Jensen Ackles Teases What’s Next After That Shocking ‘Countdown’ Death

Editor’s Note: Spoilers ahead for Countdown Season 1, Episode 4.Prime Video’s latest FBI crime thriller, Countdown, from Chicago Fire creator Derek Haas, doesn’t waste any time when it comes to its high-stakes shock and awe. Just four episodes in, and the show has already given viewers one of its most shocking twists yet by killing off a main character from its secret task force. The death of Officer Damon Drew (Jonathan Togo) is a moment that hits both the team and, of course, Jensen Ackles’ Mark Meachum like a total gut punch, as the actor tells Collider exclusively.

How Did Officer Damon Drew Die on ‘Countdown’

“The stakes are high, and we can’t make mistakes anymore.”

Officer Damon Drew’s death in Countdown Episode 4 marks a major turning point for the series. Instead of acting like a plot twist, the loss marks a full-on emotional detonation for the task force, who are inches closer to unraveling the nuclear threat looming over Los Angeles. In a tragedy no one saw coming, the episode, ominously titled “Bite ’Em Down,” opens in chaos as first responders pull a gravely wounded Drew from a mission gone awry. Though rushed into surgery, he tragically succumbs to his injuries, having lost too much blood.

For a character like Mark Meachum already dealing with the stress of a brain tumor that has him working on a tight schedule to stop a Chernobyl-style event, Ackles admits the moment stunned even his castmates. “We love Togo. It was sad to see that in the script,” he says. “There is a shift [among the team], and going back to Mark, it was like somebody kicked the hornet’s nest, and that immediate revenge. Because nobody likes to lose a friend and nobody likes to lose their work colleague.”

He adds that the loss burdens Mark with the responsibility that no one can further get hurt under his watch. Ackles notes that the loss isn’t brushed off either as the episodes progress, because it changes everything. “That’s something that I enjoy playing, as opposed to just, ‘Oh, we lost another one.’ It’s like, ‘No. We don’t lose another one. We don’t lose anyone.’ So, that really kicked it into the next gear, not just for Mark but for the whole team,” he says. “Everybody was ready to pounce, and I like that energy. I like that shift change, especially so early in the season. The stakes are high, and we can’t make mistakes anymore.”

Ackles Finds New Depth in a Grounded Role

“I think those moments are really important.”

Jensen Ackles as Mark Meachum in a scene from Countdown Season 1 — Image via Prime Video

Adding how “everybody just did a really good job of turning up the heat in that moment,” Ackles adds that the emotional shift is part of what makes Countdown different for him as an actor. Known for roles in genre series like Supernatural and The Boys, the 47-year-old said this show gave him a new kind of space to explore vulnerability.

“It’s the inherent good guy masked under the bad boy exterior, which is always fun to play,” Ackles explains. “But you can’t just play the tough guy all the time. You have to see the cracks in the armor. You have to see the façade break. I think those moments are really important, and Derek wrote great scripts and allowed us to find those moments.”

Jensen Ackles photographed by Steven Simko for Collider at The London West Hollywood in West Hollywood, California on June 17, 2025.

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The show’s realism, which is an unmistakable departure from ghosts, demons, and superheroes, made a lot of these kinds of scenes resonate even more. “Those are the moments, in my opinion, that really stand out to me,” he says. “This guy is obviously in a different world. He’s in a real world. I’m not used to playing in the real world. I’m used to playing with ghosts and demons or superheroes, so the fact that this is real life, real world, brought a different context to it, the fact that this is stuff that people really deal with. It made it a little bit more real for me, just in some of those vulnerable scenes, that this is more real life than I’m used to dealing with.”

Countdown streams every Wednesday on Prime Video.