What do the discussions about reconfiguring the Tracker cast mean for Jensen Ackles returning as Justin Hartley‘s brother in season 3?
Ackles, 47, teased his future on the hit CBS series, telling Collider on Thursday, June 19, “We are discussing that as we speak. That is being talked about, so yeah, I would hope [I’ll return].”
Despite being booked and busy, Ackles seemed determined to make a season 3 appearance work.
“Justin is a dear friend of mine and getting to play with him is always a fun thing,” he added. “So, yeah, there are talks of bringing me back [in season 3]. To what capacity, I’m not sure yet.”
Tracker is a CBS success story — but that doesn’t mean season 3 won’t go through some changes to keep things interesting. The hit series, which premiered in February 2024, has viewers tuning in each week to see their favorite fictional survivalist Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) travel the country to help solve various missing persons […]
Ackles’ character, Russell, has reunited with brother Colter (Hartley) several times on the show. Viewers, however, were concerned that Ackles might not return for the third season amid filming for The Boys, Countdown and The Boys prequel series, Vought Rising.
Executive producer Elwood Reid also surprised Us when he teased some changes to Tracker next season.
“I do think it’s evolving. If I can’t evolve those characters — Randy or Reenie or Bobby — they’re not just people that just pick up the phone and go, ‘OK, here is the answer.’ That’s when the show is phoning it in,” he explained to Us Weekly in May. “The challenge is when you got to learn about them, which I thought was interesting. That’s the challenge of the show is not having it fall into a formula.”
Reid noted that they didn’t want Tracker to “fall into complacency.”
“The only rule I really have of the show is each week Colter is going to come to a new place and there’s going to be a new case. How he gets those answers and what he uses on the team, that’s all something that’s up for grabs,” Reid teased. “Meeting these [local] weird characters is something we’re going to try to do more of as the season goes on. Just Colter coming in and interacting with other characters. That’s fun to see Justin flex those muscles with really good guest cast members.”
According to Reid, no one is safe — including Colter. “There’s the physical element of it. But then there’s also — which I think we’ve seen a few times during the season — there’s the emotional thing that gets to him,” he noted. “I continue to remind ourselves, the writers, that he’s human, he can die and he can get hurt.”
Reid continued: “Justin is always pitching that we see an episode where Colter is almost dead in the middle of the show and we go back. He’s got all kinds of crazy ideas, but I think that’s what makes the show fun. The minute he becomes like Superman, he is out. That’s not what Justin wants to play — and I don’t think that that’s what the character is.”
While Tracker is looking to switch some things up, Reid didn’t rule out expanding the universe with a spinoff.
“I’m going to try to steal Jensen,” he quipped to Us. “We worked on another show of mine before, so I’m going to try to kidnap him back from The Boys [and Countdown].”
Tracker is currently streaming on Paramount+.