PARTING SHOT
FINDING THAT NEXT GREAT CHARACTER AFTER A BLOCKBUSTER SERIES like This Is Us isn’t easy, but Justin Hartley figured it out with his new CBS drama Tracker (February 11). “As an actor, to get to play someone so different right after playing someone I thought was so special, it’s the time of my life.” Hartley plays Colter Shaw, a survivalist who travels the country in his Airstream looking to help people who have posted rewards. “Colter’s environment doesn’t really happen to him, he happens to his environment.” Considering the series is an action drama, the physicality required of Hartley is much bigger than This Is Us. “You definitely get your steps in. [laughs] I have realized that if something is scripted like, Colter arrives and knocks on the door, something’s gonna happen where he’s gonna have to be running. So, a lot of stretching. It’s a very active show.” But he knows he owes all of this to This Is Us. “I’m executive producing and starring in a show on CBS that airs right after the Superbowl because of the opportunities This Is Us afforded me. I owe so much to that show.”
How did Tracker come about?
My friend Ken Olin [producer on This Is Us], we were talking about doing something together. He gave the book to me to read. He goes, “You gotta read this book. It’s incredible.” I read it and fell in love with the character. We kind of looked at each other and we were, “this is the thing, this is what we have to do. We ha
