Justin Hartley is in development on a new TV show while still leading his hit series Tracker, which has been going through its own changes.
Deadline reported that ABC is working on a TV adaptation of Isabella Maldonado‘s novel A Forgotten Kill. Hartley, 49, will executive produce through his overall deal at 20th Television while Diana Son will write and executive produce the project alongside fellow EPs Ken Olin and Maldonado.
A Forgotten Kill, which was released in 2024, is centered on ex–Army Ranger Dani Vega. According to the official synopsis, Dani is “a Nuyorican from the Lower East Side and dauntless FBI agent whose specialty is breaking codes and detecting patterns.”
The description continued: “As part of a task force, Dani is partnered with NYPD Detective Mark Flint. Their clashing styles give them an edge in solving crimes and expose an undeniable chemistry, but Dani is haunted by a secret: a family tragedy in her past that comes back to put her career and life at risk.”
A Forgotten Kill is the second novel in Maldonado’s FBI Special Agent Daniela Vega Series, which follows A Killer’s Game and came before A Killer’s Code.
Hartley will balance A Forgotten Kill with CBS’ hit series Tracker. Based on Jeffery Deaver’s novel The Never Game, Tracker follows Hartley’s Colter around the country as he helps to find missing people and solve mysterious cases. After spending three seasons filming in Vancouver, news broke in May that Tracker was awarded $48 million on $129 million in qualified expenditures, prompting its move.
Tracker is 20th Television’s biggest series to be brought back to California with the help of a tax credit. Before that, Prime Video’s Fallout moved from New York to Los Angeles, while Dan Fogelman’s upcoming NFL drama, The Land, was given a $42.8 million tax credit.
“I’m proud of what we built in Vancouver. I’m also very excited we’re bringing Tracker to L.A.,” Hartley said in a statement at the time. “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.”
TV shows can earn an additional 5 percent tax credit bonus — on top of the 35 percent base credit — for qualified expenditures incurred outside the 30-mile zone that covers the Greater Los Angeles area and surrounding communities, according to Deadline.
Tax credits for relocation are being awarded to shows for their projected outsized economic effect, with jobs being created for Los Angeles-based crews and local businesses being boosted by returning production.
“Location is a huge part of the storytelling on Tracker,” showrunner Elwood Reid told Deadline. “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.”
Harley recently broke his silence on the shakeup.
“In terms of tone and character, I don’t think it’ll impact the show at all,” Hartley told The Wrap on Monday, May 25. “Our show is a road show. Our character goes from town to town across the United States of America and meets people from all different walks of life and helps them out. These strangers become kind of his family in a way.”
The actor expressed excitement about making the move to Los Angeles.
“To be able to shoot in a different place that gives us different landscapes, we’re able to go to places — New York, D.C., the desert, Texas, the beach,” Hartley noted. “It just opens up our world in terms of landscape, which is such a big character of our show.”
Despite the shift, Hartley expressed gratitude for the show’s time in Canada.
“We built a really great, wonderful show and we did it in Vancouver for the first three years. Just, inevitably, as things go, the show has to evolve,” he added. “We’re not really interested in doing something just for the sake of doing it. I want to push the envelope and I want it to be something different, so we’re excited about it. It’s going to be very good for the show and for the audience.”
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