Did Russell Shaw die in the Tracker season premiere? The answer is both yes and no, and how it played into the kick-off of season 3!
Caution: This article contains SPOILERS for Tracker season 3 premiere
The return of Tracker had Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) reeling from his discovery in season 2 that his mother may have arranged for the murder of his father. He was helped by the return of his brother Russell (Jensen Ackles), who had the much-needed distraction of a case. That involved a missing woman named Lisa whose boyfriend turned up dead.
This was connected to “The Process,” a strange setup of what amounted to a massive chain of blackmail where people were forced to commit crimes, then force other people to do the same. While part 1 ended with the brothers saving Lisa, they ended up getting the messages from the Process (with a ringtone set to “Old Time Rock and Roll”) that hinted they were now targets.
That opened Tracker season 3 episode 2 with a professor named Holmes was being forced to kill the sister of Lisa’s attacker to punish him for failing to kill Lisa. He was then sent to kill the Colter brothers, or his own family would be dead.
The brothers eventually caught Holmes, who confessed to being part of this scheme to protect his family. Colter showed his heart by letting Holmes call his son. When the Process kept texting if the job was done, Colter told Russell the only thing to do was to kill him.
Did Russell really die in Tracker?
Of course, the “murder” was all faked, with Russell spread out as if shot, so Colter could take a photo on Holmes’ phone and text it back to the sender. Speaking to TVLine, showrunner Ellwood Reid shared that the scene was supposed to be longer and funnier than what fans saw on screen.
“We shot a whole bit where they argued about how to fake the death. Russell's the 'I've done this before' guy, while Colter's trying to do everything by the book. It was funny, but we had to cut it for time. The ketchup shot said it all — and it's perfectly on-brand for Russell."
It eventually turned out that a psychology professor had set up the Process as an experiment for her students that she discontinued when she saw certain students becoming too cruel to others. Three of them, Don Schneider, Gillian Meeks, and Philip Jost, decided to take her methods and turn them into this bizarre game for control.
The brothers eventually tracked down the house the Process was coming from and in a fight, Russell killed Jost in self-defense. Colter confronted Schneider, who openly threatened his sister and mom, before Colter knocked him out. He and Russell then destroyed the computers to end the Process.
So Russell’s “death” was just a ruse with some talk on his future (with fans still hopeful this means a possible spin-off is coming). It was a great exciting two-part tale to bring Tracker back and maybe pave the way for more Colter brother adventures!
Tracker airs Sundays at 8/7c on CBS.
Get the latest Tracker updates and more with Precinct TV.