Justin Hartley‘s Tracker found a way for Jensen Ackles‘ Russell and Chris Lee‘s Randy to interact after multiple cast members left the show.
In Us Weekly‘s exclusive clip from the Sunday, October 26, episode of the hit CBS series, Randy meets Colter (Hartley) and Russell at a diner, saying, “You must be Russell. The legend is real.”
Russell has a similar reaction to finally crossing paths with Randy. Before getting into business, Randy orders breakfast, requesting “exactly what” Russell had on his plate, “plus an extra side of bacon, biscuits and gravy and a cinnamon roll.”
When Colter jokingly asks whether Randy “ordered enough food,” Randy replies, “I am stress-eating, man, with all this work I am doing for you.”
Meet the Season 3 Cast of Justin Hartley’s ‘Tracker’ After Multiple Exits
Randy then gives Russell and Colter some intel on the message they received relating to their newest task.
“We gotta find out who is behind this game and put an end to it,” Colter notes in the sneak peek from the two-part season 3 premiere.
Colter, Russell and Randy have rarely interacted on Tracker, which follows Hartley’s character meeting new people and solving new cases on the road while getting help from handlers Teddi (Robin Weigert) and Velma (Abby McEnany), hacker Bobby (Eric Graise) and attorney Reenie (Fiona Rene).
After joining Tracker in season 1, Weigert’s character was written off in the season 2 premiere with her wife, Velma, admitting that they needed some distance. Velma then started working with Reenie — and Teddi wasn’t discussed again.
“[Teddi] is going to be there for a while. She is helping her mom get sorted. I was getting in the way you might say and it really wasn’t good,” Velma said at the beginning of season 2. “So I came back. Don’t you worry because I am keeping busy.”
Fans’ concerns for the show’s main characters continued when Graise was noticeably absent from six episodes. His cousin Randy was brought in to help Colter before Bobby returned, which sparked backlash from viewers who grew used to seeing Graise on their screen.
News later broke that Graise and McEnany wouldn’t be coming back — at least for now.
Which ‘Tracker’ Stars Are — And Aren’t — Returning for Season 3?
“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],” executive producer Eldwood Reid exclusively told Us earlier this month.
Reid noted that Reenie and Randy 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 continued. “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 added: “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+.
