The Biggest Difference Between Tracker and the Novel It’s Based On

The action drama Tracker stars Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw, a survivalist and tracker who has built a career helping law enforcement and private citizens find missing people in exchange for reward money. Tracker is based on the 2019 novel The Never Game, the first installment in the Colter Shaw book series, which currently includes four novels.

Tracker, the most-watched show of 2024 and set to begin its second season on CBS on October 27, 2024, has been compared to Prime Video’s hit action series Reacher. Like Reacher, Tracker is based on a popular book series that features a lone wolf protagonist who travels across the United States in a nomadic fashion. Like Reacher’s protagonist Jack Reacher, Shaw is surrounded by a small group of people he trusts.

Beyond the similarities between Reacher and Tracker, Hartley and Reacher star Alan Ritchson both play the superhero Aquaman on television. However, Reacher and Tracker differ in how closely each show adheres to its source material. While Reacher’s first season was a fairly faithful adaptation of Jack Reacher’s first novel, Killing Floor, Tracker’s first season deviated from the plot of The Never Game while still maintaining the character’s attributes and personal history from the series.
Like Reacher, Tracker is driven by Hartley’s charismatic presence, who imbues Colter with a level of likability and warmth that makes Colter seem far more believable and relatable on the show than he does on the page.