[This story contains spoilers from the three-episode premiere of Countdown.]

By Hollywood (or, really any) standards, actor Jensen Ackles has been a busy man. He’s voiced Batman in several animated Justice League films and recently co-starred on some of the hottest TV series, including as Justin Hartley’s brother, Russell Shaw, on network’s No. 1 series Tracker and as the deadly Soldier Boy on Amazon Prime’s streaming sensation The Boys.

Yet the in-demand actor, who broke out on The CW’s fantasy drama Supernatural (2005–2020), still hadn’t found that leading role that would make him want to press pause on everything else. That is, not until Countdown came along.

Set in Los Angeles, the new action-filled Prime Video series from “One Chicago” franchise co-creator and former showrunner Derek Haas follows Ackles’ character, LAPD Detective Mark Meachum, and five other law enforcement professionals who are hand-picked from the LAPD, FBI, DEA and Secret Service and brought together by FBI Agent Nathan Blythe (Eric Dane; who recently revealed his ALS diagnosis) to form a task force investigating the murder of a Homeland Security officer. As the secret task force digs deeper into the federal agent’s death, they discover a sinister sleeper cell — one that could lead to the deaths of millions of U.S. citizens. The Countdown is on.

In a recent conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Ackles said the timing for Countdown coming his way couldn’t have been better.

“Amazon was looking for a project for me, and at the same time they were talking to Derek,” Ackles explains. “Somebody much smarter than me figured that the two of us should get together. Derek had an idea, I came out and had lunch with him, and we had a good chat. He pitched me the idea and it was everything I grew up loving about entertainment. There was action and salty characters — there was the ‘will they or won’t they’ , are they going to make it? Are they going to save everyone and catch the bad guys? It was a bit of a throwback and I gravitated to it. When we then got the option to play together, I jumped.”

This was ahead of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA labor strikes that would then halt Hollywood productions. “We went into the actors strike, and also coming out a little bit from COVID, I had some time to marinate on this. Derek and I spoke ad nauseam about everything, just getting to know each other’s likes and dislikes, and love for film and characters and story. I already knew his pedigree as a showrunner and storyteller, and I was really excited.”

But then when productions returned, his other series, The Boys, was also gearing up for season five. “I was talking to my dear friend Eric Kripke [creator of The Boys]. He was like, ‘Hey, I understand you just took on a new show: Congratulations, that’s amazing! However, we’re gonna need you for season five coming up; what’s your schedule like?’ So there was a little bit of an overlap. We had to make some magic work, schedule-wise, but we made it happen. I actually wrapped up season five of The Boys last week, and so it all worked out. I’m thrilled because I love both shows.”

Along with Ackles and Dane, the ensemble cast also includes Jessica Camacho as DEA Agent Amber Oliveras, Violett Beane as tech-savvy agent Evan Shepherd, Elliot Knight as FBI terrorist-specialist Keyonte Bell, Uli Latukefu as LAPD officer Luke Finau and Jonathan Togo as Federal Intelligence Officer Damon Drew.

As viewers dive deeper into the first season of Countdown (the first three episodes stream on June 26, with subsequent episodes dropping weekly into early September), they will discover that the title name of the show has more than one meaning. This is especially revealed in the personal life of Detective Meachum, Ackles adds. He sees his charismatic lead character as someone who is in top form professionally. Nothing is going to get in the way of catching the bad guys and saving the day.

Nothing, except perhaps time.

“He has a love of the game,” Ackles says, describing his character. “This is a guy who has found his calling in doing what he does. I can look to old school characters for inspiration — the John McClanes (Die Hard) and [Martin] Riggs from Lethal Weapon. Any of those early ‘80s and 90s action movies starring the Kurt Russells, Bruce Willises and Harrison Fords.

“But also like Josh Brolin in Sicario. A guy who likes to show up in flip flops who doesn’t give a shit, where maybe his commanding officers don’t love how unbuttoned he is. I’ve always gravitated towards characters like that,” he says. “I’ve loved to watch performances like that. So it was very easy for me to fall into finding this guy.”

Although Meachum is willing to sacrifice life and limb in the service of law enforcement, it doesn’t mean that comes without a cost. In the first three episodes. it’s revealed that Meachum is battling a personal clock as well, one that could tick down before the case is resolved.

“[He] has a brain tumor — an inoperable brain tumor,” Ackles explains about Meachum’s plight. “He has been given a limited amount of time to live, and he is involved now with this task force that is dialed into effectively saving the city of Los Angeles. But he is also dealing with the fact that he has a disease and he is dealing with his own mortality, as well as the mortality in an operation that’s trying to save millions of people.”

Meachum being confronted by his own fate will call into question his decision-making skills. “Is he operating under duress or with a clear mind?” poses Ackles. “You see that fight and struggle, certainly at the beginning of the series, and it continues to escalate as the episodes continue.”

Ackles says Meachum goes “a little off the rails” as the drama intensifies. “Is he going to be able to make the right choice at the right time when he needs to?” he asks. “It’s just really good storytelling by Derek Haas.”

Ackles also thinks the audience will love the chemistry between Meachum and Oliveras (Camacho), who will also face a massive issue that could also impact the task force assignment.

But knowing Meachum’s condition, should viewers scratch off the possibility of a season two? Ackles smiled and didn’t answer when asked, but he made it clear that he hopes people enjoy the Countdown ride as the series begins to lay out how Meachum and the crew will navigate these threats of possible tragedies, both personal and on a national scale.

“There are a couple of countdowns going on,” he sums up. “There is the countdown to the imminent danger that is that is posed by the bad guys; but there is also the countdown for some of these characters. The countdown for Meachum is that he is on borrowed time right now, and he is going to make decisions that he might not make if he had a clean bill of health.”

***

The first three episodes of Countdown are now streaming on Prime Video, with new episodes releasing Wednesdays.