From 'Countdown' to 'The Boys,' Jensen Ackles loves being a throwback tough guy

USA Today

6 hours ago

The conversation gets passionate when Jensen Ackles opens up about his favorite childhood action movies and TV shows. How he'd watch Kurt Russell in 'Big Trouble in Little China' to 'recalibrate' while playing demon-hunting Dean Winchester for 15 seasons on CW's 'Supernatural." Or how Bruce Willis in 'Die Hard' and Mel Gibson in 'Lethal Weapon' influenced his character in Amazon's new crime drama 'Countdown' (streaming now on Prime Video).
Ackles really lights up, however, when you say the magic word: 'Airwolf.'
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'Dude, I loved that show. Not many people remember that," he says of CBS' 1984-86 drama. "It was a sleeper hit. Ernest Borgnine, come on!' he says excitedly. Throw in the above heroes, plus Indiana Jones and MacGyver, and 'I've got all those characters swimming around in my head. Those were the guys that I was like, 'That's what I want to be when I grow up.' And now I feel like I'm getting to play some of those guys.'
Ackles stars in 'Countdown' as LAPD cop Mark Meachum, who's recruited for a secret task force of undercover operatives from various branches of law enforcement. Their mission: to uncover a terrorist plot and save the city. And like Ackles' best characters, Meachum's rough around the edges – which rankles his teammates, especially DEA agent Amber Oliveras (Jessica Camacho) – though there's a good reason behind his reckless nature.
The 47-year-old actor next reprises his role as throwback antagonist Soldier Boy and in the upcoming fifth and final season of Amazon's 'The Boys' as well as prequel spinoff 'Vought Rising,' which begins production in August. Ackles chats with USA TODAY about 'Countdown,' some old-school inspirations and his upcoming 'Supernatural' reunion.
Question: There's a ticking-clock aspect involved with Meachum as an action hero. How did you approach him?
Jensen Ackles: The everyday man who is put to the test and rises above, I know this guy. But there was the caveat of, well, this guy's actually diagnosed with a terminal illness and he doesn't have much time left. How does that change things? He's going to want to take out as many bad guys as he can. Almost a kamikaze kind of a run. I liked that uncertainty, because it also plays into the other characters going, "Can we trust this guy? He's a loose cannon." But the audience knows. Even the doctor says, "Just go lay on a beach somewhere." He's like, "Nah, I'm going down in flames." That makes him a little unpredictable, and maybe even a little scary at times.
Meachum has quite the relationship with Oliveras. He needles her, she can't stand him, but they settle into an intriguing dynamic. After being paired mainly with dudes in TV roles, was that a fun switchup for you?
I do work mostly with guys. I'm used to finding that buddy-cop kind of a situation where it just lends itself to a lot more comedy or friction with two alphas trying to be like, "Hey, I got this." "No, I got this." "No, no, no. Sit down." What Jess brought to the table, I couldn't have wished for a better bag of tricks. She came in and effectively played it like a tough guy. And she's a badass, in real life and onscreen. It was an easy transition for me. She brought the heat.
So if Dean and Meachum were inspired by 1980s influences, who was your inspiration for Soldier Boy?
Soldier Boy, I had to dig a little deeper. I had to dig into my dad's (childhood). It was a lot of Lee Marvin and some Sean Connery in there. I wouldn't just go back and watch some of their old movies. I would go back and watch their old interviews – how they handled themselves as men in that time kind of gave me a bit of a North Star for Soldier Boy. If you took Lee Marvin from the 1960s and you transported him to 2025, what would he be like?
Soldier Boy had a surprise appearance in the after-credits scene of 'The Boys' Season 4 finale. Will he be a chaos agent in Season 5, or something we haven't seen before?
It's something you haven't seen before, and it's probably a teamup that you're going to be like, "Oh no. This is not good." For him, he's like, "I don't give a (expletive). Whatever gets me from point A to point B." It definitely causes problems for a lot of people involved.
Your 'Supernatural' buds Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins also join you in this final 'Boys' season. What's the best thing about getting the band back together?
Probably the ease (of us working together). But also you've got to be careful not to let the reins too loose on us. Then we can fall into our old shtick. All of a sudden, now everybody's clowning around and no work is getting done. We were able to do 15 seasons on ("Supernatural") because we had a lot of fun doing it. We were coming in like, 'Alright, we got a ping-pong tournament at lunch, who's in?' When we needed to get serious, we got serious. But for the most part, it was the inmates running the prison, and we had a blast.
There might've been a little fear getting three of us back onto a set that is a big monster show. I did sit down and have a little talk with them. I was like, "This is something I tell myself every time I step on that set, and it's something that I think you should tell yourself as well: I'm a guest in somebody else's house. Be respectful, read the room, be polite. Don't be a nuisance. Show up. Know your stuff. Hit your mark. Respect everybody. And that'll leave a great impression." And that's what they did.