Aahana Swrup
Created by Derek Haas, ‘Countdown’ is a crime thriller show where a band of motley law enforcement agents is all that stands in the way of a mounting national threat. The show centers around Mark Meachum, an LAPD officer, who finds himself joining a classified task force on extremely short notice. With dubious recent influxes of finances, one Homeland Security Agent has recently been assassinated in broad daylight. As such, Special Agent Nathan Blythe, fearing interdepartmental corruption, puts together a group of agents from different fields, including the FBI, DEA, and more.
Soon enough, what begins as an investigation into one solitary death leads Blythe and his agents to unearthing a widespread, menacing conspiracy. The Prime Video show thrives as an ensemble procedural with high stakes, both for the world and the individual characters. Therefore, the story remains ripe with thrilling plot twists and moving character development. However, is there any connection between the on-screen action and reality?
Countdown is a Fictional Tale Made to Feel Like a Novel
Despite being a law enforcement procedural show, ‘Countdown’ is not based on any real-life incidents. Instead, it’s simply a work of the creator and sole screenwriter, Derek Haas’ creativity and imagination. The showrunner is best known for his instrumental contribution to the creation of shows like ‘FBI: International,’ ‘Chicago Fire,’ and other projects in the Chicago-verse. In these shows, Haas and his collaborators all tread the same line of the broadcast procedural archetype to effective results. However, after years of the same formulaic TV, Haas was eager to break free and break into a different aspect of the genre.
Alongside screenwriting, directing, and TV production, Haas also has a prolific career as a novelist. He’s particularly known for his thriller books, including the ‘Silver Bear’ series and the 2012 standalone ‘The Right Hand.’ Therefore, the author wanted to combine some of his novel-writing skills into his next project. As such, when he pitched the idea of ‘Countdown’ to Amazon, he maintained the same energy around the series. Speaking to TVLine about it, the showrunner said, “I’d written novels before, and I wanted this to be almost like chapters in a book.”
Haas further added, “That way it (‘Countdown’) could be a story that had an ever-evolving threat—and twists and turns within that threat—but you could spend time with the antagonists, which is something that we rarely did on those other shows, and then also get to know this team over a longer period of time as the case evolves.” Additionally, the showrunner was also captivated by the idea of pushing boundaries and bringing a bigger scope to the show’s world. Thus, the concept of a multi-agency task force working to combat a national crisis-level threat remains the perfect fit. Ultimately, all these elements that define the show’s identity retain a sole basis in Haas’ scriptwriting with no tangible ties to any real-life criminal cases or incidents.
Countdown Grounds Itself Through a Sense of Familiarity
Even though ‘Countdown’ doesn’t take any direct inspiration from real-life inter-agency task forces or conspiracy plots, the show maintains a relatively grounded narrative. Part of this stems from the inherent realism behind the story’s premise. Multi-agency task forces are a fairly common occurrence in real life, ranging across issues like social support and the criminal justice system. Furthermore, the criminal storylines as well as central characters, be it lone wolf Mark Meachum, tight-lipped leader Nathan Blythe, or techy Evan Shepherd and no-nonsense Amber Oliveras, all occupy a familiar role within the narrative. All of these elements play into genre conventions that blanket the show in an air of familiarity.
In fact, even creator Derek Haas embraces these genre-typical elements that draw parallels between ‘Countdown’ and other popular crime shows like ’24’ or ‘Graceland.’ However, even beyond that, the showrunner mined initial inspiration for the project from other pop-culture staples as well. Particularly, action movies of the 80s, such as ‘Die Hard,’ Raiders of the Lost Ark, and ‘Lethal Weapon,’ served as prominent points of reference. These sources of inspiration informed multiple decisions within the show, from thematic and character-based narratives to even casting actor Jensen Ackles as the lead.
On the other hand, the story also carves out a space for itself within the genre by introducing a unique idea told through a distinct lens. Even though the narrative juggles a potentially world-ending threat, it also highlights personal struggles of the individual members within the team, adding a level of relatability and realism to each character. As a result, the show is able to retain a realistic storyline while remaining confined in functionality.
Read More: Where is Countdown Filmed?
