In July 2025, Prime Video users became obsessed with Jensen Ackles’ crime thriller series “Countdown.” But it seems that this obsession has not spread as widely as that of Ackles and Co. might have hoped, as Amazon canceled the show just two months later. The move probably came as a shock to the cast, crew and fans, because from the outside looking in, “Countdown” appeared to be a solid hit. Alas, it seems the show’s global audience hasn’t met Prime Video’s expectations.
Hailing from creator, executive producer and showrunner Derek Haas (“Chicago Fire”), “Countdown” saw Ackles play LAPD detective and former Army Ranger Mark Meachum, who was recruited into a secret task force where he finds himself working alongside agents from multiple law enforcement agencies. The secret team is tasked with solving the murder of a Department of Homeland Security officer, but as expected, they quickly uncover a much larger and more sinister conspiracy that has them racing to prevent a major terrorist event. Before the series debuted, Ackles presented it as a sort of homage to action cinema of the past. “It’s everything I loved about entertainment growing up,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “It had action and salty characters – there was the ‘will they or won’t they,’ are they going to make it? Are they going to save everyone and catch the bad guys? It was a bit of a throwback, and I stuck with it.”
Prime Video has certainly seen success in catering to the sensibilities of action-hungry dads across the country — just take a look at “Reacher,” whose Season 3 broke viewership records. “Countdown” seemed like it would be another hit in this vein, but its quick cancellation revealed that it may not have been quite the success it seemed on the surface.
Countdown may not have been the global success Prime Video hoped for
When “Countdown” debuted, it appeared to be a big hit, and over time it seemed to maintain its popularity, remaining on Prime Video for over a month after the release of the season 1 finale. Indeed, as of October 10, 2025, the show is still on the US TV charts (via FlixPatrol), where it sits at #10 and continues to chart in other countries around the world. On top of that, “Countdown” was in the Nielsen Top 10 for streaming originals, which is a much more impressive feat due to the fact that this particular ranking system takes into account originals from all streaming services. With all of this in mind, one has to wonder what made Prime Video end this series so soon.
Even worse for fans, the series ended on a cliffhanger when Jessica Camacho’s Agent Amber was forced to run across a field at gunpoint while a sniper pointed his rifle at her before the episode cut to black. Fans were no doubt eager to see how this played out, but on October 10, 2025, Deadline reported that “Countdown” had been canceled alongside another Prime Video series “Butterfly.” As the outlet noted, the decision was somewhat surprising given the series’ apparent success, but claimed the cancellation may have had more to do with “total global viewership” than anything else. If accurate, it would mean that while American viewers were quite enamored with Jensen Ackles’ action series, the rest of the world wasn’t as enthusiastic. But given that the show is still on in several markets around the world as of this writing, this explanation also seems a bit suspect.
Was there something else at stake? Maybe. Although the reviews themselves probably weren’t the reason for the cancellation, “Countdown” wasn’t exactly a critical success. The show aired on a weekly schedule, which usually gives shows a chance to gain popularity as word of mouth spreads. But that didn’t help the critical response. On Rotten Tomatoes, “Countdown” holds a critical score of 35% based on 17 reviews.
What did the Countdown cast and crew say about its cancellation?
“Countdown” isn’t the first, and it certainly won’t be the last, streaming series to be canceled after strong initial performance. Netflix’s “Pulse” suffered a similar fate when it was canceled after one season, despite appearing to be a success at launch, and streamers are generally more willing to remove shows earlier than traditional networks. There are a variety of reasons for this, from streamers not having to adhere to programming schedules to the economic incentives involved in the streaming industry. There’s no doubt that some of that played into the early canning of “Countdown,” which clearly hit Jensen Ackles hard.
The actor posted a video to Instagram in which he thanked the cast and crew, as well as Amazon for greenlighting the project in the first place. Ackles, who looked visibly disappointed by the video (as one would expect), also said the cancellation was a “disappointment” and that he had an “amazing time” doing the series. “Sometimes you can do your best and check all these boxes,” he added, “and at the end of the day it’s out of your control. That’s the way it goes in this industry.”
The “Supernatural” star, who lost the role of Superman in “Smallville” to Tom Welling before playing Dean Winchester for 15 seasons on “Supernatural,” had previously showcased his talents on Prime Video by playing Ben/Soldier Boy in “The Boys,” which finally gave Ackles the spotlight he deserved. He will soon direct Prime Video’s upcoming “The Boys” spinoff, “Vought Rising,” and has a debut deal in the works with the streamer through his production company Chaos Machine. So it’s not like he needs to worry too much, even though it was clearly a big disappointment to lose “Countdown.”
Meanwhile, creator Derek Haas reached out to Bluesky to provide a quick response to the cancellation and update fans on a burning issue. “Hey, thanks to Amazon Prime and the great cast and crew for our season of Countdown!” he wrote, adding: “Fun to do all around! (pssst…Oliveras lived).”
