The only Tracker Season 3 recap you need before the next chapter

Tracker Season 4 is going to premiere on CBS tomorrow, on October 4, 2026. According to Collider's recap, the upcoming season will show us what happens next as Colter solves new cases and tries to remember more of his childhood. Russell disappeared after he discovered a file containing a record of a traumatic ordeal faced by Colter at the hands of their father and made a deal with McIntyre so that he would burn the file.

But before you watch Tracker Season 4, you might want to catch up on what happened in the last season. Here is the only Tracker Season 3 recap you need.

Tracker Season 3 recap

Tracker Season 3 followed Colter (played by Justin Hartley) as he solved disappearances like he usually does, including a two-episode case which he solved with his brother, Russell (played by Jensen Ackles). According to Collider, the brothers took down a dangerous AI algorithm that was being used for extortion, abductions, and homicides.

Tracker Season 3 also made some changes in Colter's team. As Bobby Exley (played by Eric Graise) left the show, Randy (played by Chris Lee), Bobby's cousin, became a more regular character. Based in Denver and working from Reenie’s (played by Fiona Rene) law office, Randy became involved in both Colter’s cases and Reenie’s.

Mel Day (played by Cassady McClincy Zhang), a new recurring guest character, was hired by Reenie. Tracker Season 3 also showed Reenie dealing with the emotional aftermath of her abduction and the complicated legal battle she faced against Maxine (played by Kathleen Robertson).

Colter has always wondered if his father, Ashton's, fear of being watched and followed was true. In Tracker Season 3, Colter and his brother Russell finally found out that their father, Ashton Shaw (played by Lee Tergesen), worked with the Chrono Stasis Institute, a covert operation that experimented on children with unusual abilities. The project was tested on the children so that they could be potentially used by the military.

Ashton had discovered what the program was really doing and tried to stop it. His attempts eventually led to him getting discredited and targeted. That's why he was paranoid of being watched and wanted to keep his family safe. While the institute had shut down in Alaska, Colter and Russell soon found that it was being run in secret in Idaho.

They tracked down a former colleague of their father, Dr. Serena Jukic (played by Jeri Ryan), who helped them infiltrate the heavily guarded facility outside Twin Peaks, Idaho, where the program was being run. They successfully shut down the program and rescued two people, Danny and Lola, from there.

As TVInsider reports, Russell was later given a file containing information about their father. The file revealed that Ashton may have done something to Colter when he was a child. But Russell didn't tell Colter anything about it to protect him. Instead, Russell accepted a deal that would protect Colter and disappeared from his brother's life.

Before disappearing, Russell contacted Reenie and asked her to make sure Colter did not try to find him. Russell promised that he would eventually explain where he was going and why he had made the decision.

In the Season 3 finale, Colter returned to a home that viewers had not seen before. Keaton later arrived there with Ashton’s damaged old truck. Colter remembered working on the truck with his father when he was younger. The sudden arrival of the truck makes one wonder if it could be connected to whatever happened to Colter as a child and whether Colter himself remembers everything about that time.

Tracker Season 4 will premiere on CBS on October 4, 2026. Season 3 is streaming on Paramount+.

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