It could be a long time before Reacher fans get to see season 3, but Justin Hartley’s new action thriller series on CBS is the perfect replacement show to enjoy in the meantime. Based on the novel The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver, Tracker stars Hartley as a renegade survivalist who makes his living by using his extensive tracking skills to help law enforcement and private citizens find missing persons. The series was created by Ben H. Winters, who serves as co-showrunner with Hilary Weisman Graham.
Tracker premiered on February 11, right after the Super Bowl, and received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised Hartley’s star power and the series’ traditional episodic case-of-the-week structure. Prime Video is working on a third season of Reacher, this time adapted from the novel Persuader, but it could be a while off. Season 2 arrived almost two years after season 1. Tracker is the perfect Reacher replacement show to fill that void during the interminable wait for season 3.
New CBS Show Tracker Is The Perfect Reacher Replacement Show
Tracker is the perfect show for fans who are getting impatient in the wait for Reacher season 3. Hartley gives a compelling performance in the lead role of roguish survivalist Colter Shaw, who drifts across the country in search of reward money. The action scenes are engaging, the mystery plotting keeps the audience guessing, and the supporting cast is full of the kind of quirky, colorful characters that prompt viewers to keep tuning back into a TV show.
The show’s case-of-the-week format means that every episode shakes up the formula with a brand-new storyline. Each episode brings Colter to a new locale, with a new investigation to solve. Since the era of “Peak TV” made serialization the norm, the art of episodic television has quickly become a thing of the past. But shows like Tracker, Reacher, and The Mandalorian are keeping the spirit of episodic TV alive.
How Justin Hartley's Colter Shaw Compares To Jack Reacher
Colter Shaw, Hartley’s lead protagonist in Tracker, has a lot of similarities with Jack Reacher. Whereas Reacher has a background as a U.S. Army military policeman, Colter’s background is in the art of survivalism. But despite their differing backstories and skillsets, Colter and Reacher lead the same freelance lifestyle. They’re lone wolves who go from town to town, solving mysteries. Much like Reacher, Tracker is based on the work of one of the world’s most revered thriller novelists. Tracker is the perfect show to take Reacher’s place while it’s on hiatus.
