Jason Ritter is still aiming for a role on Tracker — even if it means getting to be a “damsel in distress” who is saved by Justin Hartley.
“Justin and I are very friendly. I really love him. He’s such a nice guy,” Ritter, 46, exclusively told Us Weekly while suggesting a possible Tracker crossover with Matlock. “Julian is going to be looking for new positions so maybe he can train me in his tracking ways and I can help him find some people.”
Matlock, which premiered in September 2024, follows a wealthy retired lawyer named Madeline Kingston (Kathy Bates), who pretends to be a poor widower named Matty Matlock to get a job at Jacobson Moore law firm.
Then there’s Tracker, which follows Hartley’s Colter Shaw as he solves missing cases for a reward.
“If Tracker ever wants a partner [for Justin’s character, Colter], maybe Julian leaves the firm and he starts a new life,” Ritter previously joked with Us Weekly in August 2025. “Just two rugged guys.”
At the time, Ritter’s costar Skye P. Marshall weighed in on his idea.
“Jason comes to set now, and he squints his eyes and he tries to play a rugged guy. And we’re like, ‘Can you please stop?’” she quipped in September 2025. “And he’ll put his foot up on the chair and squint his eyes like James Dean. It makes my stomach crawl. I was like, ‘You’re not a rugged guy, OK?’”
Marshall would still love to see Ritter share the screen with Hartley, 59. “But I feel like he’d be the guy that gets kidnapped,” she joked. “Please don’t give Jason Ritter a gun.”
Ritter couldn’t help but agree with Marshall’s assessment, telling Us earlier this month, “She’s probably right. Who knows? It’s TV, so anything can happen. A guy like me can be a hero on TV but in real life, if I was on Tracker, I’d be like, ‘All right, I got these guys … Oh, one of them snuck up behind me and that’s the end for me. Save me, please. I’ve made this mission 20 times harder by being captured.’”
After the actor noted that he is “very good at being someone who needs to be saved,” Us suggested that Ritter play Hartley’s “next damsel in distress.”
“There you go,” Ritter replied. “Anytime, Justin.”
Tracker airs on CBS Sundays at 9 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Paramount+.
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