CBS’ action drama Tracker is seeing a major cast shake-up for its upcoming third season, with two prominent cast members departing the show: Eric Graise as Bobby and Abby McEnany as Velma. That’s a massive change considering the series is led by only five main characters (along with plenty of recurring and guest stars, of course), another of whom left at the end of Season 1 as well.
A great TV show is nothing without its cast of characters, and while there will always be some shifts, in the case of Tracker, this change feels like a big one. This is especially true for the way Colter Shaw operates, including how he sources missing persons cases, who he calls for assistance when needed, and arguably the entire dynamic of the series. But with every significant change, there’s always an opportunity for more growth.
How the Story Might Shift In Light of The Change. Tracker follows Shaw’s work as a nomad who travels the U.S. seeking out missing persons cases for reward money. While he’s a lone wolf, he does get help from a team. Velma and Teddi, the latter played by Robin Weigert through the first season, are his handlers. They source cases and field inquiries, and then contact Colter when they have potential cases for him to work on. While working the cases, Colter often needs technical help, like looking into someone’s last known location, pinpointing a person’s identity, or hacking into phone records or building schematics.
This is where Bobby, a talented hacker, comes in. Through the latter part of Season 2, Bobby was mysteriously missing from several episodes. His absence was vaguely explained by his cousin Randy as something to do with family issues he had to deal with. It’s now confirmed that Chris Lee, who plays Randy, will be a main cast member in Season 3, likely taking over Bobby’s job, and perhaps working more closely with Colter in other ways, too.
There’s also Reenie, a talented attorney and friend (and once fling) who helps Colter with any legal problems he might have. Whether it’s pulling favors to get her hands on important documentation, getting him out of jail, or even leveraging resources from her wealthy clients, Reenie is invaluable to Colter. With the team now including just Reenie and Randy as Bobby and Velma depart Tracker, the entire process will have to change.
It appears this is intentional; however, to avoid the series from becoming a repetitive “case-of-the-week” like procedural that follows the same format in every episode. Showrunner Elwood Reid told US Weekly that he thinks that gets old, and even Justin Hartley, who plays Colter, has challenged him on avoiding that sort of format. Hartley has asked Reid, he says, “‘ Do we need to do this? Do I need to call Bobby all the time?’ I don’t want the show be a ‘phone a friend’ every week,” adds Reid.
Thus, this means the show will have to focus much more heavily on Colter’s skills and not his connections. Could Colter handle these cases without the information that Bobby provides to him along the way? He probably could, though it would be more challenging. But the question remains, why would he try? If he has someone like Bobby on his team, why not use them? This is likely where Randy comes in, who has the same hacking skills as Bobby, reportedly the older cousin who taught him everything he knows.
However, to justify Reid’s comments, Randy would have to bring more to the table than just sitting behind a computer and sourcing details for Colter. That means he might take over Velma’s work as well, in being the one to point Colter in the direction of open cases. For Tracker to work, then, there will have to be a shift in dynamics for these characters and the way they work together. There also needs to be greater attention on Colter and his own skills, with others in the background having their own separate stories.
Indeed, Reid also told Screenrant that the third season will focus on building out Reenie, too. “What does her work look like, and how do we build out that world a little bit more and include Randy or whoever else is in that world?” With Reenie stepping out on her own to run her own firm in Season 2, and likely looking for a new office renter now that Velma has left the shared office space, her and Randy may be working more closely together in side storylines.
