Justin Hartley‘s Tracker has faced several surprise cast exits — but what is Chris Lee‘s status on the show?
Before news broke in July about Eric Graise and Abby McEnany exiting the show, executive producer Elwood Reid addressed Lee’s future as Randy.
“Randy came in and also gave something to the show that was different. There was a real warmth and fun when he came in,” Reid exclusively told Us Weekly. “It was something that I think we were missing a little bit too in some episodes. He just was immediately fun when he came in.”
Reid confirmed viewers haven’t seen the last of Randy, adding, “With those dynamics — and in playing with this team dynamics — that’s all stuff we’re going to continue to play with in season 3 as the show evolves.”
Justin Hartley’s Rare Comments About ‘Tracker’ Losing Multiple Cast Members
He continued: “We’re going to bring back some characters from seasons 1 and 2 — we’re going to see them more and more. There’s been some fun characters that I think are fun to see in Colter’s world [season to season].”
Despite Robin Weigert’s past departure, Reid clarified it wouldn’t be a “revolving door” of team members.
“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. “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.”
Tracker follows survivalist Colter (Hartley) as he travels the country to help find missing people, track down information on criminal cases and more. Every episode shows Colter getting help from his team — handler Teddi (Weigert), hacker Bobby (Graise} and attorney Reenie (Fiona Rene).
Graise was noticeably absent from six episodes in season 2, which is when his cousin Randy was brought in to help Colter before Bobby returned. Bobby’s absence caused backlash from viewers who grew used to seeing Graise on their screen.
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“It’s one of those things where actor availability is always an issue. There have been shows where people don’t even notice [if a character is missing],” Reid told Us. “You don’t [always] see Reenie. [Colter] talks to Velma for two seconds. He may talk to Bobby for one phone call. The show works because you are over Justin’s shoulder. One of the challenges in season 3 is going to be reconfiguring the team and figuring out what that team looks like.”
According to Reid, a priority for the show is making sure Tracker doesn’t “fall into complacency.”
“I don’t want the show to be ‘phone a friend’ every week,” Reid added. “I think that gets old and Justin is always challenging me on that. He’s like, ‘Do we need to do this? Do I need to call Bobby all the time? Can I do this?’”
Tracker is currently streaming on Paramount+.
