{"id":198221,"date":"2025-09-04T00:51:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T00:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/198221\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T00:51:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T00:51:12","slug":"jensen-ackles-on-countdown-finale-cliffhanger-the-boys-supernatural-reunion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/198221\/","title":{"rendered":"Jensen Ackles on ‘Countdown’ Finale Cliffhanger, ‘The Boys’ ‘Supernatural’ Reunion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT:<\/strong> This interview contains spoilers from \u201cYour People Are in Danger,\u201d the Season 1 finale of \u201cCountdown<\/a>,\u201d now streaming on Prime Video.<\/p>\n

\n\tOver the course of the last three decades, Jensen Ackles<\/a> has quietly built up one of the most notable TV careers of his generation. After breaking out as Eric Brady on the long-running NBC soap opera \u201cDays of Our Lives\u201d \u2014 which earned him three consecutive Daytime Emmy nominations \u2014 in the late \u201990s, Ackles carved out a niche for playing tortured heartthrobs in all kinds of broadcast dramas: high-concept sci-fi (\u201cDark Angel\u201d), teen (\u201cDawson\u2019s Creek\u201d), and superhero (\u201cSmallville\u201d). In 2005, he debuted as Dean Winchester, one-half of a dynamic duo of monster-hunting brothers, on The CW\u2019s \u201cSupernatural.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSince saying goodbye to the long-running series which transformed him and his onscreen brother Jared Padalecki into icons of fantasy storytelling, Ackles has spearheaded a short-lived spinoff about the Winchester parents (he was the narrator and an executive producer of \u201cThe Winchesters\u201d), played a charming county sheriff (\u201cBig Sky\u201d), voiced Batman in a series of DC animated projects and reunited with \u201cSupernatural\u201d creator Eric Kripke in \u201cThe Boys<\/a>\u201d as the hyper-masculine anti-hero Soldier Boy.<\/p>\n

\n\tAckles\u2019 latest show, \u201cCountdown,\u201d by comparison, feels just a little more grounded in reality. Created by Derek Haas, who oversaw the inception of NBC\u2019s venerable \u201cOne Chicago\u201d franchise, the new crime drama stars Ackles as Mark Meachum, an LAPD detective who is recruited to a covert task force to investigate the death of a Department of Homeland Security officer. The \u201cCountdown\u201d in question is a double entendre; the task force, led by Eric Dane\u2019s FBI Special Agent Nathan Blythe, was racing against the clock to stop Belarusian extremist Volchek (Bogdan Yasinski) from carrying out a mass casualty event in Los Angeles, and Meachum was also running out of time after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith a 13-episode, first-season order, Haas chose to take a bit of an unorthodox approach to playing out the main investigation. By the end of Episode 10, Meachum is not only able to kill Volchek, but he also decides to undergo an ultimately successful procedure to treat his tumor. Following a 10-month time jump, the final three episodes throw viewers straight into the rebanded task force\u2019s second investigation \u2014 this time involving a sniper (played by Grant Harvey) who appears to be targeting the POTUS and California\u2019s governor.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tEric Dane, Jensen Ackles and Jessica Camacho in \u201cCountdown.\u201d
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Elizabeth Morris\/Prime Video<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a wide-ranging conversation with Variety, Ackles opens up about all of the shows that make him one of the busiest actors in Hollywood. Below, he discusses his major takeaways from the first season of \u201cCountdown\u201d; the surreal experience of reprising Soldier Boy in \u201cVought Rising<\/a>\u201d after wrapping the final season of \u201cThe Boys\u201d; his imminent return to \u201cTracker\u201d as the brother of Justin Hartley\u2019s Colter Shaw \u2014 and why he will never shy away from revisiting \u201cSupernatural.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tWhen you look back at his arc in this first season of \u201cCountdown,\u201d what do you think ultimately makes Meachum tick? How did you understand the way he moves through the world?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tHe is one of these people that identifies himself through his job, and it\u2019s what gives him worth. So this isn\u2019t a guy that has a bunch of hobbies that he looks forward to doing after work. If he\u2019s not at work, he\u2019s thinking about work. He\u2019s got an itch that he can\u2019t ever scratch enough. There was even an episode \u2014 it was \u201cTeeth in the Bone\u201d \u2014 when Blythe refers to Mark and some of the other team members as people that just don\u2019t quit. I think that that was certainly the foundation of who this guy is, how he operates.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat was one of the reasons why, when he was given the diagnosis that he had, he didn\u2019t just hang it up and go live out whatever little time he had left. As somebody enjoying his life, he was going to do what he knows how to do, and that\u2019s to bury himself in the case and find the bad guys. So I knew that there was a passion there for what he did. Obviously, he has different ways of going about it than maybe the book tells you to go about it, which gives his superiors a bit of a headache, but that makes for a colorful character.<\/p>\n

\t\tWas there something in particular that you wanted to capture about Meachum as he wrestled with his own mortality?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, that life happens \u2014 real struggle happens. You can\u2019t plan for these kinds of things, and I think there\u2019s a lot of people out there that can relate to a diagnosis or a condition or the deterioration of somebody you love. So playing that and having somebody like this struggle, I think it makes for good TV. It\u2019s a great character that Derek crafted, and it was a lot of fun to play him. But when you watch somebody who is tough like he is, who is not somebody that would ask for a handout or ask for help or even empathy or sympathy, those are challenging moments for characters like this. And when you challenge a character that people maybe can relate to, then you get good drama.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Elizabeth Morris\/Prime Video<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat kind of person do you think Meachum was before his tumor, and how do you think that diagnosis has changed him?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s maybe a little bit more grace that injected itself into the way he sees things; the way he sees relationships; the way he sees himself, his job, the world. Given a second chance, he maybe wants to try and do things a little bit better, a little less off the cuff and cavalier as he usually is. But at the same time, that\u2019s part of his DNA, that\u2019s who he is. He wouldn\u2019t have gotten to the success that he has within law enforcement if he didn\u2019t have those characteristics. So I think it\u2019s an interesting blend to have somebody that\u2019s just so gung-ho and then you have them come out of this very traumatic operation and situation, and that allows just a little bit more of a filter in his life. Maybe he\u2019s a little bit more gracious with certain people in his life, i.e. [Jessica Camacho\u2019s] Oliveras.<\/p>\n

\t\tAs much as \u201cCountdown\u201d is really a story about a found family \u2014 which is a theme that has come up time and again in your body of work \u2014 Meachum\u2019s relationship with Oliveras is really at the forefront of this show. He didn\u2019t want to burden her with his diagnosis, and even after she found out, he didn\u2019t want to impose any obligations on her. What is your take on the evolution of their relationship, and how do you think he would react to the news that she has been kidnapped by Grant Harvey\u2019s character at the end of the season?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tObviously, there\u2019s a heavy bond that was built through the story pre-operation, and she\u2019s somebody that has been on his mind ever since. He cares about all the people in the task force \u2014 this is his team, this is his family. This is who he gets up and looks forward to seeing in the morning and tackling today\u2019s problems with. She is obviously somebody that he feels a very close kinship with, and whether that turns romantic \u2014 that was the big will-they-won\u2019t-they for the whole season.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn his mind, there\u2019s a certain amount of connection with her that goes beyond just work companions. He has a deep respect and admiration for her and would love to see things go a certain way. But when you\u2019re dealing with what they\u2019re dealing with, he\u2019s gotta pick and choose his battles. She\u2019s obviously in a relationship. He\u2019s trying to understand that and be respectful, but at the same time, he\u2019s looking for an opening if she\u2019s willing to give it. He keeps testing the waters like, \u201cHey, you want to go for a beer after work?\u201d \u201cNo.\u201d \u201cGreat.\u201d So he\u2019s still fishing with her a little bit. And then at the end of the season, when she goes missing, all bets are off. He\u2019s going to go full force. This is somebody he truly cares about, and he\u2019s not going to let this go by without giving everything he has.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Elizabeth Morris\/Prime Video<\/p>\n

\t\tDerek has said that he knew where the season was going to end before you even started shooting, but did you ever discuss why he chose to end the season on that cliffhanger?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI think it was a smart writer choice to kind of wrap up the Season 1 storyline with three episodes to go. It gave Derek an opportunity to start building towards a next big case and a next big sendoff, and it obviously leaves Season 1 ending on a huge cliffhanger. I think it was designed to lead into Season 2, so fingers crossed Amazon is still liking what they\u2019re seeing, and the audience participation and the critics talking about it give us enough firepower to continue that story and see where this goes. Obviously, it would suck if it just ends there!<\/p>\n

\t\tOne of the most burning questions that viewers have is what happened during the 10-month time jump. What do you think happened to Meachum during that time?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t[Deadpans] He probably buried himself in Amazon Prime television. He watched all of Prime, that was it.<\/p>\n

\t\tGood answer!\t<\/p>\n

\n\tNo, Derek and I have talked about whether or not we\u2019re going to get an opportunity to shed light on that void and see the things that he was doing. But I think for the most part, he had a drive to get back on his feet, get back to work, and get back to doing the thing that he loves doing, and it was probably a struggle for him. He didn\u2019t want anybody to see that struggle, because that\u2019s the kind of person he is. So he struggled quietly and got back to being capable of doing what he needs to do. But what that looked like, we haven\u2019t discussed in-depth, but I feel like there might be some cool things that we can reveal if given the opportunity.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of The CW<\/p>\n

\t\tSince the end of \u201cSupernatural,\u201d you have played some characters who have tapped into a side of Dean \u2014 and then some, like Soldier Boy, who feel like a dramatic departure. What has informed your choices since wrapping up that show? How have you gone about choosing different projects after being locked into one show for so much of your adult life?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLocked-in\u201d is a good word. A lot of it depends on the people involved in the project. \u201cSupernatural\u201d gave me not just 15 years of a great story to tell and family that I\u2019ve now come to know and love, but it gave me the tools to continue doing what I\u2019m doing. It also gave me some notoriety so that people like showrunners like Derek or even Elwood Reid, who brought me onto \u201cBig Sky\u201d and has also brought me onto \u201cTracker,\u201d and of course Eric Kripke \u2014 it gave me some proof in the pudding that I\u2019m happy to take on whatever kind of challenges these guys throw at me. So I think it was less of, like, \u201cOK, I have to do this specifically,\u201d and it was more the opportunity to work with people who I admire and trust and know I\u2019m going to have a good time telling a story with, and I\u2019ve been very fortunate so far.<\/p>\n

\t\tHave you always embraced being so closely associated with one character?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve always loved it and embraced it, always. And I\u2019ve met actors that have had very popular characters on very popular shows or movies and maybe try to shy away from that, like, \u201cOh, I don\u2019t want to be known for that.\u201d I mean, there\u2019s a reason I did it for 15 years! I love that story. I love that character. I love the people I did it with. I would never shy away from or reject anything that has brought me to this place, because I\u2019m very proud of what we all did on that show, and obviously I continue to talk about it. We go and do these fan conventions, and it\u2019s a gathering around a bunch of people who have a similar affection towards these characters and the show, and I will always be proud of what we did with that.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tYour most notable character since leaving \u201cSupernatural\u201d in the iconic Impala\u2019s rearview mirror is Soldier Boy. What new layers have you found in playing him in the final season of \u201cThe Boys\u201d and now in this \u201950s-set prequel? How different are the two iterations of the character?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tObviously, they\u2019re the same guy, but certainly there\u2019s a lot of life that Soldier Boy has lived when we see him in \u201cThe Boys\u201d and when we see him in Season 5 \u2014 how he\u2019s relating to people, the things that are important to him, the things that he\u2019s willing to just slough off, his idea of the life he wants to lead. And then going back 70-odd years to see him when he was really starting to get going, I\u2019m able now to deal with the struggles that made him who he became, and you start to see him before he has necessarily the swagger and the gravitas and the life lived of 75 years of being the top dog.<\/p>\n

\n\t[\u201cVought Rising\u201d] predates all that, so I think I\u2019m trying to show a little bit more of an early version of it \u2014 not necessarily an innocence to it, but there\u2019s certainly scenes, relationships and character traits that predate how we see him in modern day, and that\u2019s fun to play with. Now, that\u2019s not to say he\u2019s going to be a completely different character and he\u2019s not going to be the tough guy that I think we know and love. That\u2019s there, and we\u2019ll get there quickly, but it is fun to show the origin of how this guy became who he is, and what were the little tricks and little ticks that crafted him into where we see him now.<\/p>\n

\t\tEven though the world of \u201cThe Boys\u201d is so heightened, have you been drawing any kind of inspiration from that time period?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I\u2019ve been watching a lot of war movies that were made during that time, and looking at not just Hollywood-type stuff. I\u2019ve been looking at documentaries about that era of McCarthy and the early happenings of the CIA and all that kind of stuff. So I\u2019m trying to get as much into that world [as possible], as far as the headspace goes, but obviously not wanting to go so [into] character and so deep that it\u2019s not relatable to modern audiences. So finding that balance is definitely something.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut it\u2019s funny \u2014 Aya [Cash, who plays Stormfront] and I were talking and working together the other day. It\u2019s weird coming into a show almost feeling like you\u2019re coming back to a show, because you\u2019re playing the same character, but it\u2019s a totally different show. There\u2019s all new actors that you\u2019re working with, all new characters, and all new relationships that you\u2019re developing as that character, and she was like, \u201cIt\u2019s like coming home, and you\u2019ve sold the house and there\u2019s a new family living there. This feels familiar, but feels very unfamiliar too.\u201d So we\u2019re still trying to find our footing. I\u2019m glad we have each other, and everybody that we\u2019re working with has been super great.<\/p>\n

\t\tA lot has already been teased about your onscreen reunion with Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins on \u201cThe Boys.\u201d When you reunited on screen, did it feel like you were sliding back into your old dynamic on \u201cSupernatural,\u201d or were your new characters different enough for you to feel a different kind of energy in your scenes together?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tLook, we\u2019re going to have fun no matter what venue we\u2019re operating in. Obviously, we spent many, many, many years together in front of the camera. We\u2019ve spent many years \u2014 and continue to \u2014 behind the camera and at events and convention centers, so there\u2019s a relatability between all of us that exists that\u2019s far greater than just our characters. So I feel like you can stick us in anywhere and we all get along and we all know how to operate, whether we\u2019re playing a new character, an old character or ourselves. There\u2019s just a camaraderie there that you get when you\u2019ve spent 20 years together.<\/p>\n

\t\tSomehow, you found time earlier this summer to fly back to Vancouver to shoot a couple episodes of \u201cTracker.\u201d The second season ended with a particularly big reveal<\/a> about the Shaw family. What can you preview about the way that Russell re-enters the fold this season and reacts to this latest revelation about his family?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI wish I could go play with Justin and Elwood a lot more, but schedules are tight right now, so we were lucky \u2014 or I was lucky at least \u2014 to have that time available that I could dip back in and do a couple of episodes with them. Justin and I chopped it up pretty good when [Colter] reveals the new knowledge that he has to Russell, and Russell is now having to absorb that. How is that going to affect their relationship? How is that going to affect Russell moving forward? What are we going to see from them?<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ll obviously see the camaraderie between the two brothers that I think people enjoy, but now that we have this new information about our family, is that going to bond them further, or is it going to drive more of a wedge between them? I think it\u2019s a fun thing to play that Justin and I both really, really enjoyed, and Elwood likes writing for the two of us. We did a scene \u2014 it was one scene \u2014 and I think it was like eight-and-a-half minutes long, and I was like, \u201cWhat are we doing here? I\u2019m not used to this! I\u2019m not used to six-page scenes of just dialogue, just two guys just cutting it up. I was never on \u2018This Is Us.\u2019 That\u2019s Justin. I don\u2019t do this kind of stuff. Give me a hammer!\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tBetween your work across daytime and primetime broadcast and now streaming, you have made nearly 1,000 episodes of television. What is your biggest takeaway from the three decades you\u2019ve spent working in the business, and what has been the key to your longevity?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI might have to chalk it up to just work ethic, but also passion for the work. I still love doing what I do. I often say to myself, \u201cI don\u2019t have to do this. I get to do this.\u201d I think I\u2019ve certainly got my 10,000 hours, as some would say. But at the same time, I don\u2019t think, oh, because I\u2019ve got a thousand episodes of television \u2014 certainly, more than 10,000 hours on set \u2014 that that makes me some sort of a professional or [gives me] some sort of a graduating certificate. What I love about doing what I do and about working in film and television is that every day is different. Every day you go to set and you are tasked with a new challenge of creating the scene and bringing this character to life, bringing a relationship further down the road. So I still genuinely enjoy collaborating with just hyper-intelligent people and learning.<\/p>\n

\n\tI still love to get taught things, but I feel like there\u2019s been a shift in the learning from those [experiences], and now I feel like there\u2019s a bit more teaching starting to happen, certainly with some of the younger actors that are coming in. They\u2019re asking me questions that I used to ask, and I feel very fortunate enough to be able to answer most of them. But at the same time, it\u2019s weird for me because I\u2019m like, \u201cWait \u2026 when did that happen? Why are these guys asking me these questions? These are the questions I\u2019m used to asking!\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tYou and your wife, Danneel, have ventured further into producing under your Chaos Machine banner in the last few years. What would it take to get you to appear in the \u201cOne Tree Hill\u201d revival that she is working on?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tShe\u2019d probably just have to say, \u201cYou\u2019re doing this,\u201d and that would be the end of it, but hopefully we don\u2019t need [me to show up]. I think we\u2019ve got all the elements, all the players, in place for that to be a fantastic show, and I\u2019m really excited for what she and the lovely ladies of \u201cOne Tree Hill\u201d have put together. It\u2019s pretty fascinating, and they\u2019ve been working really hard on it, and I think Netflix is going to have quite a smash on their hands. In addition to that, we\u2019ve moved the production company over to Amazon now, and we\u2019ve got one project that I\u2019m really excited about that\u2019s in development based on a real book, and we\u2019re dialing in a few more. But it\u2019s a lot of fun, and she is certainly [more] well-versed in it than I am, which allows me to go off and play cops and bad guys.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou recently said that your children were excited to watch \u201cCountdown,\u201d because that was probably the first age-appropriate project of yours that they would be able to watch. Have any of them given you any feedback yet?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThey just love that when they sign into Prime Video anywhere \u2014 even at their friend\u2019s house or whatever \u2014 dad\u2019s face is right there on the front, so that\u2019s been a big coup for me in my household. They haven\u2019t really watched it, so I\u2019m not getting character questions, but they\u2019re well-aware of it. I have people come up and be like, \u201cOh, I\u2019m watching the episode right now,\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m watching \u2018Countdown,\u2019\u201d so they certainly know what dad does. I think they appreciate the value that it gives me in real life, certainly amongst maybe some of their teachers and some of the parents, but we\u2019re probably pretty close to my oldest maybe watching some \u201cSupernatural.\u201d But we\u2019ll see. I\u2019m not going to push any of that stuff on them. They can find it in their own time.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from \u201cYour People Are in Danger,\u201d the Season 1 finale of \u201cCountdown,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":198222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[7312,171,12978,27576,173,67,132,68,109919],"class_list":{"0":"post-198221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-countdown","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-jensen-ackles","11":"tag-the-boys","12":"tag-tv","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-vought-rising"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115143291211050677","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}