The good news is, Tracker doesn’t appear to be in any danger of becoming serialized, even if the first two episodes directly connect. The procedural element is certainly still there. If there’s one thing that we can always count on with Tracker, it’s a level of consistency. Even when characters come and go, Hartley always delivers as the CBS action hero, driving into new places with the same set of skills to find those who would otherwise go unfound.
Season 3 continues this longstanding tradition, albeit with a few fewer faces in the mix. After the departure of Robin Weigert’s Teddi Bruin following Season 1, it appears that paring down the Tracker cast has become common practice between seasons. This year, both Eric Graise’s Bobby Exley and Abby McEnany’s Velma Bruin have been removed completely from the roster, yet Tracker continues full steam ahead with no interruption. Admittedly, I was skeptical about the show losing Bobby, in particular, but it manages just as well without him.
In a streaming age filled with movie-quality action thrillers and mystery dramas, it’s easy to write off the few network shows that are still chugging along. Yet, since 2024, there is one CBS original that continues to make waves due to its procedural-style thrills, collection of notable guest stars, and charming leading man. This fall, Tracker kicks off its third season as Justin Hartley returns as the ever-resourceful Colter Shaw. A lot has changed on the show since the unconventional procedural first premiered, but despite the various casting changes and narrative shifts, Tracker is as fresh and engaging as ever. After viewing the two-part Season 3 opener (which will air on separate nights; Sunday, October 19 and Sunday, October 26), there’s little doubt that the new direction of the program is gearing up to be something special, boiling down the drama to its bare essentials to get to the root of Colter Shaw — and his dark family secrets.
Last season’s finale left us with the shocking news that Colter’s mother, Mary Dove Shaw (guest star Wendy Crewson), is seemingly the one responsible for his father’s death. Season 3’s “The Process” learns from the mistakes of the previous year’s opener, wasting no time addressing this deeply disturbing revelation. Well, after probably one of the best action sequences on the show, which further establishes our hero’s fluctuating emotional state while cementing his honorable character. Picking up a mere three weeks later, Colter Shaw is more directionless than we’ve ever seen him. However, diving back into his work — with a push from Reenie Greene (Fiona Rene) and his brother Russell (special guest star Jensen Ackles) — restores our favorite TV rewardist in full force. But don’t expect Colter to remain unaffected by the dark family secret he’s uncovered.
Hartley plays Colter with a psychological complexity that we haven’t quite seen before, carrying around this burden as he fights to relieve others of their own. It would certainly have been easy to pick up weeks later and refuse to acknowledge what Colter learned about his mother, playing the character as a stoic who can simply wander in and out of the lives of others while concealing the truth about his own. While that may work for some action heroes of similar persuasions, Tracker Season 3 refuses to fall into that trap. Hartley knows how to play the line between emotional vulnerability and a quiet confidence that reassures those around him. We see that the events of “Echo Ridge” have deeply affected the reward seeker, who has sought solitude to process what he’s learned, but it doesn’t entirely turn him off to the plights of others.
It isn’t long before Colter finds himself on a new case that is perhaps the most deadly he’s ever faced. No, it doesn’t have anything to do with his family’s secrets (at least, not on the surface), but that doesn’t mean Tracker is sweeping those under the rug either. In fact, the third season opener hints at the entire Shaw family being a larger part of the new season, as Colter continues his search for the truth behind his father’s work. Hopefully, we’ll be getting a full family reunion in Season 3.
One of my biggest complaints about Tracker Season 2 was that, after the second episode (which also, ironically, featured Ackles’ Russell), the show ignored its larger mythology in favor of new short-term arcs that were entirely divorced from the trauma Colter went through in his youth. It wasn’t until the last few episodes that the show pivoted back to the mystery surrounding Ashton Shaw’s (guest star Lee Tergesen) death. By comparison, Season 3 appears to be bringing this element back to the forefront, though in a way that doesn’t choke out the standalone nature of Colter’s work.
