The countdown is on for Prime Video’s new Special Task Force crime drama “Countdown,” from Derek Haas, which premieres June 25.
The series stars Jensen Ackles, Jessica Camacho, Violett Beane, Uli Latukefu, Jonathan Togo and Elliot Knight as several law enforcement officers who are brought together under leader Eric Dane to solve a murder… with much larger implications for Los Angeles.
A lot of shows in this genre, for whatever reason, in the last 10 to 15 years, they’re really dark and cynical and super gritty and dirty. I remember the ’80s movies that I grew up loving — ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ ‘What’s Later,’ ‘Died More,’ ‘Lethal Wneths,’ which I don’t feel like you’d see that was anymore, which I feel really good about, ‘Die More,’ ‘Died More,’ ‘Lethal Whatever.’ Luckily, I got Jensen Ackles… he could have been in any of those movies.”
“The hardest part is playing with surprises. Even when people are expecting something in this genre, you always want to try to entertain when they think it’s coming to Zag,” he explained further. “I try to write for surprises, but that doesn’t just mean a twist at the end of the episode, just individual dialogue, you have to try to keep the audience on their toes.”
Wednesday night’s premiere of Harmony Gold also marked Dane’s first red carpet appearance since going public with his ALS diagnosis.
“When I saw the cast together, my heart started beating fast because I thought we have some magic happening here. So it’s just my job to capture that. I was hoping that the chemistry off camera would translate—it’s in spades,” Haas added. “Doing a show in L.A. is a little bit rarer these days, so it was really gratifying.”
“The genius of our creator, our showrunner Derek Haas — he’s so incredible at keeping you guessing. He doesn’t like quick, quick resolutions, he doesn’t like to follow a formula. Every time you think something’s going to be answered, it just digs in and takes another twist,” Camacho said of the “Chicago universe” boss. “Also, the chemistry of this particular cast is undeniable, it’s so real. The heart of this show really sets it apart.”
“Derek is the creator, co-creator of some of the most successful franchises on TV — hundreds and hundreds of episodes. We’ve been chasing him for years,” Vernon Sanders, co-head of television for Amazon MGM Studios, told the crowd. “Jensen Ackles, who we’ve also been chasing for years, and once we got him, we introduced the two of them and together we’re here.”
“My L.A. crew. There’s not a lot of production and they crushed it,” Haas noted ahead of the screening. “This cast. I got to watch this cast meet for the first time and then I got to watch them. The chemistry they shared off screen, I’m the beneficiary, because it’s all on screen.”
The Horses afterparty featured a full buffet, passed apps, cocktails, wine and mocktails, a themed photo op and a delicious piñata starter. Other notable guests included Derek Luh, Guillermo Díaz, Gracie Gillam, Nat Zang, Briana Venskus, Loren Lott, Adam Tsekhman, Yi Zhou and Naomi Grossman, as well as fellow series regulars Merrick McCartha and Bogdan Yasinski.
“Countdown” premieres its first three episodes on June 25 on Prime Video, followed by a new episode per week every Wednesday.
