Justin Hartley hinted that Tracker will be making one major change.
Hartley, 49, spoke about Colter’s death count so far, telling Entertainment Weekly on Tuesday, September 15, “I was like, ‘Well, this guy can’t be killing six people per week. This is ridiculous.’”
Based on Jeffery Deaver’s novel The Never Game, Tracker follows Colter as he travels the country helping to find missing people (or sometimes dogs) and solving cold cases. Hartley previously caused some concern when he hinted that Colter might not survive every case he is on.
“The season 3 finale, this actually is kind of a spoiler. But basically my character dies and he goes to heaven,” Hartley quipped on a May episode of The Tonight Show. “The angels are like, ‘Help, Abraham Lincoln is missing.’ So I track him down and it turns out he’s at a Jamba Juice. It was unbelievable.”
While the finale didn’t actually show Colter in a near-death situation, Hartley hasn’t ruled it out as an option.
“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 about the high stakes his character faces 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.”
More recently, executive producer Elwood Reid weighed in on Colter’s fate.
“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,’” Reid, 59, told Us in October 2025. “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.”
