Justin Hartley‘s Tracker is going through a big change by relocating from Canada to Los Angeles for season 4 after a nearly $50 million tax credit.
News broke on Monday, May 4, that Hartley’s hit CBS series is moving production after three seasons in Vancouver. Deadline reported that the show was on a list that revealed that Tracker got awarded $48 million on $129 million in qualified expenditures.
Tracker is 20th Television’s biggest series to be brought back to California with the help of a tax credit. Before that, Prime Video’s Fallout moved from New York to Los Angeles, while Dan Fogelman’s upcoming NFL drama, The Land, was given a $42.8 million tax credit.
“I’m proud of what we built in Vancouver. I’m also very excited we’re bringing Tracker to L.A.,” Hartley, 49, said in a statement on Monday. “I’m looking forward to continuing to tell these stories alongside the new, fresh places we’ll be heading to next. Most importantly, I want to thank the fans for showing up for us every step of the way. We couldn’t do this without you.”
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TV shows can earn an additional 5 percent tax credit bonus — on top of the 35 percent base credit — for qualified expenditures incurred outside the 30-mile zone that covers the Greater Los Angeles area and surrounding communities, according to Deadline.
Tax credits for relocation are being awarded to shows for their projected outsized economic effect, with jobs being created for Los Angeles-based crews and local businesses being boosted by returning production.
“Location is a huge part of the storytelling on Tracker,” showrunner Elwood Reid told Deadline. “We’re so grateful to the crew and people of Vancouver who made the first three seasons of this hit drama possible, and are simultaneously thrilled to be able to kick off the fourth season of Tracker by filming in Los Angeles, thanks to the tax incentive program that supports bringing production back to California.”
Based on Jeffery Deaver‘s novel The Never Game, Tracker follows Colter around the country as he helps to find missing people and solve mysterious cases. Hartley, who is also an executive producer, has hinted at how far the show will push his character.
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“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 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.”
Tracker airs on CBS Sundays at 9 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Paramount+.
