Jensen Ackles on [Spoiler]'s surprise appearance on ‘Countdown' and the ‘Supernatural' reunion on ‘The Boys'

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[WARNING: The following story contains spoilers about the first three episodes of .]
It may be hard to believe, but Jensen Ackles can be called a TV veteran since he has been entertaining TV viewers for nearly 30 years. He first grabbed viewers' attention in 1997 as teen Eric Brady on NBC daytime soap Days of Our Lives before chasing demons alongside Jared Padalecki on The CW's Supernatural for 15 years. Since then, he's appeared on ABC's Big Sky, CBS' Tracker, and as superhero Soldier Boy on The Boys (a role he'll reprise for the Prime Video show's fifth and final season). He also found time behind the camera by directing six Supernatural episodes, an episode of Padalecki's Walker, as well as executive-produce and narrate the short-lived Supernatural spin-off The Winchesters.
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Now, Ackles stays on the right side of the law as sardonic Det. Mark Meachum in the action drama Countdown, which drops its first three installments on Wednesday (the rest of the 13-episode series rolls out weekly). On the series, a Department of Homeland Security agent is suddenly murdered, so a special task force is created with Meachum and others from different arms of law enforcement. However, that murder investigation leads them to bigger threats that has the potential of destroying Los Angeles. Jessica Camacho, Uli Latukefu, Violett Beane, Elliot Knight, and Grey's Anatomy and Euphoria star Eric Dane round out the cast.
Here, Ackles tells us more about why Countdown appealed to him, that surprising TV face we saw in the opening of the series, as well as an update on the Supernatural reunion with Padalecki and Misha Collins on The Boys.
Gold Derby: You were looking for something to do under your new Amazon deal, so what was it about that just seemed like the right thing to start with?
Jensen Ackles: Derek Haas [Countdown creator, showrunner, and executive producer], largely. He and I had a couple conversations and then I flew out to L.A., we had lunch, and there was just an instant kind of connection there. Obviously, his resume and pedigree speaks for itself. The guy is well versed in storytelling and character-building and also doing broadcast, which I come from as well. I felt like he had a really good sense of how to build a set and how to build a crew, and how to build a team and a cast that could really sing.
And I gotta be honest, I'm not gonna lie. Since Supernatural, I didn't think it would ever get that fun again. This was some of the most enjoyable days on set I have had in my life. From top to bottom, everybody was there to do solid work but to also have a great time doing it. The days that we were all together for the task force headquarters were the greatest days ever because we were all having fun, and we were on set and we were just laughing and we were playing games in between sets or in between scenes. I hope that the chemistry off-screen translated onscreen. I believe it did and I hope we get to do it for many more years.
Tell me about Mark Meachum. How would you describe this guy in your words?
He's a inherently good guy that has just been dealt a really, really bad hand. He's trying to make it in this world the best way he knows how. He could have gone the bad route and been a drug dealer or a drug runner or working for the bad guys very easily, which is probably why he did so well undercover. He can relate to these guys more so than somebody who grew up in white-collar America and had loving parents. This guy comes from broken home, broken family, and a broken deal.
I think that he decided to not go the dark route and try to try to bring light to the darkness. It's a fun character to play because there is darkness in there. It's an internal battle, so he fights throughout the series. The fact that he's got this terrible diagnosis — again, he's been dealt a bad hand — but instead of opting to just cash in and be like, "I'm done. I'm out," he's like, "No, I'm going to jump on this grenade and save as many people as I possibly can."
We learn of Meachum's health issues in the first episode. Can you clarify what he is actually dealing with?
It's an inoperable brain tumor. And that was one of the great things that Derek wrote in — this guy is not just a maverick. He's not just a cool guy with sunglasses and smoking cigarettes. Do you know Den of Thieves with Gerard Butler? He's just this tough guy in a leather jacket that should ride for a motorcycle club, but instead he's a cop. I'll watch those movies all day. But Meachum, he's not doing it because he's that guy. He's doing it because he's got nothing to lose and he would rather take risks so that his team doesn't have to.
Elizabeth Morris/Prime Video
Seeing Milo Ventimiglia in the opening was a big surprise since that has been kept under wraps. How did that come about? Did you make a call?
I don't know if this is out of the purview of what we should talk about, but that whole thing was filmed with another actor and who did a great job, but they brought him in as a guest star and they shot that whole sequence. Then, I think once they got into the editing room, they were like, "This feel like it needs to be a familiar face." So it's a testament to the Amazon team and a testament to Derek and Jonathan Brown, who directed the first episode and [is] also our producing director, since they were like, "The stakes need to be heightened here because this sets the whole show on its journey."
Derek came to me and says, "I think we're going to reshoot that whole sequence, and it's obviously a lot of money to redo it, but we got to get somebody. Do you know Milo?" I was like, "Of course I know Milo. He'd be fantastic. Does he want to do it?" He said, "We pitched it to him and we think he's in." I sent Milo a text and was like, "Bro!" So he came for a costume fitting, but he came to set to say hi. I hadn't seen Milo in maybe a year or two, but we go way back, obviously. It was really good to see him and I was just giddy that he came on. And he nailed it as I knew he would.
It's too bad his character dies so quickly in the opening!
Oh, trust me. I was already pitching, "Can we do some flashbacks where Milo comes in and we actually know each other?" Derek was like, "Let me do the writing."
We find out Meachum may not be the best at romantic relationships since his fellow task force member, DEA agent Amber Oliveros (Camacho), knows his former fiancée. Is there some romantic tension between Meachum and Oliveros that we may see develop over the first season?
You will. I mean, with any good "will they or won't they?", there's got to be tension. That is definitely an intentional situation there, but instead of Meachum trying to win her over, he's more like, "I don't need to deal with that. I'm just gonna stay in my lane." But they are partnered up effectively, so you get a bit of a buddy comedy. And Jess just brought it all to the table and did a fantastic job of bringing a really strong character and somebody who's not gonna placate to Meachum at all. That relationship needs that friction, and it will be kind of your classic "will they or won't they?" So far, it's "won't they?"
You directed on and , so any chance we're seeing you in the director's chair at all in Season 1?
I would absolutely love to direct at some point. I want to make sure we have a strong foundation and we have our feet on the ground with what we're doing first. Look, if they threw me in the director's chair tomorrow, I would feel abundantly confident in the cast, but more so the crew. Vanessa Joy [Smith], who's our director of photography, is one of the best I've ever worked with in my life. [She] and her crew are just amazing. She did all five seasons of Mayans M.C. and she is an absolute joy. I mean, it's right in her name! She's such a pro. So, yeah, if your DP is of that caliber, it's hard for a director to really fail. I love being in a position directing-wise where I can't fail.
You're working with Jensen and Misha on . How would you describe working again with them?
We already shot it, and it was like three brothers coming together to have dinner at somebody else's house. It was like, "All right, listen, Mom's not here, but we've got to clear our plates at the end. Everybody just mind your p's and q's. Don't mess this up. We've got a reputation. Let's not destroy it."
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