Filming a high-intensity show like Tracker isn’t just emotionally demanding—it’s physically dangerous. And for Justin Hartley, who performs many of his own stunts, one wrong move almost derailed the entire production.
It happened during the filming of Episode 6, when Colter Shaw is forced to leap from a second-story barn during a rescue mission. Sources say the landing went wrong—Hartley twisted his ankle, hard, and ended up with a torn ligament. But here’s the wild part: he didn’t stop filming.
To avoid delaying the tight shooting schedule, producers made last-minute rewrites. In the final cut, Colter is seen limping away from the scene—explained in the script as a “previous injury from a mountain fall.” What viewers didn’t know is that the limp was real.
For the next two episodes, Hartley wore a discreet brace under his jeans, and the camera angles were carefully adjusted to keep it hidden. A stunt double stepped in for wider action shots, but Hartley insisted on filming every close-up himself. “I didn’t want to lose the momentum of Colter’s story,” he said in an interview months later. “Even if it hurt.”
Fans rewatching those episodes now say they notice the difference. “He looks slower, more pained,” one Redditor commented. “But it kind of added to the realism.”
CBS never announced the injury publicly, perhaps to avoid panic or ratings drop. But it’s now part of Tracker lore—proof that Hartley isn’t just acting like a survivor. He’s living it.
