“You didn’t plan for this. What am I going to do?” Huertas recalls thinking after a snowstorm derailed his directing plans for ‘Tracker’

Jon Huertas (left) and Justin Hartley. PHOTO: JC OLIVERA/FILMMAGIC; ETHAN MILLER/GETTY

Jon Huertas turned a hitch into a blessing while filming Tracker with Justin Hartley.

While filming the CBS show featuring Hartley in Vancouver, Canada, Huertas, 54, and the crew encountered being stuck in the winter snow.

The director, who co-starred on This Is Us with Hartley, remembers studying on his iPad in the car on the way to the set before looking up to see “snow everywhere.”

“You didn’t plan for this. What am I going to do? And I also didn’t plan for it with what I was wearing. So I was freezing. Hand warmers in my hands. I put hand warmers in my boots. I was just trying to stay warm,” he tells

Viewing the situation from a director’s perspective, Huertas says, “It was something new I had to adjust to.”

From left to right: Justin Hartley, Gavin Russo and director Jon Huertas on set of ‘Tracker’.MICHAEL COURTNEY/CBS VIA GETTY

With no other choice, Huertas said he started to frame the sudden snow as a “happy accident” rather than a setback.

“This is great,” he remembers thinking. “I’m going to be able to really sell the fact this is three years before what the rest of our story is going to take place. So it ends up being an opportunity for us to take a curveball and knock it out of the park.”

Instead of fretting over the unexpected obstacle, Huertas opted to turn it into an advantage. He found the most joy in directing through quick thinking and problem-solving.

“That’s what I did with the snow. I made it a part of the story,” he explains. “And I froze my butt off doing it.”

Director Jon Huertas and Justin Hartley.MICHAEL COURTNEY/CBS

Huertas directed the ninth episode of Tracker, titled “Aurora,” which gave him the opportunity to reunite with Hartley, 47, for the first time onscreen since their days starring on This Is Us. (Huertas portrayed Miguel Rivas on the NBC series while Hartley played Kevin Pearson.)

Speaking about his costar, Huertas reveals that, for the most part, Hartley is an “open book,” but what might surprise people is that “his fashion sensibility is on point.”

“Justin’s style is amazing, but it’s all him. He really is his own stylist. So I think that’s kind of surprising for someone who always looks as good as he does in his clothes,” he says. “I’ve asked for advice from him. ‘Where’s you get that jacket, man? It’s dope.’ And he’ll tell me and say, ‘Yeah, go get one.’”

In Tracker, Hartley’s character Colter Shaw will embark on a mission to locate the missing daughter of a widower. However, the investigation “leads him into the world of ghost hunting and paranormal activity,” according to the episode description from CBS.

When [publication name redacted] caught up with Hartley prior to the Tracker series premiere in February, the actor was more than excited to tease his reunion with Huertas.

“I’ll be with him every day on set,” Hartley said. “We’ll be spending a ton of time together.”

Mandy Moore Calls ‘This Is Us’ Costars Chrissy Metz and Jon Huertas Her ‘Forever Family’ as Trio Reunites

The ‘This Is Us’ alum reunited with her costars on Friday, more than a year after the final episode of the NBC family drama aired in May 2022

From left: Mandy Moore, Chrissy Metz and Jon Huertas. PHOTO: GETTY (3)

Mandy Moore is joining the picket line — and having a This Is Us reunion in the process!

The 39-year-old actress reunited with her former costars Chrissy Metz and Jon Huertas on Friday after SAG-AFTRA announced it would be going on strike the day prior.

“Day 1. Proud to stand with my fellow @sagaftra and @wgawest members demanding a fair contract. #sagaftrastrike #wgastrong #unionstrong,” she captioned a post that included a group photo of the trio and a video of the crew marching down the street.

Moore also shared the photo of her posing with Metz and Huertas on her Instagram Story.

“My forever family,” she gushed.

Mandy Moore’s Instagram Story with Chrissy Metz and Jon Huertas.MANDY MOORE/INSTAGRAM

SAG President Fran Drescher and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator of SAG-AFTRA, announced the strike at a press conference Thursday afternoon, stating that the vote was “unanimous.” Crabtree-Ireland expressed that the studios “left us with no alternative” but to strike.

In her address, Drescher highlighted how the “entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, A.I.” She continued, “This is a very big deal and it weighed heavy on us. At some point, you have to say no, we’re not going to take it anymore.”

She further stated, “The jig is up… We demand respect. You share the wealth because you cannot exist without us.”

Fran Drescher (left) looks on as National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland speaks during a press conference at the labor union’s headquarters in Los Angeles, California, on July 13, 2023.CHRIS DELMAS/AFP VIA GETTY

Moore reunited with her This Is Us costars after filming the final episode of the family drama in May 2022.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in August that year, Moore — who played matriarch Rebecca Pearson — opened up about how “daunting” it had been moving on from the NBC series after six seasons.

“Clearly, nothing will ever hold the same place in my heart as [This Is Us],” she told the outlet at the time. “And, quite frankly, nothing will probably mean the same thing to the world in the way that that job did.”

“I love working and I feel so incredibly lucky to have had the best job in the world for the last six years,” she continued. “I think every creative person is definitely afraid of not working and feels like their last job is their last job. I have been reading stuff and thinking about what’s next, but it’s daunting.”

From left: Milo Ventimiglia, Justin Hartley, Jon Huertas, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chrissy Metz, Chris Sullivan, Mandy Moore and Sterling K. Brown of ‘This Is Us’. JON KOPALOFF/GETTY

Metz, who portrayed Kate Pearson throughout the entire six-year run of the hit series, has also expressed her fondness for This Is Us. She shared in May, “I miss This Is Us desperately. And not only was it life-changing for me, but the best people, the way that it touched people’s lives and hearts and minds, it was really, really special.”

Huertas, known for his role as Miguel, previously explained why he believed fans resonated so well with the series. “I think almost every scene in some respect resonated with viewers because the great thing about our show is that our writers are able to take pieces of themselves [and] pieces of conversations they have with us, the actors,” he shared. “And they’re able to kind of lace that into every episode and every scene, and that way the audience can see or find themselves in every moment, every situation, every character.”