Jensen Ackles‘ Prime Video show Countdown surprised viewers with a cameo from fellow WB heartthrob Milo Ventimiglia.
Ventimiglia, 47, was introduced in the first scene of the show, which premiered on Wednesday, June 25. He played Officer Robert Darden, who worked for U.S Customs and Border Patrol of Homeland Security before being murdered in broad daylight. This sets the scene for the rest of the series as an LAPD detective — played by Ackles — is recruited onto a covert task force with undercover agents from various law enforcement agencies to track down the murderer.
The twist? There is a larger conspiracy at work that the team needs to uncover while racing to protect Los Angeles from a major attack only they know is coming. In addition to Ackles, 47, and Ventimiglia, Countdown stars Eric Dane, Jessica Camacho, Violett Beane, Uli Latukefu and Elliot Knight.
While Ackles and Ventimiglia didn’t share the screen in Countdown, their involvement in the same project is still a nice surprise for those who loved The WB. Ventimiglia became a household name playing Jess Mariano on Gilmore Girls from 2000 to 2007. Ackles, meanwhile, portrayed Dean Winchester on the network’s fantasy drama Supernatural.
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Ackles and Ventimiglia have another thing in common: They’ve both worked with Justin Hartley. Ventimiglia and Hartley, 48, previously collaborated on This is Us, which aired from 2016 to 2022.
Hartley went on to star on CBS’ Tracker, and Ventimiglia has teased that he would like to make an appearance on the show in the future.
“I watched Justin’s show last night too, and [I’m] super proud of him and Ken and Roxy Olin,” Ventimiglia exclusively told Us Weekly in February 2024. “I saw a lot of familiar This Is Us faces or names on the screen in the production end.”
Ventimiglia noted that he “thought the show was great” and Hartley had “a fun role,” adding, “Reuniting with him or anyone else from the cast — or anyone from any number of films I’ve done in the last 28, 29 years — I’m sure that’d be a blast.”
Ackles has already had the pleasure of appearing on Tracker after being cast as Hartley’s brother. He made such a strong impression that fans — and executive producer Elwood Reid — hope his role might be expanded in spinoff form.
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“There’s been a lot of shows that spin off incorrectly. The same level of care and craftsmanship that you see in Tracker has to be considered. My first rule of writing any show is, ‘Don’t do any harm to the main show. Don’t siphon something off,’” Reid told Us in May. “But at the same time, you have to make whatever you’re doing as good and as thoughtful.”
Reid teased that he would like to work with Ackles again after they previously collaborated on ABC’s Big Sky.
“I’m going to try to steal Jensen,” he quipped. “We worked on another show of mine before so I’m going to try to kidnap him back from The Boys [and Countdown].”
New episodes of Countdown air Wednesdays on Prime Video.
