Justin Hartley’s tracker ends Halloween episode with a bad death
Justin Hartley‘s hit series Follower ended a Halloween episode with a big death.
During the Sunday, November 2, episode of the hit CBS show, Colter (Hartley) traveled to Massachusetts to help on a case involving the murder of a nurse and the disappearance of an arsonist who disappeared from a mental institution. Colter learned that the arsonist, who suffered from mental health issues, had been kidnapped along with the sole survivor of his first fire.
The search led Colter to a nun, who was preparing to ritually sacrifice the arsonist and his survivor. While Colter was able to save Emily – who was almost set on fire – the same couldn’t be said for the mental patient who tried to help but ended up dead on the scene.
This conclusion may come as a surprise Follower viewers, who tuned in every Sunday to watch Colter successfully save the day. Looking back at the previous two seasons, Colter’s success rate is quite high. The only deaths so far have involved antagonists or missing people who were dead before the survivor was assigned the case.
Based on Jeffery Deaver’s novel The Never Game, Tracker centers on Colter, who travels across the country to find missing people (or sometimes dogs) and solve cases that others couldn’t or wouldn’t. Hartley, 48, who stars in the show and is also an executive producer, hinted at how far the show will push his character.
“I just love it when you watch a show like that and you tune in to season 1 and then the final season and you see the character development and you’re like, ‘Wait a minute, are they playing different roles?’ But when you watch it over the years, you experience those things with the characters,” he shared TV insider in September 2024. “As capable and confident as Colter is, I don’t think for a second that he doesn’t have a lot to learn, especially about himself and his family and all that.”
Hartley continued, “I think this will be the way the show will live on a long runway. We continue to develop this character and he gets better at what he does. He’s a restless man, and for an audience member at least he shows what I like to watch, you like to see the growth of a character and we have that.”
Hartley also warned that the character could die in the future.
“It’s important to keep the stakes high. I like being Colter as a hero, finding people and all that. I also really like seeing him in a tense thriller and a dangerous situation,” he said The Hollywood Reporter in April. “I don’t want our audience to forget that this man is mortal, he is not a superhero. He can die! The things he does are very, very dangerous.”
Justin Hartley’s CBS series Tracker won over audiences for its intriguing cases – and impressive guest stars. Tracker, which premiered in February 2024, centers on a survivalist named Colter (Hartley) who travels across the country helping people and law enforcement agencies solve a variety of mysteries. As the series unfolds, viewers learn […]
More recently executive producer Elwood Reid weighed on Colter’s fate and was significant Us in October: “Part of the danger is because he’s not a cop. He’s a guy who sticks his nose in some places. The network always says, ‘He could get confused, he could lose a fight, he could get hit in the head and have a gun pointed at him.’ Justin pitched an idea for the midseason finale of Season 3, where things don’t go well for Colter. That makes him fun, because he’s not a superhero.”
Reid noted that Tracker is always looking for ways to surprise viewers.
“When I watch a lot of these types of shows, as soon as the character becomes infallible or perfect, I become disinterested,” Reid explains. “I like it when characters have flaws and make mistakes and are mortal and can get hurt and mess up.”
He continued, “I’m very conscious of not making Colter too perfect. We destroy him, make him mess up, and make him do the wrong thing. I think that’s what makes the character fun to write — at least for me.”
Follower airs on CBS Sunday at 8:00 PM ET before streaming on Paramount+ the next day.
