Tracker’s Justin Hartley Says He’s Finally Found ‘Peace’ and Wants to Leave the ‘Drama on Screen’ (Exclusive)
The ‘This Is Us’ alum stars in CBS’s new action drama, premiering after the Super Bowl on Feb. 11
Justin Hartley is embracing his moment.
The actor, 47, stars in CBS’s new action-packed show Tracker, where he plays bounty-hunter-meets-private-eye Colter Shaw. The new series premieres after the Super Bowl on Feb. 11, and Hartley tells PEOPLE he couldn’t be more content with how everything is unfolding in his life.
“It took me a long time to get here, and I am just surrounded by the best people. [I’m] just completely at peace, and my daughter’s doing well, she’s just wonderful,” he says, referring to daughter Isabella, 19, whom he shares with ex-wife Lindsay Korman.
“Everyone seems to be healthy and happy and there’s no drama, there’s no stress,” he adds. “I don’t like drama out there. I like drama on screen!”
In contrast to his own life where he’s constantly surrounded by people he loves, Hartley’s character on Tracker is very much a lone wolf — which Hartley says he appreciates.
“The fact that Colter doesn’t have a girlfriend, I think that’s one of the things I wanted to sort of keep,” says the actor, who also serves as an executive producer on the show. “I feel like if he has a wife and a girlfriend and a family, and he continues to do all these dangerous things, that’s kind of selfish.”
Still, Shaw’s single nature didn’t prevent Hartley from finding a way to involve his own wife, Sofia Pernas, on the show — and PEOPLE has the first look.
In one of the upcoming episodes, Pernas will play a reward seeker named Billie, a nemesis of her husband’s character, according to CBS.
In real life, the couple, who wed in 2021, couldn’t be more in love.
“I just like looking at her. We talk about everything. We talk about things that are going on in the world. We talk politics, we talk about family, friends. We love the Dodgers — I got her to like the Dodgers!” Hartley says with a laugh.
The pair first met while they were costars on The Young and the Restless after Pernas joined the soap opera in 2015, so working together comes second nature. Hartley admits the two “do everything together.”
”We stay home a lot. We love our home,” he says of relishing quiet nights in. “We stay home and hang out and stare at each other like a couple of idiots. It’s really great.”
