Warning: This story contains spoilers for the mid-season three finale of Tracker.
Colter Shaw’s tracker has seemingly lost its signal…for now.
After Tracker’s season three fall finale left off with the crime-solving survivalist (played by Justin Hartley) getting stuck in a fiery car crash, the CBS series’ executive producer Elwood Reid explained why he decided to leave the character’s fate up in the air.
“As a cynical writer, I’m like, ‘Of course, he’s going to live.’ What the best cliffhangers do is put the lead characters or people you care about in really bad situations,” Elwood, 58, told Collider in an interview published Dec. 15, “but it’s about when they come out of it and how they get themselves out of it.”
He continued, “To me, that’s why you do a cliffhanger, because you get the gold of putting your character in an extreme situation.”
Indeed, Colter—who uses his impressive tracking skills to rescue missing people—has frequently put his life on the line since the show’s premiere last February. However, his latest brush with death has fans wondering if he’ll leave this accident unscathed.
During the Dec. 13 episode, he and retired cop Keaton (Brent Sexton) are investigating a grisly murder on a farm when they’re shot by Emile Lang (Mark Engelhardt), who they believe committed the crime. As Colter is driving Keaton to the hospital, their car flips off the road and the screen fades to black, reading: “To be continued.”
And with this cliffhanger leaving behind a slew of unanswered questions, Elwood wanted fans to create their own theories—at least until Tracker returns in March 2026.
Sergei Bachlakov/CBS via Getty Images“[Colter] is in extreme situations a lot,” Elwood noted. “He screws up. He gets injured a lot. He meets people that somehow, sometimes get the best of him. I think that’s what makes it fun, putting the audience in a situation where they go, ‘Is he badly injured? How’s he going to get out of this? Is Keaton dead or alive?’”
Though their injuries almost feel permanent, Elwood previously revealed that Colter might be on the road to recovery. However, he has a new red target on his back.
“When we pick up in Part 2, and I didn’t tell anyone else this, he’s in really bad shape,” he told TVLine on Dec. 14. “He’s the only one who crawls out of that car, and then he’s got bigger problems. Without giving too much away, he becomes a wanted man because he’s been at the scenes of these crimes, and people start wondering if he’s in cahoots with the killer.”
He added, “There’s another plot that helps explain that, but the short answer is yes — he needs help. We’ve got a decent cast of characters, and you can probably guess who he calls.”
As fans wait to learn more about Colter’s fate, keep reading to see more characters who didn’t survive their show’s surprising twists…
