According to Deadline, Prime Video premiered two shows last spring, Countdown and Butterfly. After successful first seasons, Prime made the decision not to give a green light for a second season to either show. Jenson Ackles (The Boys, The Winchesters) starred in Countdown, and Daniel Dae Kim (Kpop Demon Hunters, Great Performances) starred in Butterfly. Both shows were produced by Amazon MGM Studios.

According to Deadline, both shows were in the top ten of the Nielsen ratings. Countdown reached the number eight spot while Butterfly landed at number six. Prime decided to cancel both shows due to the global viewership.

After cancelling Countdown and Butterfly, Prime proceeded to green-light another crime drama show, the Bosch spinoff, Ballard. Vernon Sanders (The Enemy Within, Harry’s Law), former Head of Global TV for Amazon MGM Studios, made the cancellation decision just before he stepped down from his position, as Peter Friedlander (Mission to Mars, Austin Powers in Goldmember) was announced as Sanders’s successor.

Even though Ackles had his show cancelled, Deadline reports he remains in talks with Prime Video in collaboration with his company, Chaos Machine, which is co-owned by Ackles and his wife, Danneel Ackles (The Christmas Contract, TSA America: Suspicious Bulges). Ackles will also be headlining in the upcoming The Boys spin-off, Vought Rising. 

Deadline mentions that Ackles is not the only person with other deals with Prime. The creator, executive producer, and showrunner of Countdown, Derek Haas (Chicago Fire, Chicago PD), is also under a new deal with Amazon MGM Studios for another show. 

Countdown saw Ackles join Eric Dane (Family Secrets, Euphoria) and Jessica Camacho (A Christmas Proposal, The Flash) to solve the murder of a DHS officer killed in broad daylight. LAPD Detective Mark Meachum, played by actor Ackles, is recruited to work alongside other undercover agents for different branches of law enforcement to investigate the crime.

Butterfly starred Kim as David Jung, an expert assassin who returns to the field after faking his death seven years earlier. He is resurrected to save his daughter, Reina Hardesty’s (Brockmire, StartUp) Rebecca, who now works for the very covert government agency he did. As their paths converge, they unravel a deeper conspiracy and ugly truths about each other. Butterfly’s cancellation is particularly brutal, with season one ending with a thrilling cliffhanger.