This Is Us star Justin Hartley returns to TV as a survivalist in The Never Game

CBS has given a series order to its first show for the 2023-24 season, and a This Is Us star is at the center of it.

The network has ordered The Never Game, which stars Justin Hartley as a survivalist and is based on Jeffery Deaver's best-selling novel. Crisscrossing the country as a "reward seeker," Colter Shaw (Hartley) aids both law enforcement and citizens to solve myriad mysteries, while tending to his "fractured" family.

Hartley — who recently starred in the Netflix comedy film Senior Year and the Netflix Christmas movie The Noel Diary — has described his role on The Never Game as both "very physical" and a change of pace. "It's something so different for me, something I haven't done in a while," he told EW earlier this year. "The guy's an expert tracker, he takes the law into his own hands. He doesn't have to play by the same rules necessarily that the lawyers and the cops have to play by, and he's got this mercenary side to him. We also have a lot of levity in our show because he was raised off the grid. He doesn't get a lot of pop culture references, which lends itself to some hilarious, hilarious comedy."

Michael Courtney/CBS Justin Hartley on 'The Never Game'

The project reteams Hartley with TIU executive producer and director Ken Olin, who directed the pilot for The Never Game. Both Hartley and Olin serve as executive producers. CBS gave the show a pilot commitment last year.

Hartley is the latest This Is Us cast member to return to episodic TV. Milo Ventimiglia stars in the ABC drama The Company You Keep (premiering Feb. 19), while Mandy Moore has joined the cast of the Peacock drama Dr. Death for season 2.

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