Star Jensen Ackles talks embracing his inner ’80s action hero with Countdown.
Jennsen Ackles’ love for action flicks stems from early childhood. The 47-year-old Texan was raised in the golden age of high-octane motion pictures where one man could — and would — save the day. “That’s what I grew up idolizing,” he says. “Those were the characters that I grew up going, ‘That’s what I want to do. I want to be Riggs in Lethal Weapon. I want to be McClane in Die Hard. I want to be Indiana Jones in the trilogy . . . well, I guess it’s more than a trilogy now [laughs].”
Since the beginning of his career, Ackles has been quite successful in manifesting his action hero destiny. He spent 15 seasons fighting the undead on The CW’s Supernatural, from there going on to portray foul-mouthed superhero Soldier Boy on Prime Video’s The Boys. When Derek Haas, creator of Chicago Fire, Med, P.D. and Justice, was looking to return to his early-aughts thriller roots à la 2 Fast 2 Furious and Wanted with a series about an interagency task force unravelling a dark conspiracy that could destroy the city of Los Angeles, it felt like kismet to the actor. “It was the love for that kind of action, that kind of character, that kind of storytelling, that really propelled what we ended up doing,” says Ackles. “It’s been a thrill-ride.”
For Haas, there was no one more appropriate to channel the likes of Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson in the role of reluctant hero Det. Mark Meachum, a man known equally for his skill and reckless risk-taking. “I don’t think there’s an ’80s action movie that you couldn’t have put Jensen in, if he was born two decades [earlier],” says Haas. But there were other qualities the actor possessed that Haas really wanted to add to the character. “If you’ve spent five minutes with Jensen Ackles, you’re drawn in because he’s such a good person, but you’re also on the floor because you’re laughing so hard,” the creator reflects. “He’s got, of course, the leading man look. But on top of that, he’s just a genuine, thoughtful, caring, intelligent human. I was hoping that we could take what I knew from hanging out with him and infuse Mark Meachum with that energy. I knew the audience would be along for the ride.”
In Mark Meachum, Ackles sought the opportunity to carve out a character who was both a revelation to him and his most tenacious fans. “I played a character [in Supernatural’s Dean Winchester] for quite a while, so not falling back into that familiarity was something that was on my mind. I wanted to make Mark his own character,” the actor explains. “It was something I did with Soldier Boy [on The Boys] as well, but that was written in such a unique world that it was much easier to formulate that character. Mark felt very, very familiar to me and I wanted him to feel familiar to me and the audience — but I didn’t want him to be so familiar that it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s just this guy playing this guy again.’”
One element that sets Meachum apart from Ackles’ previous characters is the effect the rest of the team has on him. On Countdown, “It is a bit of a ragtag group,” he says. “They maybe don’t belong in the uniform aspect of law enforcement, and when they get together they all see the world a little bit differently — but in that, they see the world a little bit the same.” Meachum, not unlike the rest of the task force, is surprisingly not a team player. “I think his superpower is that he’s unyielding in his mission. But his Achilles heel is that he can get in his own way, and develop issues with his superiors, his partners, and the trust that they have in his decision-making skills,” says Ackles.
But Haas believes it is that initial friction between team members, which coincidentally translates as sizzling onscreen chemistry, that is going to draw in fans and keep them glued to Countdown. “That same chemistry that I watched when these actors, who had never met each other, came together on that very first lunch — and then onto dinner — was great,” he says. “I get to watch the chemistry build and grow off-set, and then you get to watch it build and grow inside the task force. I think it makes for great television, and I think the audiences are going to love these guys as much as I do.”
As he is about to enter his third decade in the film and television industry, Ackles can’t believe the career of his dreams is still going strong. “Any job is a blessing, in my opinion,” he reflects. “I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I don’t have to do this, I get to do this. The fact that I get to play with writers of the calibre of Derek, and actors of the calibre of Eric Dane and everybody else I’m working with, there’s a joy that I truly get walking onto a set. I enjoy this job a lot. I love the storytelling. I love the camaraderie. I love the workspace, and I love the products that we make.”
Countdown airs Wednesday, August 6 on Prime Video