Tracker is based on Jeffery Deaver's 2019 novel The Never Game and was developed by Ben H. Winters, with Winters and Hilary Weisman Graham serving as showrunners.

The series was picked up for a pilot by CBS in July 2022 due to a pre-existing agreement between 20th Television and the network, before receiving a full series order in December 2022. Its title was changed to Tracker in March 2023.

Justin Hartley joined the series as lead character Colter Shaw as early as January 2021, well before the pilot order in 2022.

According to the source novel, protagonist Colter Shaw was named after mountain man John Colter of the Lewis and Clark expedition, while his brother Russell was named after frontiersman Osborne Russell, and his sister Dory was named after Marie Aioe Dorion, a pioneering mountain woman who survived two months in hostile winter territory.

Robin Weigert was reported in August 2024 to not be returning as a series regular for season two, while Eric Graise and Abby McEnany both left the show ahead of season three in July 2025.

Actor Chris Lee, who plays hacker Randy, was promoted from a recurring role to a series regular during the 'Breakaway' episode in March 2026.

The series is filmed in British Columbia, Canada, using locations around the Vancouver metro area and at Vancouver Film Studios (also referred to as Martini Film Studios), with production set to relocate to Los Angeles starting with the fourth season.

Tracker premiered on February 11, 2024, as the lead-out show following Super Bowl LVIII on CBS, though on Kansas City's KCTV it instead aired on sister station KSMO-TV due to postgame victory coverage.