The Biggest Differences 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 theoretically strayed from the plot of The Never Game while still maintaining the character’s traits 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 sympathetic on the show than he does on the page.

In addition to the main character Colter Shaw, the first season of Tracker features several existing characters from the Colter Shaw series, including Colter’s mother, Mary Shaw, brother Russell, sister Dorian Shaw, as well as Colter’s married caretakers Teddi and Velma, and Colter’s father, Ashton Shaw, who teaches Colter and his siblings how to survive in the wilderness and beyond.

New characters introduced in Tracker are Bobby, Colter’s technical expert, and Reenie, a lawyer who assists Colter in dealing with various legal issues he encounters during his dangerous and unpredictable work. While new characters are introduced in each episode, following the procedural format of the show, Tracker, like the book series, focuses on family, as Colter struggles to deal with his broken family dynamics and reconcile the painful memories of his unconventional childhood.

One of the biggest differences between Tracker and its source material is how the show leverages the charisma of series star Justin Hartley, who previously won over audiences with his moving performance on the powerful TV series This Is Us, and turns Colter into a much more expressive and comedic character than in the book series, where Colter is portrayed as the very definition of the strong and silent type.