What to Watch Sunday, October 4: ‘Lanterns’ Finale, ‘Marshals’ & ‘Tracker’ Return

Sunday television is officially waking up for fall. CBS kicks off its Premiere Week with the return of Marshals and Tracker, while HBO’s Lanterns reaches the end of its first season after eight episodes of murder, mystery and considerably more complicated Green Lantern business than anyone probably expected when this case began. Disney+ and Hulu also have the final day of the Austin City Limits Music Festival livestream, giving anyone who wants a break from scripted drama a completely different way to spend Sunday.

TV Cave Top Pick: Lanterns

There really couldn’t be another choice this week. Lanterns reaches its Season 1 finale tonight at 9 PM ET on HBO and HBO Max, bringing the investigation that united John Stewart and Hal Jordan to its conclusion. Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler have spent the season turning what could have been a straightforward superhero adventure into something much moodier and more character-driven, with the central murder mystery steadily revealing that its implications stretch far beyond one small-town crime.

The finale now has to bring those pieces together while paying off John’s journey from new recruit to someone beginning to understand exactly what carrying that ring demands of him. Lanterns has deliberately taken the scenic route through the DC universe instead of throwing superheroes at the screen every five minutes, and tonight is where we find out whether all that patience pays off. No pressure, HBO. Just the fate of an entire season and one pretty important corner of the DC Universe.

Sunday, October 4 TV Schedule

Time (ET)	Show	Network/Streaming	Tonight
Streaming	Austin City Limits Music Festival 2026	Disney+ / Hulu	Livestream — Final Day
7:30 PM	60 Minutes	CBS / Paramount+	New Episode — Special Start Time
8:00 PM	The Marlow Murder Club	PBS	New Episode
8:30 PM	Marshals	CBS / Paramount+	Season 2 Premiere
9:00 PM	Lanterns	HBO / HBO Max	⭐ TOP PICK — Season 1 Finale
9:00 PM	Marble Hall Murders	PBS	New Episode
9:30 PM	Tracker	CBS / Paramount+	Season 4 Premiere

CBS officially lists 60 Minutes at 7:30 PM ET, followed by Marshals at 8:30 and Tracker at 9:30 because of the network’s NFL doubleheader. Those later start times apply only tonight; beginning October 11, Marshals moves to its regular 8 PM slot and Tracker settles in at 9 PM.

‘Marshals’ Returns With Kayce in Crisis

Marshals begins Season 2 with Kayce Dutton having absolutely no interest in easing himself gently back into television. Tate has been taken hostage, sending Kayce into rescue mode while the Marshals uncover a larger criminal operation tied to the East Camp land grab. Luke Grimes is back at the center of the action, and the new season also brings another familiar face from the Yellowstone universe into the fold with Jefferson White returning as Jimmy Hurdstrom in a recurring role.

CBS clearly isn't treating Marshals like just another spinoff tucked away in the schedule. After the first season became one of the network's biggest new dramas, Season 2 gets one of the centerpiece slots on the opening night of CBS Premiere Week. And judging by where Kayce's story begins tonight, the show isn't wasting much time reminding everybody why he probably shouldn't be given a peaceful Sunday evening.

‘Tracker’ Is Back on the Hunt

Justin Hartley follows at 9:30 PM ET with the Season 4 premiere of Tracker. Colter Shaw heads into another year of finding people who have disappeared when everyone else has run out of answers, with tonight's case taking him to Los Angeles and into a search that becomes considerably more dangerous than a routine missing-person investigation.

Tracker has become one of CBS's most dependable dramas by understanding exactly what it is: give Colter a mystery, put somebody in trouble and let Justin Hartley spend an hour figuring out what everyone else missed. Season 4 isn't trying to reinvent that formula just for the sake of saying it did something different, although the lingering questions surrounding Colter's family and his father's past continue giving the procedural a larger story to chase between weekly cases.

PBS Has Two Mysteries of Its Own

CBS and HBO don't get exclusive rights to Sunday-night mysteries. PBS has The Marlow Murder Club at 8 PM, followed by Marble Hall Murders at 9 PM. Marble Hall Murders reaches Episode 5 tonight, putting Susan Ryeland increasingly close to the truth as the latest mystery heads toward next week's finale.

It's a very different flavor of mystery from what Lanterns and Tracker are serving, which actually makes PBS a nice alternative tonight. Apparently Sunday's unofficial programming mandate is that somebody, somewhere, needs to solve something before bedtime.

Austin City Limits Wraps Its First Weekend

Disney+ and Hulu also stream the final day of the first weekend of the Austin City Limits Music Festival today. The 2026 festival celebrates its 25th anniversary, and Sunday's lineup includes performances leading into headliners Twenty One Pilots and The xx.

That gives streaming viewers a live alternative to the night's heavy concentration of dramas and mysteries. Between ACL, three major scripted Sunday events and PBS's mysteries, October's first Sunday is considerably busier than the first couple nights of the month suggested it might be.

Sunday ultimately belongs to Lanterns for us. CBS has the bigger quantity of premieres, but John Stewart and Hal Jordan finishing the case they've spent eight weeks unraveling is the television event with the most built-in payoff. Marshals and Tracker are just beginning their new seasons; Lanterns has one last chance tonight to stick the landing.