Was That Jensen Ackles Line a ‘Supernatural’ Reference on ‘Countdown’?

Meredith Jacobs June 25, 2025, 6:00 pm

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Countdown Season 1 Episode 2 “Dead Lots of Times.”]

Prime Video’s new drama premiered on June 25 with the first three episodes, and considering how many times Jensen Ackles‘ Supernatural character, Dean Winchester, died (including in a Groundhog Day situation, when he was dragged to hell after selling his soul, and in the series finale, on a routine hunt), the title of the second certainly stands out — since it’s said by his Countdown character, Detective Mark Meachum.

But no, that was not a Supernatural reference, creator Derek Haas says.

“I would love to claim it as a Supernatural reference,” he tells TV Insider with a laugh. “But that’s the title of the episode. To me, it just speaks to that, a lot of people have told him, ‘You’re dead,’ that he’s been in all of these moments before, and guess what? He’s a survivor. So that’s what he’s [saying there].”

That line comes as Meachum goes undercover as the muscle to Oliveras’s (Jessica Camacho) runner, with the task force suspecting a cartel helped smuggle radioactive materials into the U.S. that can fuel a Chernobyl-level event in Los Angeles. She worries about his head bothering him in the car — she doesn’t know he has a brain tumor — and tests his knowledge of their backstory. When he gets details wrong, she wants to call it, but he assures her he’s kidding.

'Countdown' Premiere: Milo Ventimiglia's Cameo and Death Explained by Derek Haas

When they’re in front of Oliveras’s contact, he remarks that Meachum looks like a cop and at one point during the back-and-forth asks if he wants to die today. “Oh, I’ve been dead lots of times,” Meachum says. His cover, ultimately, holds.

Despite Meachum’s doctor recommending he just find a beach somewhere, take as much relief medication as he can, and live out the time he has left in as much comfort as possible, the detective isn’t doing that. Instead, he’s throwing himself into this case.

“I think he’s resigned himself to not laying down, not giving up, and effectively he’s got a bit of kamikaze in him,” Ackles told us. “He’s like, listen, I’m not just going to sit on a beach and wilt away. He even says, ‘If I’m going to go out, I’m going to go out saving something.’ And I think that it does give him a sense of purpose. It gives him a sense of worth to have that as opposed to just crawling in bed and declining. There’s a fight that exists within him regardless of what his condition is. And he’s going to continue to fight.”

Countdown, Wednesdays, Prime Video