‘Countdown’ on Prime Video makes Los Angeles a prominent character

It’s just another day on location in Los Angeles for actor Jensen Ackles as he frantically weaves in and out of clusters of traffic on Wilshire’s Miracle Mile to stop some villainous happenings in his new Prime Video action series “Countdown,” which drops its first three episodes Wednesday. Locked into his valiant character, L.A. Det. Mark Meachum is the kind of person who will do anything to catch the baddies, even if that means driving up the sidewalk on Wilshire to get where he needs to be.

For Ackles, an acting veteran with nearly 30 years of TV experience that has ranged from portraying teen angst on “Days of Our Lives” to chasing demons for 15 seasons on “Supernatural,” to his most recent turn as superhero Soldier Boy on “The Boys,” shutting down Wilshire isn’t the biggest surprise in his latest show. Instead, he’s more blown away that the L.A.-set series is shooting in, of all places, Los Angeles.

“A lot of times, shows are shooting other places [as a stand-in] for other places, and it’s rare when you’re shooting in a place that is supposed to be that place,” he says.

And in “Countdown,” which follows a task force consisting of members from various law enforcement agencies that are brought together after the murder of a Department of Homeland Security agent, it’s Los Angeles that is in serious danger. In fact, that initial crime is just the tip of the iceberg once a potential Chernobyl-like event in L.A. is uncovered.

“I would describe it as terrifying and with a potential to affect millions for years to come,” says executive producer and showrunner Derek Haas. “I was thinking about smuggling channels into the United States and how these corridors have been used for both illegal narcotics and human trafficking. I thought it would be interesting if a bad player used these established channels to smuggle something much, much worse into the country.”

Jonathan Togo, left, and Eric Dane in a scene from “Countdown,” where landmarks like Wilshire Grand Center, the tallest skyscraper in L.A., make an appearance.

(Elizabeth Morris / Prime Video)

That threat is the throughline for the bulk of the season, with Ackles’ Meachum working alongside Drug Enforcement Administration agent Amber Oliveras (Jessica Camacho), FBI agent Keyonte Bell (Elliot Knight), LAPD agent Luke Finau (Uli Latukefu), FBI agent Evan Shepherd (Violett Beane) and special agent in charge Nathan Blythe (“Grey’s Anatomy” and “Euphoria’s” Eric Dane). Together, Haas explains, the team attempts to “identify the mastermind behind the threat while at the same time working to discover the delivery system for that threat. There are twists and turns and missteps and victories along the way as the plan grows into focus.”

All this action makes L.A. a prominent cast member, something Haas knows a thing or two about, having created NBC’s long-running “Chicago Fire” and helping to develop spin-off series “Chicago P.D.” and “Chicago Med.” The Dallas-born producer has spent the last 26 years living in Los Angeles (he’d travel to Chicago during his tenure on the Windy City shows) and knew the city would lend itself well to this project at a time when L.A. isn’t the first choice for filming these days.

“The fact that you can go in any direction and there’s something different and interesting to see and to shoot in L.A. is appealing, but it feels like Hollywood has moved away from it,” he says.

In fact, according to a report released in April by the nonprofit organization FilmLA, on-location production for film, television and commercials in the Los Angeles area was down 22% in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the same period a year prior. Looking at just television production, the numbers dropped by 30.5% in the first quarter compared with 2024. Also, while some productions were temporarily halted during the fires in January, the report did not conclude that the fires had a lasting effect on overall production. The proposed increase of state tax incentives to be more competitive with other states could help the number of productions grow. “I will make my pitch that we need more tax credits and rebates so we can get more production here because the ‘Countdown’ crew was nonstop excellent throughout,” Haas says.

He also made a point of making sure the show was constantly shining a spotlight on often-overlooked parts of L.A.. “I didn’t want it to be guys in suits in mansions or walking around in Beverly Hills,” Haas says. Instead, he took the cast and crew to film in areas like Koreatown, Reseda, Huntington Park and Chinatown. “Usually, you don’t see the L.A. that I know, going as far as way up in the Deep Valley and then all the way down to Orange County, so I wanted to show that and go this way and that way,” he adds.

The Port of L.A., left, and aerial views of the city are seen in “Countdown.” (Elizabeth Morris/Prime Video) (Elizabeth Morris/Prime Video)

The show’s first season hit so many locations that it reminded Ackles, who lived in L.A. for 18 years earlier in his career, just how sprawling the city actually is. “We’re doing a massive shootout of the Port of Los Angeles down in Long Beach. I’m up in Palmdale at a decommissioned prison having a prison-yard brawl and a speed chase over 6th Street Bridge downtown,” he says. “I feel like if anybody really wants to get a sense of the city, film a television show there. That is the quickest way to learn your way around.”

Camacho, a Chicago native who moved to L.A. 15 years ago, says filming the show shifted her perspective on not just the myriad locations but also L.A. residents. “To have the viewpoint of just playing in the streets of L.A. and shooting, it was so magical,” she says. “There’s so much diversity in its people but also the landscape, the natural beauty in all the neighborhoods. It was so, so exciting.”

Haas intentionally zeroed in on L.A.’s eclectic neighborhoods in the scene locators glimpsed throughout the series, which let viewers know what part of town the action is taking place. It’s a device he feels is reflective of how longtime L.A. residents see their fair city. “If you meet somebody here, you’re like, ‘What part of L.A. do you live in?’ And they say a neighborhood like Pasadena or Echo Park, so I thought that would be an angle we hadn’t seen before on these shows,” Haas says.

That said, Haas knew highlighting the City of Angels with car chases and shootouts for the sake of plot works with movies but not potentially long-running TV shows. “You have to give the audience reasons to care,” he says. In fact, storylines ranging from health issues, parenting, family relationships and sexual tension between characters are what “gives you a second gear in every action sequence,” he says. That sexy heat can be seen between partners Meachum and Oliveros, for example, since they butt heads initially but soften toward each other over time. “Their relationship definitely gets a little complicated, but we like complicated,” teases Camacho.

And like the forceful and determined “Countdown” task force working against nefarious threats, the same can be said about Los Angeles, which faced horrific fires earlier this year and now is battling an aggressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence. “Everybody thinks of L.A. as this glamorous town when you’re looking from the outside in, but it’s got character and salt and grit as well as any town,” Haas says.

And it may always be a city of dreamers, but Camacho says there’s much more to L.A. than that. “You see the insistence, you see the resilience and you see the love and there’s so much of that here,” she says. “It’s so inspiring and really beautiful to witness.”