Jensen Ackles’ troubled Russell will return “in a big way” early in season 4 — and he’s carrying a major secret.

Justin Hartley teases Tracker season 4, Russell’s big secret, and what Colter doesn’t know (exclusive)

Jensen Ackles’ troubled Russell will return “in a big way” early in season 4 — and he’s carrying a major secret.

By Randall Colburn

Randall Colburn

Randall Colburn is a writer and editor at **. His work has previously appeared on The A.V. Club, The Guardian, The Ringer, and many other publications.

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September 15, 2026 9:00 a.m. ET

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Justin Hartley as Colter and Erica Hernandez as Becca in ‘Tracker’ season 4. Credit:

- Justin Hartley previews season 4 of his CBS hit *Tracker*.

- Jensen Ackles’ Russell returns in “a big way” early in the season — with a major secret.

- Hartley says season 4 marks the first time the audience knows something Colter doesn’t.

Did *Tracker* get *too* dark? Justin Hartley thinks so.

“We peeled it back a little,” Hartley, who leads the CBS hit as rugged rewardist Colter Shaw, tells ** of the show’s upcoming fourth season (premiering Oct. 4). “I was like, ‘Well, this guy can’t be killing six people per week. This is ridiculous.’”

But while you can expect fewer bodies in season 4, the increasingly dark and mysterious nature of Colter’s backstory remains the series’ disquieting through-line, particularly in regards to his late father, Ashton (Lee Tergesen). A former Berkeley professor, Ashton raised Colter, Russell (Jensen Ackles), and their sister Dory (Melissa Roxburgh) on a remote California compound, training them as survivalists before dying in a suspicious fall.

Over the last two seasons, viewers learned the truth about Ashton alongside Colter, from the identity of his father’s killer to Ashton’s work with the Chrono Stasis Institute, a government-backed research program that experimented on gifted children to exploit their precognitive abilities for nefarious ends. Yeah, it’s pretty dark, but Colter ends the season feeling a measure of peace, having learned that Ashton tried to shut the program down. And his father’s paranoia at the time of his death? Much of it was warranted. His efforts to shut down Chrono Stasis led the government to discredit and target him.

“At least I know he was doing everything he could, you know?” Colter tells his buddy Keaton (Brent Sexton) in the closing moments of season 3. “He was a good man in the end.”

Gillian Bolt as Jenna Nova and Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw in ‘Tracker’ season 4.

Hartley says Colter is in “a better place” in season 4. “He’s a little looser. I think all that family drama getting — I don’t want to say ‘wrapped up’ because I don’t really think it was wrapped up — but a lot of it was unpacked, shall we say. And I think a lot of that burden is off of him.”

But Hartley is right to note that Colter’s family drama isn’t finished. The season 3 finale also saw Russell pay a visit to McIntyre (Glenn Morshower), the man running the Chrono Stasis operation. He was there to “unalive the snake,” but McIntyre instead blackmails Russell into taking a job after showing him a file containing disturbing information about something Ashton allegedly did to Colter as a child.

“What’s in that file, what he did to Colter, it’s all true,” McIntyre tells a horrified Russell. If Russell does his bidding, however, he can take the file — and ensure Colter never reads it.

For Hartley, this tension is what makes season 4 the show’s “most ambitious” outing yet. “As an audience member, we know something that Colter doesn’t know,” Hartley says. “This is the first time that the audience in any way has been ahead of Colter. It’ll be an interesting perspective.”

Hartley says Russell returns in a “big way” early in season 4, with the pair teaming up to address “a really dire situation” involving one of Russell’s friends and someone who doesn’t want to be found. “It reunites the brothers and they have a united front,” says Hartley.

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But how long can that united front last with Russell keeping such a significant secret? The file seems poised to loom like a thunderhead over the pair’s dynamic, though Hartley likes to think their brotherly bond, strengthened considerably over the past several seasons, can help them weather whatever comes next.

“Whatever Russell is doing, whatever secrets he’s keeping from Colter, he’s doing it to protect Colter. And I think Colter’s smart enough to realize that,” the actor says.

If Colter does eventually learn what’s in the file, though, it could complicate his relationship with both his family and his past. Did Ashton experiment on Colter before turning against the program? Hartley can’t say, but he does address the idea of repressed memories. “It’s almost like having a blackout moment, right? Where you know you were alive, but you don’t remember any of that,” he says. “That’s a little scary.”

But Colter’s family drama is just one component of season 4, and Hartley confirms the new episodes will include returning allies like retired cop Keaton, attorney Reenie (Fiona Rene), tech whiz Randy (Chris Lee), and, perhaps most interestingly, Mel (Cassady McClincy Zhang), Reenie’s new legal assistant with a tragic backstory and a curious interest in Colter.

Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw on ‘Tracker’.

Tyler Golden/CBS

Will we find out Mel’s true intentions in season 4? “That was one of the questions, quite frankly, that I had, too,” Hartley says. “It just seemed kind of odd. This girl shows up and, I mean, no one vetted her, no one asked any questions, and now she’s working in the office and what’s this all about?”

Also returning? Billie, the rival rewardist played by Sofia Pernas, Hartley’s real-life wife. Despite their complicated history, Colter and Billie are frequently drawn back together both professionally and romantically. While Hartley won’t confirm whether more sparks will fly this season, he’s open about how Colter is becoming less of a lone wolf as the series progresses.

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“[In season 4], you’ll start to see him do things and behave in his personal life in certain ways that we haven’t before. He becomes available to things that he wasn’t available to before,” he says. “He’s opening up to different relationships and starting to care about more things and more people, and it makes him more vulnerable, especially in his line of work. So I think we’ll see that story, and then, hopefully as an audience member, you’re sitting here going, ‘Oh, man, I really want this for this guy, but he really can’t have that because if he does, he’s putting people in danger.’”

When EW points out that it sounds like he’s talking about a romantic relationship for Colter, Hartley laughs. “*Does it*? Get outta here.”

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Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Thriller”