Tracker, starring Justin Hartley as the enigmatic Colter Shaw, has won over a solid fanbase with its thrilling manhunt episodes and emotional backstories. The first two seasons delivered high-stakes chases and mystery-of-the-week adventures. But now that we’re gearing up for Tracker Season 3, something feels… off. It’s not that the show is bad. It’s that it could be so much better. Let’s dive into why the storytelling format needs a major shake-up — and how it can make Tracker Season 3 the best one yet. As the hero of the story, the audience will certainly expect Colter to come out on top, but the fun will be in watching how he gets there…
Part of the nature of procedurals is that a new audience member should be able to start watching at any time and be able to jump right into the show. Tracker definitely works that way so far, even with the overarching story about the Shaw family and Colter’s father’s death that has been teased in the first two seasons. The trouble with most procedurals, however, is that the format starts to become boring for long-time fans. That means the show has to find a way to keep people interested.
For procedurals like Law & Order: SVU and Grey’s Anatomy, the answer has been rotating in new cast members every few seasons to help shake up the dynamics of the ensemble and reflect the real-world nature of jobs in law enforcement and the medical field. A series like Tracker, however, which already has a small ensemble and is not set in a traditional procedural setting, likely will not employ that tactic. Instead, Tracker’s approach to telling stories will have to change every so often.
That change might be in playing with the different genre elements of the story, like the show has done already. “The Mercy Seat” leaned into horror in season 2 while “Preternatural” leaned into the more supernatural. “Man’s Best Friend” saw Colter track down a missing dog with an unexpected twist instead of a person. Those ideas have been helping to keep the series fresh with audience members who have been watching since the first season.
Putting Colter Shaw on the run and forcing him to use all of the skills that have been teased in Tracker to protect himself instead of finding a missing person would be another great way to change its storytelling set-up. This would work even better if the series played out the story over multiple episodes, allowing the story to really go in depth instead of operating on a standalone episode approach. As the hero of the story, the audience will certainly expect Colter to come out on top, but the fun will be in watching how he gets there in Tracker season 3.
Tracker doesn’t need to be a completely different show — it just needs to evolve. With stronger serialized arcs, richer character development, and more daring storytelling, Season 3 can revitalize the series and keep audiences coming back week after week.
