Justin Hartley takes his role as a leader on Tracker very seriously — especially when it comes to the environment on set.
“The feeling that we had on This Is Us was where everyone was there for the baby. The baby was the show,” Hartley, 49, recalled on a recent episode of the “I Am an Actor” podcast. “I said, ‘I want to keep that for the rest of my career.’”
Hartley mirrored that approach on CBS’ hit series.
“I want to make sure that that comes with me to Tracker and we’ve managed to do that,” he noted. “There’s no yelling and none of that kind of weird stuff that tends to happen sometimes on sets.They get high stress, and we try not to do that.”
It was important for the actor that Tracker approached things differently. “We try not to do that. That doesn’t help,” he continued. “It doesn’t help people very much.”
Hartley concluded: “[We try to] just protect it. Stick up for yourself and all that kind of stuff. Things can get heated, but we’re grown-ups. We still [have] respect, and all this is very, very important.”
Hartley serves as both the lead and an executive producer on the show, which found its audience as soon as it premiered. After making its debut following the Super Bowl in February 2024, Tracker became the most-watched broadcast premiere in three years. The show that previously held the title was NCIS‘ final episode with Mark Harmon in September 2021.
The viewership only increased from there, with CBS revealing in December 2024 that Tracker averaged 18.2 million viewers per episode, according to their Paramount+ and broadcast measurements.
As Tracker continued to set TV records and raise viewership numbers, Hartley credited the storytelling for setting the show apart.
When it comes to breaking TV records, there is no denying that Justin Hartley knows what America wants — just look at his hit show Tracker. Based on Jeffery Deaver‘s novel The Never Game, Tracker follows a survivalist named Colter (Hartley) who travels the country helping people and law enforcement tackle a variety of mysteries. […]
“One of the things I really love about [my character] Colter and the way we’ve built him is that he doesn’t apologize for his masculinity,” he told Men’s Journal in August 2025. “I think that’s what people are looking for. You’re asking yourself, ‘What kind of people do I want to hang out with?’ And particularly: ‘What kind of male friends do I have in my life that I really value?’”
Hartley was thrilled with the example they are able to set with Colter.
“I think we’ve crafted a character that is so emotionally evolved, and he really does want to get to the root of why people do things,” Hartley continued. “The facts are that [executive producer] Ken Olin and I set out to do a show that was in fact a throwback. We wanted a new spin on a procedural, meaning our character would evolve over time.”
Hartley added: “He would not just remain the same exact person every single week. We were hopeful people would like it. People ended up loving it. I think there’s a huge appetite for this kind of show.”
Tracker is streaming on Paramount+.
