Why Jensen Ackles' Countdown Was Canceled By Prime Video

In July 2025, Prime Video users became obsessed with Jensen Ackles' crime thriller series "Countdown." But it seems the obsession didn't take hold as widely as Ackles and co. might have hoped, as Amazon cancelled the show just two months later. That decision likely came as somewhat of a shock to both cast, crew, and fans, as from the outside, "Countdown" appeared to be a solid hit. Alas, it seems the show's global viewership might not have 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's recruited to a secret task force where he finds himself working alongside agents from multiple law enforcement agencies. The covert crew is tasked with solving the murder of a Department of Homeland Security officer, but as you might expect, they quickly discover a much wider and more sinister conspiracy that has them racing to prevent a major terrorist event. Prior to the show's launch, Ackles touted it as a sort of homage to action filmmaking of the past. "It was everything I grew up loving about entertainment," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "There was 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 gravitated to it."

Prime Video has certainly seen success catering to the sensibilities of action-starved dads across the nation — just take a look at "Reacher," season 3 of which broke ratings records. "Countdown" appeared to be yet another hit in that vein, but its quick cancellation revealed that it might not have been quite the success it seemed on the surface.

When "Countdown" debuted, it looked to be a big hit, and as time went on, it seemed to maintain its popularity, remaining on Prime Video for more than a month after the season 1 finale was released. Indeed, as of October 10, 2025, the show is still in the U.S. TV charts (via FlixPatrol), where it sits at number 10 and continues to chart in other countries around the world. On top of that, "Countdown" charted on 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 across all streaming services. With all that in mind, you've got to wonder what on earth prompted Prime Video to put an end to this series so early.

Making matters worse for fans, the show ended on a cliffhanger when Jessica Camacho's Agent Amber was forced to run through a field at gunpoint while a sniper trained his rifle on her before the episode cut to black. Fans were no doubt eager to see how that played out, but on October 10, 2025, Deadline reported that "Countdown" had been cancelled alongside fellow Prime Video series "Butterfly." As the outlet noted, the decision was somewhat surprising given the show's apparent success, but claimed that the cancellation might have had more to do with "total global viewership" than anything else. If accurate, that would mean that while U.S. viewers were quite taken with Jensen Ackles' action series, the rest of the world wasn't so keen. But given the show is still charting in multiple markets around the world at the time of writing, that explanation also seems a tad suspect.

Was something else at play? Perhaps. While reviews by themselves likely weren't the reason for the cancellation, "Countdown" wasn't exactly a critical hit. The show was released on a weekly schedule, which typically gives shows a chance to build popularity as word of mouth spreads. But that didn't help the critical response. On Rotten Tomatoes, "Countdown" holds a 35% critic score based on 17 reviews.

"Countdown" isn't the first, and it certainly won't be the last streaming series to be cancelled after initially performing well. Netflix's "Pulse" suffered a similar fate when it was cancelled after one season, despite the fact that it appeared to be a hit at launch, and streamers are generally more willing to axe shows earlier than traditional networks. There are a variety of reasons that play into this state of affairs, from streamers not having to adhere to programming schedules to the economic incentives involved in the streaming business. No doubt some of that played into "Countdown" being canned early, 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 green-lighting the project in the first place. Ackles, who looked visibly disappointed in the video (as you might expect), also said the cancellation was a "bummer" and that he had "such an amazing time" making the series. "Sometimes you can set out to do your best and check all those boxes," he added, "and ultimately it's out of your hands. That's the way it goes in this industry."

The "Supernatural" star, who once lost the role of Superman in "Smallville" to Tom Welling before going on to play Dean Winchester for 15 seasons on "Supernatural," had already showcased his talents on Prime Video by playing Ben/Soldier Boy on "The Boys," which finally gave Ackles the spotlight he deserved. He'll soon lead Prime Video's upcoming "The Boys" spin-off, "Vought Rising," and has an ongoing first-look deal with the streamer via his Chaos Machine production company. So, it's not as if he needs to worry too much, even while it was clearly a big disappointment to lose "Countdown."

Meanwhile, creator Derek Haas took to Bluesky to provide a quick response to the cancellation and update fans on one burning question. "Hey, thank you to Amazon Prime and a great cast and crew for our season of Countdown!" he wrote, adding, "Fun to make all around! (pssst ... Oliveras lived)."