The action drama Tracker has been a hit for CBS since its premiere in 2024. It stars Justin Hartley in the lead role as Colter Shaw, taught to be a survivalist by his father and now making his living as a “rewardist.” Traveling all over the U.S. in his airstream, Colter works with private citizens and law enforcement to locate missing people in exchange for reward money. Based on Jeffrey Deaver’s 2019 bestselling novel The Never Game and developed for TV by Ben H. Winters, Tracker has all the makings of a long-lasting network series. Its first season topped CBS ratings as the most-watched scripted series with an average of over eight million viewers per episode, and the second season kept the ball rolling with the most-watched premiere of the 2024-25 broadcast season. But should it be worried by accusations of plagiarism?
Meet the Cast of ‘Tracker’
While Colter Shaw is slightly reclusive and operates like a lone wolf, he certainly can’t do everything by himself. He has a unique group around him that helps with his searches from afar. In Season 1, married couple Teddi (Robin Weigert) and Velma (Abby McEany) handle the financial side of Colter’s business and provide him with cases to solve. Bobby (Eric Graise) is his tech guy who gathers any intel he can’t get out in the field.
Reedie (Fiona Rene) is a lawyer (with whom Colter has a romantic history) who helps him out of any legal binds he finds himself in and occasionally bails him out of jail when his tracking tactics get him into trouble. However, there was a cast change between the first two seasons when Weigert opted not to continue with the show. The gap left more room for Reenie’s character to be developed, and her legal cases became more relevant in Season 2 and allowed for deepening relationships between the characters.
What Is ‘The Finder’ & Why Is It Like ‘Tracker?’
The Finder was a short-lived Fox drama that wasn’t able to live up to its potential. It stars Geoff Stults in the lead role of Walter Sherman, a military vet who suffered a traumatic brain injury after an explosion, leaving him with a heightened ability to spot patterns and a compulsion to find things.
The Finder was actually developed as a spin-off of the wildly popular investigative procedural Bones starring Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz. In a Season 6 episode of Bones, FBI Agent Seeley Booth (Boreanaz) brings in Walter, whom he knows from his days in the Army, to locate a hidden treasure with a map found on a dead body. The 2011 episode acted as a “backdoor pilot” for what would become The Finder.
Who Is in Walter’s Circle?
Similarly to Tracker, Walter has a group of loyal helpers around — starting with Deputy U.S. Marshal Isabel Zambada (Mercedes Mason), his friends-with-benefits, who helps out in the field. Second is Leo Knox (Michael Clarke Duncan), Walter’s friend, lawyer, and bodyguard, who often gives him advice (and is largely ignored). Finally, his tech expert comes in the form of a juvenile delinquent named Willa, a Romani teenager who works at Leo’s bar while on probation. While The Finder’s set-up may seem extremely similar to Tracker (it was also based on written work, The Locator novel series by Richard Greener), there is more that separates these two shows than ties them together.
What Separates ‘Tracker’ from ‘The Finder’?
While Colter Shaw travels the U.S. going wherever he’s needed, Walter Sherman stays centered around his home base: Leo’s bar called The Ends of the Earth, located on Looking Glass Key in Florida. With a beachy vibe and bright colors, The Finder has a much lighter tone than Tracker, which takes itself far more seriously, with more dangerous cases and a more intense vibe (Tracker Season 2 Episode 12 has been the darkest so far).
Part of this difference comes from what exactly the two finders are searching for. Colter focuses solely on locating people (with the exception of one missing racehorse), whereas Walter is tasked with finding nearly anything — yes, people, but also decades-old bullets used in a murder, stolen sports memorabilia, and even an inheritance. The wide range of cases made for interesting plotlines during The Finder’s single-season run, but Tracker manages to stay exciting with each of its cases as Colter rescues people from hiking accidents in the remote wilderness, tracks down cult members who have isolated themselves from their family, saves kidnapped people from dangers criminals, and much more.
In fact, The Finder could be seen as more strictly episodic than Tracker, as its 13 episodes were strangely aired out of the order they were originally intended. While this did leave some minor continuity errors, the show was largely unaffected due to how self-contained each story was. Tracker also tackles a new missing person in nearly every episode, but there is also an over-arching narrative centered on Colter’s family, building relationships between characters, and some related cases, which makes Tracker seem more cohesive as a whole.
Walter Sherman vs. Colter Shaw
The leading men on these two shows couldn’t be more different. Where Walter is eccentric and paranoid and chooses cases largely based on how exciting they seem to him, Colter is stoic, a survivalist at heart, and dedicated to helping people find their missing loved ones. Colter’s backstory (and mysterious family history) is far more fleshed out than Walter’s, providing an extra layer of depth to his character. Walter’s military experience acts as little more than an explanation for his unique gifts, while Colter’s past has shaped him as a person — particularly the loss of his father, who taught him everything he knew.
Between dealing with the trauma of his childhood, his desire to protect his mother from harm, and reconnecting with his estranged brother (who may or may not have been involved in their father’s death), it’s easy to see where Colter gets his desire to help people. His past isn’t just an explanation for why he does what he does, but it’s ingrained in who he is as a person, making viewers relate to him in a much more significant way.
Whereas these two shows share a premise, their similarities are not enough to say that one copied the other. Tracker has already become much more successful than The Finder ever did (though the latter likely would have performed better had streaming been around at the time). While Walter’s outlandish tales and quirky findings will remain forever locked inside The Finder’s 13 episodes, Colter’s mission will hopefully continue much longer — especially if Tracker Season 3 lives up to the hype.
