SDCC 2024: Tracker's Justin Hartley Compares Colter to Smallville's Green Arrow

Hartley played Oliver Queen on Smallville before pivoting to network dramas like This is Us and Tracker.

By Russ Burlingame

Justin Hartley has had three consecutive hits, moving from Smallville to This is Us to CBS's Tracker. None of those characters has been especially alike -- something dictated both by the script and by Hartley's own approach to acting. Speaking with ComicBook at the San Diego Comic Con this weekend, Hartley told us that there's some shared DNA between Smallville's Oliver Queen and Tracker's Colter Shaw, even if it isn't immediately obvious to the audience. he also, along with showrunner Elwood Reid, teased that there will be a little wink-and-a-nod on Tracker that acknowledges the star's time as the Green Arrow.

"I try to learn from all of the characters that I play, personally," Hartley told ComicBook. "Throughout life, you hopefully change in a good way. Maybe not change, but adapt, and hopefully become a better person. I think I try to keep the characters different, because they're all so different, but I like to make a list of things that I have in common with these characters that I'm playing, and things that I don't have in common with them. That's how I start. Interestingly enough for this one, I did a list of Kevin Pearson and Colter Shaw, because I'd been playing Kevin Pearson for so long. But I never really thought about the Green Arrow. Truly, he was a loner at times. He had strong conviction about certain things. I think Oliver, the way that I played him, was a little bit more politically motivated than Colter. I don't know if Colter has that necessarily. Coulter, you could call him a vigilante in ways. He breaks the law every once in a while. He does what he needs to do, to get the job done. Oliver was a lot like that. Maybe a little more bold. He had more resources for sure. He was richer. And he dressed differently."

"We're going to wink at Green Arrow, you just wait," Reid added. "There'll be something."

What Is Tracker About?

Hartley's Colter Shaw is described as a "lone wolf" who drives around the country seeking rewards for missing people and personal belongings. The episodes follow Shaw on different cases in different places, and he runs into various characters along the way. You can check out the official synopsis below!

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"Tracker stars Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw, a lone-wolf survivalist who roams the country as a reward seeker, using his expert tracking skills to help private citizens and law enforcement solve all manner of mysteries while contending with his own fractured family. The series is based on the bestselling novel The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver."

Tracker will once again be airing new episodes on Sunday nights, but it will be leading off the prime time programming for the network. Tracker currently airs at 9pm ET on Sunday nights, following The Equalizer. In the fall, Tracker will move to 8pm ET, directly following 60 Minutes.  

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