Since Tracker premiered on CBS, Justin Hartley has taken it upon himself to remind viewers that his character Colter Shaw can — and will — die.
Based on Jeffery Deaver‘s novel The Never Game, Tracker centers around a survivalist named Colter who travels the country helping find missing people (or sometimes dogs) and solving cases others wouldn’t. As the series unfolds, viewers learn more about how Colter’s past shaped his current life as a lone wolf.
Hartley not only stars on the show, but he also serves as an executive producer alongside This Is Us producer and director Ken Olin. His role behind the scenes has allowed Hartley to surprise fans with exciting guest stars — but it has also kept the actor grounded about where the show will go.
“I just love that when you watch a show like that and you tune into season 1 and then you tune into the last season, you see the development of the character and you go, ‘Wait a minute, are they playing different roles?’ But then if you watch it throughout the years, you experience those things with the characters,” he told TV Insider in September 2024. “As competent and confident as Colter is, I don’t at all think for a second that he doesn’t have a ton to learn, especially about himself and his family and all that.”
He continued: “Going forward, I think that will be how the show lives on a long runway, is that we keep developing this character and he becomes better at what he’s doing. He’s a restless man, and for an audience member, at least shows that I love to watch, you love to see that growth of a character and we have that.”
In addition to showing Us Colter’s growth, Hartley warned that the character isn’t immortal. He even hinted that the fan-favorite lead could die as the remainder of the Tracker cast faces shakeups.
Keep scrolling for Hartley’s most candid quotes about Colter’s mortality:
A Realistic Portrayal
“You start to see all the layers of this guy, peeled back little by little as to why he’s doing what he’s doing. Why he’s going about his business the way he does and why it means so much to him. I wondered why there is not more of this,” Hartley told The Hollywood Reporter in February 2024. “He is not a superhero — he’s living a very dangerous life. If he gets shot, he bleeds, he will die.”
Hartley compared it to the Rockford Files, adding, “We just don’t have that anymore and I get nostalgic about that kind of television. And I’m thinking, what if we had an old-school show with a modern edge to it? And I think the character is awesome.”
No One Is Safe
According to Hartley, Tracker isn’t afraid to take big risks with Colter.
“It’s important to keep upping the stakes. I like being Colter as a hero, finding people and all that. I also really like seeing him in a suspenseful thriller and a dangerous situation,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in April 2025. “I don’t want our audience to forget that this man is mortal, he’s not a superhero. He can die! The things he is doing are very very dangerous.”
Keeping Colter Grounded
Hartley explained to CBS Mornings in May 2025 why he likes Colter being a “hero” but not necessarily a “superhero.”
“I think one of the things that people connect with is he’s vulnerable, like, he can get injured,” Hartley shared. “And I think when you put a cape on … it loses a bit of that. You see him kind of fall apart in a way that you wouldn’t expect. He is way in over his head and he hears this information and he gets overwhelmed and he kind of crumbles a little bit.”
Affecting the Writing
That same month, executive producer Elwood Reid spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about Colter’s future.
“[Justin] says it all the time. Colter is not Superman and that goes hand in hand with the physical element of it, but then there’s also the emotional thing that gets to him,” he noted. “As long as I continue to remind ourselves as the writers that he’s human, he can die, he can get hurt — it’s fun.”
Reid continued: “Justin is always pitching an episode where Colter is almost dead in the middle of the show and we go back. He’s got all kinds of crazy ideas, but I think that’s what makes the show fun, because the minute Colter becomes like Superman, then he’s out. That’s not what Justin wants to play and I don’t think that that’s what the character is.”
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