Justin Hartley’s hit series Tracker ended a Halloween episode with a major death.
During the Sunday, November 2, episode of the hit CBS show, Colter (Hartley) traveled to Massachusetts to assist on a case involving the murder of a nurse and the disappearance of an arsonist who vanished from a psychiatric facility. Colter figured out that the arsonist, who suffered from mental health issues, was kidnapped along with the lone survivor from his first fire.
The search led Colter to a nun, who was preparing to ritually sacrifice the arsonist and his survivor. While Colter was able to save Emily — who was nearly set on fire — the same couldn’t be said for the psychiatric patient who tried to help but ended up dead at the scene.
This conclusion might come as a surprise for Tracker viewers, who have tuned in every Sunday to watch Colter successfully save the day. Looking back at the two prior seasons, Colter’s success rate is pretty high — the only deaths so far have included antagonists or missing people who were dead before the survivalist was assigned the case.
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Based on Jeffery Deaver’s novel The Never Game, Tracker centers around Colter, who travels the country helping to find missing people (or sometimes dogs) and solving cases others couldn’t or wouldn’t. Hartley, 48, who stars in the show is also an executive producer, hinted at how far the show will push his character.
“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.”
Hartley 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.”
Hartley also warned that the character could die in the future.
“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. “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.”
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More recently, executive producer Elwood Reid weighed in on Colter’s fate, telling Us in October, “Some of the danger is in here because he’s not a cop. He is this guy who is poking his nose in places. The network is always like, ‘He can get messed up, he can lose a fight, he can get conked on the head and he can have a gun pointed at him.’ Justin pitched an idea for the season 3 midseason finale where it doesn’t go well for Colter. That’s what makes him fun is he is not a superhero.”
Reid noted that Tracker is always searching for ways to surprise viewers.
“When I watch a lot of these types of shows, the minute the character becomes infallible or perfect then I’m uninterested,” Reid explained. “I like when characters have flaws and make mistakes and are mortal and can be wounded and can screw up.”
He continued: “I’m very conscious of not making Colter too perfect. We are scuffing him up, letting him screw up and letting him do the wrong thing. I think that’s what makes the character fun to write — at least for me.”
Tracker airs on CBS Sundays at 8 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Paramount+.
