Jensen Ackles Returns in ‘Tracker’ Season 3 Trailer

As two seasons have shown us, there’s no shortage of people who need help from someone like Colter Shaw, the rewardist played by Justin Hartley who uses his survivalist skills to help find missing people. And he puts those skills to use in the Tracker Season 3 trailer released on Wednesday, September 24.

“What we’ve been up to,” Hartley wrote in the caption of the video he shared on Instagram.

The trailer offers a look at what Colter does best, finding people who can’t be found. It also shows Colter and his brother Russell (Jensen Ackles, back for the first two episodes) in a bar fight. “Rock, paper, scissors for this one?” Russell asks. The guy who’s still left chooses instead to flee rather than face one of them.

“A HORSE?!?! Why didn’t I get a horse???” Ackles wrote in the comments in response to a moment in the video, which you can watch below:

Tracker has been a hit since its premiere in 2024, topping viewership and ratings charts, and in addition to the weekly cases, there’s also a through line involving Colter’s family to follow. But what’s to come in Season 3? Read on for everything we know about the show’s future.

When will Tracker Season 3 premiere?

Tracker is once again a fall show and remaining on Sunday nights. It will premiere on Sunday, October 19, at 8/7c, on CBS.

Who’s in the Tracker Season 3 cast?

Tracker Season 3 stars Justin Hartley (as Colter Shaw) and Fiona Rene (as Reenie). Abby McEnany (as Velma) and Eric Graise (as Bobby) will not be back as series regulars.

Jensen Ackles is returning for the first two episodes as Colter’s brother Russell.

How did Tracker Season 2 end?

Tracker brought Colter home to Echo Ridge in the Season 2 finale. Wendy Crewson returned as Colter’s mother, Mary Dove Shaw. The episode ended with Colter confronting the man his brother Russell had in the woods with their father the night he died. Otto (Alex Fernandez) confirmed that he pushed Colter’s father off the cliff — but then shocked Colter by revealing that his mother had asked for his help!

What will happen in Tracker Season 3?

The opening of Season 3 will unpack the history between Otto and Mary Dove.

“One way to weirdly look at it is Colter grew up to be a guy who comes and helps people. I think back in the day, Otto may have been that guy for his mother, but why is going to be a bigger question that we’ll explore in Season 3,” executive producer Elwood Reid told TV Insider. “Colter’s the one guy that stayed with his mother, his sister [Melissa Roxburgh] went off to live with aunt and uncle, and Russell went off and joined the military. He’s the one guy that kind of lived in that lie, that bubble, that lie a little bit longer. So I think that’s going to come with a big pot of emotion when he does really finally confront his mother about all this s**t.”

When it comes to getting Ackles or Roxburgh back in Season 3, it’s all about scheduling. “Jensen and I are friends. He was on a previous show of mine [Big Sky]. I love the guy. I text him all the time. I’m like, I’ll take three hours of you. He’s very busy as you know in The Boys universe. So when we can get him, we can get him. And Melissa, I think, is ready to come up and play,” said Reid.

The new season is also set to continue to evolve the character of Reenie (Fiona Rene). “We’re going to find her in the beginning of the season, I think, not so much in a dark place, but where’s all this going? What do I want to do with my life, kind of thing. And she’s going to make some changes, hopefully,” the EP previewed.

In general, “Knock wood, if I can get some of these actors, we’re building out, just like we saw in Episode 16 when he had that friend that was a search and rescue guy, a little bit more pieces of [Colter’s] past,” shared Reid. “And we’re also looking at building out kind of, I’m hoping, and this is just a middle of the night idea I’ve had, is one of the cases from Season 2 had a little Easter egg that will then come into a case in Season 3, but then also dovetail back to some stuff possibly with his father. I know that’s a really weird loopy loop answer, but we’re trying to build a much bigger picture here. And again, that’s the fun stuff, the much larger arc stuff.”