Joshua Jackson is stepping back into a thrilling role that fans of mystery and suspense are sure to enjoy. The 47-year-old actor has returned as narrator Nate Russo in The Oracle 3: Murder at the Grandview, an Audible Original that debuted on Thursday, June 12.
This latest installment continues the bestselling audio mystery series by Andrew Pyper, the celebrated author who passed away from cancer earlier in 2025.
Jackson first took on the voice of Russo—a tough FBI agent with an unusual psychic ability that lets him see the past through touch—in the first two Oracle installments. Now, in The Oracle 3, the story takes Russo to a remote island off the coast of Ontario, where a gruesome murder has just occurred.
Reflecting on the experience, Jackson shared why he’s so drawn to this kind of work.
“I loved that it is a character that I probably wouldn’t get to play on camera, right? And I love that there’s this aspect of Nate that is kind of this hard-bitten, noir character set inside of this supernatural world,” he told PEOPLE exclusively.
His connection to the role was immediate.
“I thought I heard Nate’s voice in my head, and that’s the thing you’re looking for,” he explained.
“Like, I can play this character, but I probably couldn’t play him on camera just because physically, I don’t think I’m big enough. It was an opportunity for me to be able to step out of the types of things that I’m able to do on camera and record the story.”
Outside of the recording studio, Jackson is also spending time introducing the magic of storytelling to his daughter, Juno, whom he shares with ex-wife Jodie Turner-Smith.
“I have a 5-year-old who’s just beginning her journey as a reader. And for me, audiobooks, when they work the best, just as with on the page, [they offer] the opportunity to kind of detach from the moment and let your imagination run wild,” he said.
“And I think one of the things that Andrew does very, very well is he sketches the mental picture and then allows your imagination to run freely inside of it.”
That ability to unlock imagination, Jackson believes, is at the heart of what’s made the Oracle series so compelling to listeners.
“I would guess that the reason that these books have now become a series of books is because he has written compelling characters, but he’s created a world that allows our imagination, our personal fears, our terrors to kind of run free inside of Nate Russo’s world with him as the lens into these crazy, supernatural places,” he said.
