EXCLUSIVE: One of the biggest shows on television is relocating to Los Angeles with the biggest California tax credit for a series to date. CBS‘ Tracker, starring Justin Hartley, will move from Vancouver, where the first three seasons were shot. Its studio 20th Television is currently locking down production facilities in and around L.A., with filming on Season 4 slated to begin in late June.
While the relocation decision was just recently finalized, it had been in the works for awhile. It was telegraphed when the California Film Commission in March unveiled the latest round of TV tax credits to 16 new and returning series and pilots under the state’s $750 million incentives program. There was one relocating show on the list, code named “Untitled Disney Entertainment Television Project 13,” which was awarded an eye-popping $48M on $129M in qualified expenditures. (20th Television is part of Disney Television Studios, itself a division of DET.)
Deadline can reveal that the show is Tracker, 20th Television’s biggest series to be lured back to California so far. Its $48M tax credit eclipses the $42M handed to Season 3 of Amazon’s Fallout, which relocated from New York to Los Angeles with a tax credit for Season 2, and the $42.8M given to another 20th Television series, Dan Fogelman’s upcoming NFL drama The Land.
“I’m proud of what we built in Vancouver. I’m also very excited we’re bringing Tracker to L.A.,” star and executive producer Hartley said. “I’m looking forward to continuing to tell these stories alongside the new, fresh places we’ll be heading to next. Most importantly, I want to thank the fans for showing up for us every step of the way. We couldn’t do this without you.”
Justin Hartley in ‘Tracker’
Darko Sikman/CBS
By its nature — Tracker stars Hartley as a lone-wolf survivalist who tracks down people across the U.S. for reward money — the action drama is shot primarily on location in the wilderness. A move to California would provide the series with a change of scenery and an opportunity to explore new locales spanning a coastline, mountains and desert.
“Location is a huge part of the storytelling on Tracker,” executive producer and showrunner Elwood Reid said. “We’re so grateful to the crew and people of Vancouver who made the first three seasons of this hit drama possible, and are simultaneously thrilled to be able to kick off the fourth season of Tracker by filming in Los Angeles, thanks to the tax incentive program that supports bringing production back to California.”
Tracker‘s remote, rural locations setting would allow the series to take full advantage of the California incentives. TV shows can earn an additional 5% tax credit bonus — on top of the 35% base credit — for qualified expenditures incurred outside the L.A. 30-mile zone that covers the Greater Los Angeles area and surrounding communities.
Justin Hartley in ‘Tracker’
Sergei Bachlakov/CBS
Tax credits for relocating big-scale series like Tracker are being awarded for their projected outsized economic effect, creating jobs for L.A.-based crews and boosting auxiliary local businesses which have been hit hard by runaway production.
For its first two and a half seasons, Tracker was the most watched broadcast series. It is currently No.2 behind CBS’ new breakout drama, Marshals, with 16.4M Live+28 multiplatform viewers in the U.S.. It ranks No.7 among all series — network and streaming ones — over the 2025-26 broadcast season.
Based on the bestselling novel The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver, Tracker is set to return in the fall for its fourth season. Reid and Hartley executive produce with Ken Olin, Connie Dolphin, Sharon Lee Watson and Alex Katsnelson.
