‘Countdown’: Jensen Ackles Says Meachum’s Like ‘Top Gun’s Maverick When It Comes to Promotions (VIDEO)

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Countdown Season 1 Episode 12 “This Is His Signature.”]

Could Meachum (Jensen Ackles) one day lead his own task force? That does seem to be what Blythe (Eric Dane) is angling for on Countdown, confirms creator Derek Haas.

In the latest episode, the task force’s leader asks the detective if he ever thought about moving up the ladder (lieutenant, captain, etc.). Meachum’s surprised. But as Blythe points out, his main problem is he seems himself short and makes jokes because he’s insecure, while what he really is is a natural leader. Later, Meachum lets his boss know he appreciates it and admits he has a tendency to get in his own way. He even agrees to let him put in a good word for him with the higher-ups in the LAPD. Ackles admits he isn’t sure how Meachum feels about that.

“It was one of those things in the script — when I read it, it made me think of, funny enough, Top Gun: Maverick, where Maverick [Tom Cruise] should have been an admiral at this point, but he’s still way down here at a lower level, and it’s because he feels like that’s where best suited and that’s where he can be used and utilized the best,” Ackles tells TV Insider in the video interview above. “I kind of feel like Meachum fits that bill a little bit, where he’s like, ‘I don’t want to be pulling strings with politicians. I don’t want to be. That’s your job. I’m the hammer. So that’s what I want to be. I want to be the blunt instrument that is used to crush and catch the bad guys.'”

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Haas notes how much Meachum has changed as a result of working with the task force (his second with Blythe). Before, “he was more lone wolf, probably been through a lot of partners, probably didn’t like playing with others, a great detective, which I’ve tried to show over and over again that he has a real intuitive knowledge just looking at a crime scene. Because I think so many times on shows when you have a character like this, it’s like, why do people even [work with this character], so I had that thought that he’s almost got that Twin Peaks detective knowledge,” he explains.

With the task force, Haas continues, he’s gained experience working in a group. “Blythe recognizes it and also recognizes the way he hides behind this facade of being a smart ass or being a rebel when what he is as a natural leader,” he adds.

But Haas also agrees with us that Meachum would probably never be happy behind a desk. “Maybe that’s another reason why Meachum hasn’t gone in that direction,” he suggests, “but if he can be a leader, like in a task force or even in the LAPD, then you can be kind of the hands-on leader. I think he would jump at that. … Kind of like a Blythe, even more out in the field than Blythe probably gets.”

Watch the video above for more from Jensen Ackles on Meachum’s career.

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