Justin Hartley Tracker Lost Jelly Roll Cameo to Fire Country

Tracker is determined to score a country music star cameo — or two — after losing Jelly Roll to Fire Country.

“Maybe it goes more toward the CBS audience but we’ve been trying to get someone from the country music scene to come to the show,” executive producer Elwood Reid exclusively told Us Weekly. “We tried to get Jelly Roll and I think we lost him to Fire Country.”

Tracker isn’t giving up on surprising their viewers with a country music star.

“We’ve tried some other people. Luke Combs is a guy we’ve always been trying to get,” Reid, 58, noted. “Or a guy like Hardy. It is just about trying to figure out a fun role to write for them and then bring them into the show in a natural way.”

CBS fans are familiar with their favorite shows featuring fun cameos. Jelly Roll, 40, made an appearance on Fire Country in April, where he was introduced as healthcare worker and former convict Noah. His song “Dreams Don’t Die” was also played during the episode, which marked the musician’s first scripted role after he previously made a cameo as himself on Paramount+’s Tulsa King.

Star — and executive producer — Max Thieriot recently told Us Weekly that he “reached out first” after crossing paths at the CMT Music Awards.
What Country Music Stars Could Join Tracker:

 He was finishing drying his hands with a towel in the bathroom at the CMTs [in April 2024]. I ran into him in the bathroom straight up at the CMT Music Awards,” he recalled. “I said, ‘Thank you for letting us have some of your songs on the show.’ And he’s like, ‘Dude, how do I get on the show? I’ve been petitioning online and talking to my people and you got to get me on that show.’ He said Fire Country is what he really represents. … He called me the next day and it showed how sincere he was.”

Thieriot, 36, credited Jelly Roll for being collaborative. “We worked on coming up with a character [for him] that we all thought would be interesting, unique and special and still. It tells some of the story about second chances and what he really represents,” he noted to Us. “But [it] also feels different from who he is and how people see him day to day as a country singer.”

Tracker Lost Jelly Roll Cameo to Fire Country 2:
Jelly Roll Sergei Bachlakov/CBS
He concluded: “I don’t know [if we will have more country singers]. I have to wait for the next awards show and I’m just going to set up a chair in the bathroom to start greeting them as they come in. But there’s a few that we’ve been talking with for a while now. Honestly, it would be fun to maybe see both [Kane Brown and Jelly Roll] bring their characters back in some form.”

Theiot also weighed in on Us‘ suggestion that Fire Country and Tracker crossover on CBS, saying, “For sure. That could be fun. We haven’t had any of those conversations, but I get that.”
At the time, Thieriot pointed out that there’s already a connection through the Supernatural universe. (Jared Padalecki made a guest appearance on Fire Country, which came at the same time as his former costar Jensen Ackles reprised his role as Russell on Tracker.)
We should get the supernatural trifecta,” Thieriot joked. “We’ll get Misha [Collins]. I don’t know Misha, but I know Jared and Jensen. They’re not far from us [on CBS], so it wouldn’t be too hard to do logistically in person. But there’s a lot of people way above my pay grade that make a lot of those decisions. But I think it would be fun.”

Tracker and Fire Country are returning to CBS in the fall and are currently streaming on Paramount+.