There's 1 Thing 'Tracker' Refuses To Reveal About Colter Shaw

For three seasons on the recently-renewed Tracker, we’ve followed Justin Hartley's lone wolf survivalist, the rewardist Colter Shaw, all across America. He's battled everything from cults and mafia goons to government operatives and even full-blown serial killers. But in all of that time, there's one enemy that Colter has never been able to get past: himself. Despite spending over 40 episodes with the guy, it feels like we hardly know him. Some minor traumatic backstory aside, Tracker has never been brave enough to throw us a bone. Instead, we continue to wonder: what does Colter do in his free time?

Colter Shaw Has No Life Outside His Usual 'Tracker' Exploits

Colter Shaw can track down absolutely anything except for an actual work-life balance. Sure, maybe some of us can relate to that (I certainly can), but even the most prolific workaholics out there have a hobby of some sort to come home to, right? Tracker may be based on the Jeffrey Deaver novels that began with The Never Game (which was almost the show's title, by the way), but it feels a lot more like Tracker ought to be titled Never Settle Down. Colter Shaw is, sometimes, a bit too much of a blank slate. We know nothing about his interests, his likes, his hobbies. Yeah, he was raised by a survivalist conspiracist father in the middle of the woods, but that wasn't his entire childhood, right? Even then, didn't he ever go ride bikes for fun or hit the arcade? It's like this guy has no idea how to wind down after a long day, and so he'd rather just hit the road again to head to the next emergency. He's got to be exhausted.

In fact, any time Reenie (Fiona Rene) offers to take him fishing ("Into the Wild"), Bobby (Eric Graise) asks him out to lunch ("Chicago"), or he sits down with Randy (Chris Lee) and Russell (Jensen Ackles) for breakfast ("The Process"), our favorite rewardist either fails to associate outside of work or refuses to tip his hat to his personal interests. For Colter, it seems that all he has going for him is his job, and while that is certainly "on brand," we really ought to know a bit more about Tracker's leading man by now. At this point, his brother Russell (who has only appeared in four episodes across three seasons) feels more well-rounded and three-dimensional at times than Colter, who can't even clue us in to what he likes to eat for breakfast, let alone what his favorite movie or hobby might be.

'Tracker' Needs To Give Colter Shaw Some Interests Removed From His Job

At this point, we’ve seen Colter do everything from riding horses ("No Man's Land") and showing off at the gun range ("Eat the Rich") to snowmobiling ("The Mercy Seat") and hiking through rough terrain ("The Old Ways"). Unfortunately, all of these potential hobbies are simply on-the-job activities for the rewardist. They aren’t pastimes he can explore when not on the job because Colter Shaw is perpetually on the job. Downtime is almost like a sickness the rewardist does his best to avoid, and while we know that if Colter doesn’t work he won’t get paid, we also know that he can certainly afford a vacation or a day off or two if need be.

No doubt, Tracker isn’t the type of show that’s structured in a way where we can spend an absorbent amount of time with Colter Shaw when he isn’t on the job (though if CBS would permit, I’d love to take a stab at “Colter Shaw’s Day Off” — call me!). Part of why we love this show is that Colter rides into new towns weekly to uncover new mysteries. It’s enjoyable network TV entertainment that is consistent enough week in and week out to remain appealing in an age of serialized television and ultra-bingeworthy limited series. All in all, Tracker is a good time, even if we wish Colter would pick up a book or phone a non-work friend every once in a while.

Tracker airs Sundays on CBS and is available the next day for streaming on Paramount+.