“I’m proud to know him, but I’m even more proud to be his friend,” the ‘Supernatural’ alum tells

Jensen Ackles (left) and Eric Dane at the ‘Countdown’ premiere in June 2025.Credit :

Frazer Harrison/Getty

Jensen Ackles is giving his Countdown costar Eric Dane his flowers.

While speaking with PEOPLE about the new Prime Video crime drama, Ackles, 47, said he’s “proud to know” Dane, 52, who announced his ALS diagnosis in April.

“He’s an incredible human being,” says Ackles. “I can’t say enough about him. I was thrilled to get the opportunity to work with him, but even more so to get to know him as a person. He brought a kindness, and a leadership, and an experience to the set that I think we all fed off of.”

The Supernatural alum says Dane has been “incredibly resilient” as he’s watched him “go through what he’s gone through” with ALS, a rare degenerative disease that causes progressive paralysis of the muscles.

“He is fight, not flight,” Ackles says. “I’m just overly proud of Eric and his strength and what he’s doing and dealing with and this journey that he’s on. I’m proud to know him, but I’m even more proud to be his friend.”

Jensen Ackles (left) and Eric Dane in ‘Countdown’.ELIZABETH MORRIS/AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC

Ackles says he and his fellow Countdown costars had “a disgusting amount of chemistry” both on and off set.

“I mean, it was intense, it was immediate and it lasted,” he says. “It was almost odd. The crew was almost taken back. They were like, ‘Is this even real? Do these people get along like this?’ We played games, we sang songs, we did trivia, we were throwing darts, we hung out. I thought that the days of summer camp filming were long gone behind me.”

“But it wasn’t like a bunch of young 20s on a film set out in the Carolinas or something,” he continues. “This was a bunch of professionals — some husbands, some wives, some dads — coming together and truly enjoying each other’s company, truly enjoying the professionalism and the artistry that was happening on set. There was a light on this set that I hadn’t seen in a while.”

Jessica Camacho, Uli Latukefu, Violett Beane, Eric Dane, Elliot Knight, Jonathan Togo and Jensen Ackles in ‘Countdown’.Courtesy of Prime Video

In the show, Ackles plays an LAPD detective, Mark Meachum, brought on to a covert task force, and he connected most with his character’s “work ethic.”

“He kind of figured out a way to make things happen on his own, and there was a humor to him,” he says. “There was a humor to him that I connected with, and maybe I brought that to him. Just lighting it up a little bit, bringing a little levity to it. I always try to find that, and that’s something I think that this character needed.”

Jensen Ackles.Cindy Ord/WireImage

Dane, meanwhile, plays the task force’s leader, Nathan Blythe.

In a June interview, Dane insisted he doesn’t plan on slowing down his work despite his ALS diagnosis.

“I’m going to ride this ’til the wheels fall off,” Dane told E! News. “[Work] keeps me sharp. It keeps me moving forward, which is super important right now.”

“I feel great when I’m at work,” he continued. “Of course, there have been some sort of setbacks, but I feel pretty good. My spirit is always pretty buoyant, so at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.”