Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Prime Video
Eric Dane has been called a “total stud” by his Countdown costar Jensen Ackles amid Dane’s ALS battle.

“[Eric] has such a command of scenes and the set just in his stillness and how just his quiet leadership, and it’s something that he brings from off set too,” Ackles, 47, told People in an interview published Thursday, June 19. “I mean, he does that when the cameras aren’t rolling.”

He went on, “There’s just a quiet leadership to [Eric] that I truly learned from. So to get to mix it up with [him] on screen, I had to bring it.”

Prime Video’s procedural drama Countdown, which debuts Wednesday, June 25, takes place in the aftermath of a Department of Homeland Security officer’s mysterious murder. LAPD detective Mark Meachum (Ackles) steps up to lead a joint task force with Special Agent Nathan Blythe (Dane) in hopes of solving the case.

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Countdown showrunner Derek Haas was also full of praise for Dane, citing the actor’s natural inclination as a “leader” as a key component for his character.

“If you spend five minutes with that guy, he is a leader. He’s very intelligent,” Haas said. “He also, when he walks into a room, every head turns his way. And when he speaks, you close your mouth and you listen.”

The Countdown showrunner added, “That’s really what I was going for with Nathan Blythe … when you do a television show, as opposed to a limited series or a movie, you really start to merge the actor and their own personality with the character that you wrote.”

Dane made a rare red carpet appearance for Countdown’s premiere alongside his rumored girlfriend, Janell Shirtcliff, at Harmony Gold Theater in Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 18. (Dane is still technically married to Rebecca Gayheart, as she filed to dismiss their 2018 divorce petition earlier this year. Gayheart and Dane share daughters Billie, 15, and Georgia, 13.)

Eric Dane and Janell Shirtcliff in June 2025. Robin L Marshall/Getty Images
“[Janell and Eric] were holding hands and at one point, rubbing each other’s backs,” an eyewitness exclusively told Us Weekly. “Janelle appeared to know some of Eric’s costars, but Eric was also introducing her to other guests. She appeared excited to support him on his big night and fit right in.”

Dane thanked his “loving family” and expressed his desire to keep acting when he announced his ALS diagnosis in April. According to the Mayo Clinic, ALS is a degenerative “nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.” With no known cure, ALS patients gradually lose control of the muscles for speech, movement and eating.

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Dane said in April he was “looking forward to returning to the set of Euphoria” before filming on season 3 began that same month. He has since discussed the physical toll of ALS during a poignant interview with Diane Sawyer for Good Morning America.

“I have one functioning arm. … My left side is functioning. My right side, [which is my dominant side], has completely stopped working,” he explained. “[My left arm] is going. I feel like maybe a couple, a few more months and I won’t have my left. … I’m worried about my legs.”

Still, Dane credited his doctor Merit Cudkowicz with helping him to maintain “a sense of hope” even though ALS is incurable.

“I’m very hopeful. I don’t think this is the end of my story. I’m pretty resilient,” he declared. “I just don’t feel like, in my heart, that this is the end of me.”