Tracker Star Breaks Down His Transition From Drama Queen to Lone-Wolf Survivalist

Summary:

• Tracker ’s Justin Hartley got most of his fame after appearing in the 2016 comedy drama show — and, apparently, that experience was a lot different from the actor’s brand new action drama.
• Hartley’s previous work was all about his dramatical performance while in Tracker it’s the physical supremacy that plays a much bigger role.
• The actor has recently admitted that he had to come up with a special technique to not mix his characters up.

CBS’ Tracker released earlier this year may have brought Justin Hartley to a whole new level of fame, but the actor’s face was very well-known before the show hit the channel back in February.

Several years before he landed the leading role in Tracker, Hartley starred in NBC’s family drama series This Is Us, the appearance in which may have foreseen something bigger coming in the actor’s way from CBS’ part in particular.

Though the series eventually ended back in 2022 letting Hartley jump straight to Tracker, such a transition surely felt like a drastic change in all aspects, but Hartley seemingly had no problem with it at all.

A brief disclaimer for those who didn’t get to see any of these shows so far: Hartley’s roles have solid zero matches in the characters’ looks and personalities. In This Is Us, the actor portrays Kevin Pearson, a seemingly arrogant and irresponsible guy who managed to build a glowing career in Hollywood, but yet still struggles to find the meaning of his life while also keeping his insecurities a secret from everyone else.

Hartley’s work on the show surely demanded a very sophisticated skill of being able to switch from one of his character’s side of personality to the other with no real physical action demanded.

In Tracker’s case, things got a bit more complicated for Hartley’s acting as he had to juggle both physical advantage and dramatical aspects of the role. The show initially follows skilled survivalist Colter Shaw who embarks on a road trip across the US to help private citizens find someone or something for reward money.

Seemingly unbreakable outside, Shaw appears to be full of his personal drama over the course of the show’s plot.

Both roles thus have literally nothing in common which makes them quite a challenge to handle at the same time for one actor, but Justin Hartley apparently can’t relate.

While talking about Tracker at CBS Mornings, the actor revealed that he knew he wouldn’t let his characters blend at any cost, but then he came up with an idea to make two separate lists for the roles — and it actually worked.

Hartley later on admitted that he’d also felt this huge contrast between Colter’s physicality and Kevin’s emotionality adding that his “tear ducts got a workout on This Is Us”.

Source: CBS Mornings