‘Tracker’ Guest Star Sofia Pernas Teases ‘Sexually Fraught’ Scenes With Husband Justin Hartley
Colter will meet his match on the hunt for a missing horse.
Tracker’s Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) is used to working alone, but this week he’ll have some familiar, unwelcome company on one of his strangest cases yet. When a prize horse goes missing, the reward money is an immediate draw for both Colter and a woman named Billie Matalon (Sofia Pernas), a fellow rewardist who betrayed Colter on a previous case. There’s a real tension between them—they hate each other, but they might also want to jump each other’s bones—and that dynamic is only bolstered by the fact that Hartley and Pernas are married in real life. They tied the knot in 2021 after playing a couple on The Young and the Restless in 2015, and reuniting on screen again was a natural fit, according to Pernas.
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“They know what I can do well,” she told Parade of Hartley and his fellow producers. “It was a no-brainer for them to [say], ‘What if she’s a fellow reward seeker?’ They crafted her and threw the ball my way.”
Colter is a clear loner, but so is Billie, and whenever their paths cross, Pernas describes it as “a very sexually fraught atmosphere” that will tempt them both.
“Do they get into it, or do they awkwardly squirm out of it?” she teased. “The possibilities are endless.”
Before Billie interrupts Colter’s world in Sunday’s sixth episode (“Lexington”), here are a few more teases from the woman herself.
What kind of history do Colter and Billie have?
Colter and Billie have this longstanding history where I may or may not have betrayed him, and there was a serious loss of trust there. So when he sees me again, he’s like, “Oh god, not you.” It’s always so fun to play characters that are so strong-willed and opinionated, and they have to maintain this sort of mask of professionalism because they do what they do and they can’t let emotions get in the way. Because the characters are so different [from us], it actually makes it a lot easier for us to put our history as husband and wife [aside], to completely leave it at the door.
What happened between Colter and Billie the last time they met?
I kind of screwed him out of reward money. I skipped town. We were supposed to be two heads on one job and I pulled the rug out, but I think this episode is sort of her way of…Well, I mean, they bump into each other, but I played it like maybe she planned bumping [into him], like, “I’m bored and I want to have fun.” I think what unfolds is really unexpected for her.
How does Billie see Colter? Is she attracted to him?
It’s sort of like a “look but don’t touch” thing. But the more they work together, they’re like, “Maybe I can touch. Maybe this can be a credible thing.” I think she knows him very well because they used to work together, and I think when she looks at him, it’s like, “Oh, he’s hot,” but I think he’s got so much going on with his family and his job and how committed he is to his job that in her mind, there’s no way she can reliably leave her life for this guy and trust that something catastrophic isn’t gonna happen.
Between Billie and Reenie (Fiona Rene), is there any chance of a romantic future for Colter?
I don’t think so because of what he does. I mean, imagine the kind of girl who’s like, “Yeah, I’ll live in your trailer.” I’m sure there are some women out there, but the ones he would like are all quite strong-willed. He goes for women that have something going on, that are very intelligent and that are quite indomitable women in their own way. The double-edged sword of that is that I don’t know how willing these women would be to give up their careers to trailer with him around the nation. He’s married to the lone wolf status, for the foreseeable future anyway.
And what about from Billie’s perspective?
I think she’s kind of committed to this thing. I think she’s developed a little chip on her shoulder, and I think she’s really committed to being sort of on the same playground he plays on, career-wise. I think she really wants to be the same level of contender that he is in this world. She has something to prove and I think because she has something to prove she’s not really ready yet to dive with both feet into a relationship.
What was it like working with your husband? How hard is it to keep things fully professional?
It never feels like work when I work with him. It’s never work. It’s always so fun. I go to set floating, and so does he. It’s easy to leave the other stuff at the door once they say action, but in the middle of it, we’re able to just be ourselves and it’s so easy. He’s so prepared. He knows all his lines. It’s very rare for Justin to flub a line. He’s very, very good at what he does, and he’s one of the most prepared actors I’ve ever worked with. So when you come to set, you should know your stuff, because he’s ready to go. And when an actor is that prepared, it’s the best dance partner because you can just throw anything at them and they don’t get thrown.
How does it change things that Justin is an executive producer?
It helps. It’s helped the momentum of the show because he knows this character inside and out. I mean, he’s been trying to make this show for years and he’s read the books through and through, and he really knows his character. He knows what this character would say and not say. The writers are brilliant, churning this stuff out on tight deadlines, and that’s what’s so nice to see—it’s such a seamless collaborative process amongst all the creatives. Because sometimes you can get bumped a little bit, and with Justin being able to have a say, it really helps etch this guy in a definitive way.
What will it be like when we see Billie again?
I don’t think there’s room in Colter’s life for it to be a heavily recurring thing because they’re both always in wildly different locations from each other, but I think she just kind of pops in and out of his life and ruffles a few feathers, or maybe not, on the way out. That’s the beauty of this whole thing.
