Peacock), it stands to reason that there may be some filming delays for The Hunting Party. Delays could allow Roxburgh to appear in more episodes of Tracker without a scheduling conflict.
Dory Is Less Interested In The Shaw Family Past Than Colter
Dory Has Moved On From The Past
Colter and Dory talking in a lecture hall in Tracker
Colter talking to his sister Dory in Tracker
Melissa Roxburgh as Dory Shaw standing on the campus in Tracker
Dory’s interactions with Colter in Tracker so far seem to indicate that she just wants to put the past to bed. Colter is obsessed with understanding what happened to their father and spends years believing his brother killed him. Dory is mostly dismissive of Colter’s questions about their father’s death.
A college professor with a family of her own, Dory is living a life that does not rely on the survival skills taught to the Shaw kids by their father. She appears to be the most well-adjusted of the Shaw family as well, not skirting around topics broached by Colter or dwelling on the past.
Colter has interacted with both Dory and their brother Russell (Jensen Ackles), but all three adult Shaw siblings have not been in the same place in the show yet. Coordinating schedules for actors who lead other shows can prove difficult. It would be great to see all three together in season 3.
That’s especially true since Tracker season 2 served to bring the Shaw family mystery to a head. The Tracker season 2 ending revealed that the man who killed Ashton Shaw was not actually Colter’s brother, as his mother had allowed him to believe for years, but instead, a local who lived in the same small town.
Colter ended season 2 of Tracker holding the man at gunpoint, hoping to get answers. His need to understand is much more extreme than either Dory or Russell. Russell has mostly stayed away from the family by joining the military and taking on covert operations, while Dory has strived for normalcy.
Getting to see all three Shaw siblings together in Tracker season 3 would go a long way toward building those character relationships and fleshing out the Shaw family further. It may also allow the show to move on to a new chapter in the mystery, which could be for the better.
Hopefully, The Hunting Party season 2 being moved to midseason works in Roxburgh’s favor and allows her to make a more substantial return as Dory in Tracker season 3.
