TV Big Sky gets a new sheriff! Get your first look at Jensen Ackles in his badge Jensen Ackles is trading in demon hunting for crime fighting. By Maureen Lee Lenker Maureen Lee Lenker Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight, is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen. EW's editorial guidelines Published on May 19, 2022 08:00AM EDT There's a new sheriff in town. On the Thursday night season finale of Big Sky, Jensen Ackles makes his debut as Beau Arlen, who steps in as a temporary sheriff to help out his buddy Sheriff Tubb (Patrick Gallagher) while Tubb is temporarily out of commission. In the exclusive clip above, we get our first glimpse at Beau, who seems to immediately butt heads with Jenny (Katheryn Winnick). Of course, whether she's officially on the force or not, Jenny Hoyt has never responded well to authority meted out from law enforcement above her. Despite Jenny's immediate dislike of him, Beau has already started making friends on the force, including getting tabs on where the best fishing spots are on in the area. In a character description previously released by ABC, Beau is described as a "confident and charming good ol' boy from Texas." That works nicely for Supernatural alum Ackles, who is not only from Texas, but is now joining his former screen partner Jared Padelecki in portraying Texan law enforcement (Padelecki is currently starring on The CW's Walker, Texas Ranger reboot, now titled Walker). ABC already announced that this will mark the start of an arc for Ackles in Big Sky country, as Beau will move from his season 2 finale guest star role to a series regular in a fully-fledged one season arc in the recently announced season 3. Jensen Ackles on 'Big Sky'. ABC/Anna Kooris Jenny's gut instincts are often right, so if she doesn't trust Beau initially, we probably shouldn't either. Perhaps Beau will feature in a new mystery in season 3, as this season's major storylines come to a head in the season 2 finale. In addition to introducing Beau, "Catch a Few Fish" airing Thursday night, finds Jenny working to find Travis (Logan Marshall-Green) before he reaches a dangerous point of no return. Meanwhile, Cassie (Kylie Bunbury) changes the course of her quest for justice forever after receiving a startling surprise. Big Sky was recently renewed for season 3 and upgraded Jamie-Lynn Sigler to series regular. It was also announced that country legend Reba McEntire will be joining season 3 as a series regular, as Sunny Brick, the matriarch of the Brick family, a "successful backcountry outfitter with a secret history of missing customers." Watch the clip above for more. Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more. Related content: Reba McEntire joins Big Sky season 3 as a series regular Jensen Ackles joins Big Sky season 3 as a 'charming good ol' boy from Texas' Big Sky star Jesse James Keitel breaks down Jerrie's surprising detour