Despite going through multiple shocking cast exits, Tracker is dropping hints about expanding the universe with a possible spinoff.
Before the season 3 premiere on Sunday, October 19, executive producer Elwood Reid spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about teasing another show focused on Jensen Ackles‘ character Russell.
“I just threw [spinoff hints] in there hoping fans do some work. We just threw in a bunch of teases in these two upcoming episodes,” he noted. “[Jensen and Justin Hartley] [are] so much fun together and they complement each other in a weird way.”
Reid has loved writing scenes for the onscreen brothers, adding, “Jensen does not do what Justin does and Justin doesn’t do what Jensen does. They’re so interesting together to watch and then they play off each other in such an interesting way.”
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While CBS hasn’t officially picked up a spinoff yet, Tracker is always laying the groundwork.
“I will always take Jensen whenever he’s available. I text him all the time and ask him about that. Right now, he’s gainfully employed on The Boys spinoff. But you never know,” Reid continued. “I put it in those scripts and I dangle it out there. Hopefully the audience will respond to it and hopefully the network will pay attention to it. But Jensen is someone who I’ve loved writing for for a long time.”
Tracker, which premiered in February 2024, quickly found success because of Hartley’s character Colter — with a little extra help from familiar faces such as Hartley’s wife, Sofia Pernas, Ackles, Melissa Roxburgh, Jennifer Morrison and more.
Before Tracker returned for season 3, Reid defended shaking up the show with Velma (Abby McEnany) and Bobby’s (Eric Graise) surprise departures.
“Justin has to carry so much of the show. So I don’t want the other characters that are in the show to just be phone-a-friend where whenever he’s in trouble, he just picks up the phone. The challenge in season 3 has been how do we build [an] actual good story out of [it],” Reid teased.
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Reid pointed out that Reenie (Fiona Rene) and Randy (Chris Lee) are still in the picture.
“Reenie takes a lot of the guilt [from her season 2 case] on and she’s brought Randy up there to fix it. You get to see them in the office. That forms a good bond between those two. Then we’re going to bring in another character as she tries to expand her law office a little bit. That will be interesting,” he shared. “It’s just building out those story lines. The challenge we set up for ourselves this season was to build out those people’s world a little bit.”
Reid continued: “It’s about trying to get a little bit of lightness [into the show] because sometimes Colter is doing some really dark and heavy stuff. It’s life or death.”
Tracker airs on CBS Sundays at 8:30 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Paramount+.
