Tracker’s Melissa Roxburgh Weighs In on Colter and Dory’s Reunion, Shares Hope for Scenes With Jensen Ackles

Sunday’s Tracker culminated in a tense dinner between brother and sister.

Season 1, Episode 11 of hit CBS drama introduced Manifest’s Melissa Roxburgh as Colter’s younger sister, Dr. Dory Shaw, who has followed in their parents’ footsteps and become a college professor. But unlike Colter, who is determined to get to the bottom of what really went down with their father more than 20 years ago — what’s this about Ashton having been a government contractor? — Dory is determined to leave the past behind her and get on with her life. It’s what she’s been trying to do ever since Dad died and she went to live with her Uncle Dave and Aunt Melissa, while Colter stayed back to take care of their mother, Mary.

During the hour, we discovered that Dory is still in touch with her other brother, Russell — who, as we know, Colter believes murdered their father in 2003. We also learned that Dory doesn’t trust Mary’s version of the truth.

Colter’s reunion with Dory will be followed by an even more tense reunion with Russell, who will be played by Supernatural’s Jensen Ackles and first seen in Episode 12 (airing Sunday, May 12). Below, Roxburgh weighs in on Dory’s debut, her respective relationships with Colter, Russell and Mary, and her hopes for appearing alongside both Justin Hartley and Jensen Ackles in Season 2.

TVLINE | The audience at this point knows quite a bit about the Shaw family and what happened with Dad. How much did Melissa know about all this family drama?
I’d seen part of the show already, so I knew that it was a complicated family dynamic, but I got a little bit more context in where things were at coming onto the show — not only where Dory was at, but where Colter and Russell and Mom were at, and where things kind of stood. I definitely came into a very complicated dynamic and I’m excited to see how it all unravels.

TVLINE | Throughout this episode, Dory is pleading with Colter to move on and forget about the past. She insists that she has let go of all this family baggage. But do you really think that Dory has moved on? Or has she just done a better job of not letting it consume her the way that it consumes Colter?
I think she has definitely done a better job. Despite how she talks in the episode, there’s definitely a part of her that needs to know the truth [about Mom and Dad] just as much, but she knows that if she pulls the thread that it will all unravel, and she doesn’t know what is going to be behind the curtain. I think her hope is to have everyone move on. She seems to be a very logical person, especially with her career and whatnot, but deep down she knows that it’s more complicated than that.

TVLINE | Dory says that she is nothing like her parents. But as Colter points out, Dory is a professor, just like Ashton and Mary. Do you get the sense that, even though Dory was pretty young when everything went to hell, that she looked up to Mom and Dad at a certain point in her life?
What she’s doing with her life now is maybe what she had hoped her parents had done. Because I think that there is a respect for the academia aspect of her family, and she is just trying to do right in her own life. She admires a lot of what she was taught growing up, but.…

TVLINE | But Dory has found a more practical way to apply some of the stuff that Dad taught them?
Yeah.

TVLINE | When Colter and Dory are first reunited, Dory seems really excited to see her big brother despite the fact that he’s ghosted her for the past year. Why do you think she’s able to let go of that anger so quickly and embrace her brother being back in her life?
She knows that he has always been like this. Their family is not normal, especially how they were raised. There’s an understanding about the trauma that he’s been through as well. I don’t think Dory is a judgmental person at all; she really just wants what is best for her two brothers. When Colter does show up, it’s like the prodigal son kind of thing. She’s just happy that he’s back, but then she realizes [later in the episode] that he’s not really back. That’s almost what upsets her more: that he isn’t even showing up with the right intentions. That’s what hurts her the most.

TVLINE | Dory confronts Colter at dinner about accepting Mary’s version of the truth at face value. It’s pretty evident at this point that Dory does not trust Mom. Do you have a sense of whether Dory and Mary are on speaking terms?
I would guess not. Dory is pretty smart, and I think that she clocks a lot of what her mother is doing. She knows that there is way more to the story [about Dad] than Mom has let on, for whatever reason. For Dory, trying to have a healthy life at this point means maybe not being close to Mom.

TVLINE | We learn that Dory is still in touch with Russell. Do you know anything more about that relationship? Perhaps Justin or one of the other producers looped you in?
I gathered that Dory and Russell are definitely closer than Dory and Colter, but we’ll see how that changes as Dory is more involved in the show, especially with Russell coming back as well. I’m curious to see what happens there. I’m excited to see how the dynamics shift.

TVLINE | It was announced a little less than two weeks after your casting was confirmed that Jensen Ackles had been tapped to play Russell. Were you aware when you were filming your episode that Jensen was attached?
Yeah, Justin told me. I’m so excited because one of my first jobs was with Jensen [on Supernatural]. I think it was my second job ever, actually. I was so green and so new, and it would be nice to play with him again.

TVLINE | I feel like the audience is owed a scene, or perhaps an entire episode, where we get Colter, Russell, Dory and Mary in one room….
I want that! I want to know what happens!

TVLINE | I’m just saying, that would make for a pretty epic Thanksgiving episode in Season 2.
It would definitely be a dramatic one.

TVLINE | Now, fair warning: I’ve saved perhaps the dumbest question for last.
There are no dumb questions.

TVLINE | You haven’t heard it yet!
[Laughs]

TVLINE | On Tracker, Colter has mastered the art of tracking someone down — typically within a few days, sometimes within a matter of hours. Now, you were on a show, Manifest, where a plane full of passengers disappeared for five years…
Correct…

TVLINE | Now, let’s imagine that Colter Shaw existed in the Manifest universe. Do you think he would have stood a chance at finding that plane sooner?
Oh, my word! [Laughs] Ben and Michaela would have totally elicited his help and got him on board to help us figure out what was going on. We were dealing with the trauma of disappearing for five years. We needed someone who was a little bit more logical and still wanted to solve the problem. We did have outside help, but I think with Colter, we might not have lasted four seasons. We would have been done in two seasons.

What did you think of Melissa Roxburgh’s Tracker debut in “Beyond the Campus Walls”? Are you hoping to see more of Dory in Season 2? Sound off in Comments.