Hit show Tracker on the run from Vancouver, production lured to California by tax credit

The production of the hit CBS television series Tracker is making a run to California, after three seasons of filming throughout Vancouver and around southern British Columbia.

The show, in which actor Justin Hartley plays a survivalist who finds missing people so he can collect the reward money, is set to begin production of its fourth season in Los Angeles next month after receiving a $48-million US tax credit, the entertainment industry website Deadline reports.

Disney Television Studios, the parent of Tracker production company 20th Television, confirmed Deadline’s reporting in an email to CBC News.

Tracker premiered in February 2024, immediately following the Super Bowl, and has been a TV ratings juggernaut for CBS ever since. It airs on Global TV in Canada.

Losing such a high-profile series to another location is “pretty devastating,” said Gemma Martini, CEO of Martini Film Studios, which hosted Tracker for all three seasons at its facility in Langley, about 50 kilometres southeast of Vancouver.

“Every production is important to B.C.,” said Martini, who is also the board chair of Screen BC, an industry association.

“But more specifically, Tracker‘s departure is a material loss for both our crews and our broader production economy,” she said. “It drove spending into communities throughout the province.”

Outside of Martini Film Studios, the 22-episode series regularly shot around downtown Vancouver, throughout southern B.C. and on Vancouver Island.

Showrunner and executive producer Elwood Reid said in a statement published Monday that he’s “so grateful to the crew and people of Vancouver who made the first three seasons of this hit drama possible.”

But he added that the Tracker team is “thrilled” to get the fourth season underway in Los Angeles, “thanks to the tax incentive program.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office applauded the news, saying in a post on social media platform X that it “will deliver good-paying, quality jobs for L.A. crews and a boost to local businesses!”

Tracker is one of 16 recently approved film, television and streaming productions granted tax credits under California’s $750-million incentive program, in an effort to lure studios back to the state.

The show’s $48-million credit, based on qualified expenditures of at least $129 million, is the largest of the incentives to be doled out so far this year — and it’s the only one of the recently approved productions to be relocating from elsewhere, per Deadline.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, California saw a 14 per cent year-over-year drop in TV and film production spending in the first quarter of 2026 but remained the biggest market, with nearly $1.5 billion spent in the state.

British Columbia boosted its own incentive program in at the end of 2024, raising tax credits for both local and international projects — and offering an additional bonus for blockbuster productions with budgets of $200 million Cdn or more.

Martini said the tax credit has helped make B.C. a competitive player when it comes to courting productions but that the industry is “only starting to see the benefit of that come now.”

She just hopes the momentum continues and that the incentive will bring major studio projects — and jobs — to the province.

The film and television production sector contributed $3.1 billion to the B.C. economy in 2024 and created roughly 42,000 jobs, according to estimates published by economic development agency Creative BC in March.

Moving in different directions

Tracker‘s move south deals a major blow to the film and television industry in Vancouver, long dubbed “Hollywood North,” at a time when some other noteworthy productions are coming to an end. The Vancouver-shot CBS series Watson, a medical drama with a Sherlock Holmes twist, was recently cancelled after two seasons.

CBS also reduced its episode order for the drama Fire Country‘s fifth season, with just 13 episodes instead of 20. The villages of Anmore, near Port Moody, B.C., and Fort Langley, among other locations, have served as its Northern California backdrop throughout the series.

Two other popular series filmed around the B.C. Lower Mainland — HBO’s The Last of Us and Showtime’s Yellow Jackets — will wrap up production of their final seasons this year.

But even as Tracker goes missing, the Directors Guild of Canada lists about 30 movies and television shows currently in production in B.C., as of May 1, including several films and series that have come north from the U.S.

The hit Fox sitcom Animal Control, starring Joel McHale, has already been renewed for its fifth season, with Vancouver standing in for Seattle, while ABC’s revived hospital comedy Scrubs, starring Zach Braff and Vancouver actor Sarah Chalke, was just renewed for a second season.

The second season of FX’s Emmy-winning series Shōgun is also in production in the Vancouver area, along with the premiere season of Amazon Prime Video’s adaptation of the video game God of War.

Netflix Animation Studios held the grand opening of its new Vancouver hub last month. The company says it employs more than 450 people in the 10,000-square-metre facility.

The first big feature to come out of the studio will be Steps, a retelling of Cinderella, with the voices of Ali Wong, Stephanie Hsu and Amanda Seyfried.

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