Colter Shaw has built a career around finding people who do not want to be found.
The work requires patience, observation and the ability to make decisions under pressure.
His next assignment will introduce someone who possesses similar skills but appears considerably less concerned about the consequences.
Josh Holloway is joining Tracker for a guest appearance in its fourth season.
CBS confirmed the casting on November 2, following an initial report from Deadline.
The former Lost star will appear in That's the Job, the season's seventh episode, airing Sunday, November 22.
Holloway will play Luke, another professional reward seeker whose attitude toward money and personal responsibility places him in conflict with Justin Hartley's Colter Shaw.
The episode is designed around their competing priorities and the reluctant partnership that develops when their investigations become connected.
Josh Holloway plays a dangerous rival named Luke
Luke works in the same profession as Colter.
He accepts assignments to locate people and expects to receive payment when the job is completed.
But the similarities appear to end when questions of responsibility arise.
According to CBS, Luke's methods are reckless, and his questionable moral judgment has previously endangered innocent people.
He is willing to accept a job if the reward is sufficiently attractive, without necessarily caring why someone wants a person found.
That approach makes him a particularly uncomfortable counterpart for Colter.
Although Hartley's character also earns money through his investigations, he regularly becomes personally involved when he discovers that someone needs protection.
Colter's cases frequently demonstrate that locating a person is not always the same as doing the right thing.
Sometimes the person offering a reward has concealed important information.
Sometimes the missing individual has a legitimate reason to disappear.
Luke appears less interested in such complications.
The contrast gives the upcoming episode a specific dramatic focus.
Both men may be capable of following the same trail.
The difference lies in what they are prepared to do when that trail leads somewhere dangerous.
A missing inn owner brings the two trackers together
That's the Job begins with a new disappearance.
Colter is hired to locate the owner of a small inn in South Carolina.
The circumstances surrounding the missing person have not yet been explained in detail.
But the search brings Colter into conflict with Luke, whose own assignment overlaps with the investigation.
The two professionals initially find themselves working against one another.
Their circumstances eventually force them into an uneasy partnership.
That arrangement creates a potential problem for Colter.
He normally works independently in the field, supported by trusted colleagues who help him gather information and investigate leads.
Working alongside someone who follows different rules is another matter.
Luke may recognize clues that another person would miss.
He could also anticipate Colter's methods because he understands the same profession.
But his willingness to accept greater risks may threaten the people involved in the case.
CBS has released photographs showing the characters together in several scenes.
The images confirm that Hartley and Holloway share substantial onscreen moments.
They do not establish the outcome of the investigation or reveal whether the two men will ultimately trust one another.
Holloway built his reputation playing Sawyer on Lost
The casting carries additional significance for viewers who remember Josh Holloway as James "Sawyer" Ford on Lost.
The ABC mystery drama, which ran from 2004 to 2010, made Holloway internationally recognizable.
Sawyer was one of the show's most complicated characters.
He could be selfish, sarcastic and manipulative, yet repeatedly demonstrated loyalty and unexpected emotional depth.
His behavior did not always make him easy to admire.
That uncertainty was part of his appeal.
Holloway could make the character entertaining without requiring audiences to approve of every decision he made.
Luke is not another version of Sawyer, and Tracker is not connected to Lost.
The characters belong to entirely different stories.
But Holloway's experience playing someone whose motivations are difficult to read may prove useful in his new role.
Luke is described as self-interested and professionally dangerous.
Whether the episode will give him more complicated motivations remains unknown.
That is one of the questions viewers will discover when the episode airs.
From Lost and Colony to Duster
Holloway has continued working in television since Lost ended.
He starred in CBS's Intelligence, playing an operative equipped with advanced technology.
He later led Colony, the USA Network science-fiction drama about a family living under an authoritarian occupation.
In Colony, his character Will Bowman faced difficult choices involving family loyalty and survival.
The series gave Holloway another opportunity to portray a protagonist whose priorities were frequently tested by dangerous circumstances.
He also appeared in Yellowstone.
More recently, Holloway starred in Duster, the crime drama developed by J. J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan for HBO Max.
Set in the 1970s, the series followed Jim Ellis, a getaway driver whose activities drew him into a larger criminal investigation.
Duster ended after one season.
His appearance in Tracker follows that project, but CBS has not announced a permanent addition to the show's regular cast.
Holloway is confirmed as a guest star for the November 22 installment.
There is no official announcement of multiple episodes or a spinoff featuring Luke.
Justin Hartley's Colter faces a professional mirror image
Tracker premiered on CBS in February 2024.
The series follows Colter Shaw, an independent reward seeker who travels across the United States locating missing people.
He uses his knowledge of survival techniques, human behavior and physical environments to conduct searches that often become dangerous criminal investigations.
Justin Hartley portrays Colter as someone who values personal independence.
The character rarely stays in one location for long.
His work allows the series to explore different communities, landscapes and mysteries from episode to episode.
But Colter's profession also creates recurring ethical questions.
The person paying for a search may not always be trustworthy.
Finding someone can sometimes expose that individual to greater danger.
And the most financially attractive choice is not necessarily the most responsible one.
Luke appears to approach those questions differently.
He is described as placing payment ahead of the reasons for an assignment.
That makes him a potential reflection of what Colter could become if he abandoned his personal principles.
The two characters do not have to possess identical personalities for the comparison to work.
They only need to recognize that they are capable of doing the same job while reaching radically different conclusions about how it should be done.
CBS has released photographs from the episode
The casting announcement was accompanied by official promotional images.
CBS published photographs of That's the Job through its press portal, including pictures featuring Hartley and Holloway together.
The images are credited to photographer Mike Taing.
TV Insider subsequently published a gallery showing several moments involving the rival trackers.
Some photographs place them side by side.
Others show individual scenes involving their investigation.
The images establish that the actors interact directly during the episode.
They do not explain whether their partnership becomes successful or ends in conflict.
CBS has also confirmed the episode's creative credits.
Alex Katsnelson and Jordan Goodman wrote That's the Job.
Joel Novoa directed the installment.
The creative setup is straightforward but flexible.
Two characters understand the same profession.
They disagree about how it should be practiced.
The investigation forces them into situations where cooperation may be necessary despite their mutual distrust.
Tracker has introduced competing reward seekers before
Luke will not be the first professional tracker to complicate Colter's work.
The series previously introduced Billie, played by Sofia Pernas, another reward seeker whose assignments sometimes intersect with Colter's.
Their relationship has combined cooperation, professional rivalry and personal complications.
Such characters allow Tracker to challenge its protagonist without relying entirely on conventional villains.
A colleague may create problems simply by pursuing the same objective through different methods.
That gives the writers an opportunity to examine Colter's choices from another perspective.
Hartley has previously told TV Insider that he enjoys returning to established guest characters when the story provides a worthwhile reason.
The comment reflects his wider approach to the show's supporting cast.
It does not mean Luke has already been confirmed for another appearance.
For now, the November 22 episode is the only specific Holloway appearance announced by CBS.
Any suggestion of a recurring role or a potential standalone series remains speculation.
Season 4 continues exploring Colter's family history
Tracker's fourth season premiered in the United States on October 4, 2026.
The show continues combining self-contained investigations with longer-running questions about Colter's past.
His family history remains an important part of those continuing storylines.
Jensen Ackles returns as Russell Shaw, Colter's brother.
Their relationship is connected to unresolved questions surrounding their father and the circumstances of his death.
The fifth episode, Need to Know, aired on November 1 and brought the brothers together for another investigation.
That storyline is separate from the announced guest appearance by Holloway.
Ackles and Holloway portray different characters.
Their appearances should not be treated as a single casting development.
The official synopsis of That's the Job focuses on a missing inn owner in South Carolina.
It does not establish a connection between Luke and the Shaw family's ongoing mysteries.
Such a connection cannot be assumed merely because the series maintains an overarching family storyline.
When will Josh Holloway's Tracker episode air?
That's the Job is scheduled for Sunday, November 22, 2026.
CBS has announced a 9:30 p.m. ET/PT broadcast window in the United States.
The installment is Season 4, Episode 7.
Before its premiere, CBS will air Blind Spot on November 15.
That episode follows Colter as he helps Reenie search for the estranged daughter of her mentor, leading to the discovery of a dangerous conspiracy.
Holloway's episode will then follow the next Sunday.
In the United States, Paramount+ Premium subscribers will be able to stream the episode live during its CBS broadcast.
On-demand availability is scheduled for the following day according to the service's subscription arrangements.
No specific French premiere date for That's the Job has been confirmed in the November 2 announcement.
International distribution schedules can differ from the American broadcast calendar.
The confirmed date therefore applies to CBS and the relevant US Paramount+ services.
A guest appearance designed around the show's central moral conflict
Holloway's appearance does not need to introduce a new conspiracy or transform the entire series to become meaningful.
The character already has a clear purpose.
Luke performs the same kind of work as Colter but appears unwilling to accept the same moral limits.
That distinction can create tension more naturally than introducing an opponent with no understanding of the protagonist's profession.
Colter cannot simply rely on knowing the job better than his rival.
Luke may be every bit as competent.
The question is what happens when competence is separated from responsibility.
Holloway has experience portraying complicated characters whose charm and behavior can pull audiences in different directions.
Hartley has spent four seasons establishing Colter as a professional whose personal judgment matters as much as his technical ability.
Putting them together creates an opportunity for Tracker to test that distinction.
CBS has confirmed the guest appearance, the central premise and the November 22 premiere.
The outcome of the investigation remains unknown.
For viewers, the attraction is clear: two experienced television performers playing men who can track the same person but cannot agree on what to do once they find them.
