Kevin Bacon on how audiences will connect with his country-singing demon hunter in The Bondsman

Over the course of Kevin Bacon’s prolific five-decade career, the Golden Globe winner has been cast as a teenage heartthrob, a heroic leading man, and a nefarious villain. But he’s never had a role quite like his latest one—playing a murdered bounty hunter who comes back from the dead to slay demons in the new Prime Video series, The Bondsman.

In the show, which is available to stream now, Bacon stars as Hub Halloran, a country singer-turned-bondsman whose personal life is in shambles following his messy divorce from his ex-wife Maryanne (Jennifer Nettles) and his estrangement from their son, Cade (Maxwell Jenkins). Things take an unexpected turn, however, when Hub gets murdered, then personally resurrected by the Devil so Hub can wrangle escaped demons back to hell. Though Hub’s new gig is undeniably gory, it gives him a new lease on life—and inspires him to reconnect with his family and his country music dreams. For Bacon, Hub’s desire to right his wrongs in his second chance at life is one of the most relatable parts of the show.

“He's a fascinating character because he's very much of a badass,” Bacon says. “He's an ass kicker who’s hunting demons, but he's also kind of a man child who’s fundamentally not grown up even at this age. He has a lot of darkness and regret and is struggling with his own demons—it's not an accident that he's got internal demons and external demons that are both challenging to have.”

Though the season begins with Hub’s murder and the show hinges on his gruesome vocation of demon hunting, the series resists easy categorization as merely a horror show. Instead, it’s a true blend of genres and styles, combining supernatural chills and thrills with raucous humor, family drama, and a generous dose of musical magic. These kinds of shows that bend genre and storytelling in creative ways are exactly what audiences are craving. According to the 2024 From Ads to Zeitgeist research from HAQM Ads, 62% of consumers are looking for the creation of more original content.

Bacon, who previously worked with HAQM MGM Studios on the 2016 Prime Video series, I Love Dick, also believes that the appeal of the show lies within its multi-genre approach.

“I love the genres and I love sort of tossing out the form because even though it is a scary show and has a lot of gore, it also has a sense of humor,” Bacon says. “Our tongue is planted in our cheek. I think one of the things that kind of works from a humor standpoint, is that the characters are in this extraordinary situation, but they deal with it in a very kind of ordinary familial way, especially with my [character’s] mother, my ex-wife, and my son.”

For Bacon, the musical aspect of the show presented a new opportunity. Though he’s performed in a folk music band with his brother Michael as The Bacon Brothers for the past 30 years, he’s mostly kept his acting and musical work separate. With Hub’s past as a country singer in The Bondsman, Bacon tapped into his musical prowess to write original songs as his character alongside Nettles (who’s also the lead singer of the country duo Sugarland) for the show. The songs, which Bacon and Nettles perform in the show, are available on a soundtrack album for the series, The Bondsman: Hell and Back.

“The music was really fun, getting to write songs for the show with Jennifer Nettles,” Bacon says. “There was a lot in it for me and I really, I really enjoyed the opportunity.”

The Bondsman is just one of many bold and compelling shows and movies that audiences love to watch on Prime Video. In February, the third season of Reacher debuted, netting 54.6 million viewers worldwide in the first 19 days of its release and setting a milestone as the most-watched returning season in Prime Video’s history. And in the past year, HAQM MGM Studios also earned multiple award nominations and wins across the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and Emmys, including seven Primetime Emmys in 2024 for shows like Mrs. & Mrs. Smith and Fallout.

There’s still lots more to watch and stream in 2025 with an exciting lineup of forthcoming original shows and movies from Prime Video, including the Nicole Kidman mystery film Holland and the Prime Video original series Étoile. HAQM Ads helps advertisers reach millions of viewers worldwide through Streaming TV ads in Prime Video content. HAQM Ads offers powerful ad tech solutions, informed by trillions of first-party streaming, shopping, and browsing signals, that make it easier for brands to drive results across the planning and activation stages of their streaming campaigns. This means brands can connect with audiences through the content they love, like The Bondsman, which offers not just major thrills, but a whole lot more.

For Bacon, being a part of The Bondsman is a fitting addition to his wide-ranging body of work. Though embodying the role of Hub has brought new challenges, like merging his worlds of singing and acting, he welcomes them wholeheartedly, as he has throughout his extensive career.

“I look at every role as a challenge and I'm always looking for challenges, whether they're emotional challenges, character challenges, physical challenges,” Bacon says. “I've always looked at acting and filmmaking as a skill. It certainly is a creative expression and it's a career, but it really is a skill that I didn't know how to do when I started, and I've worked really hard and really tried to learn how to do it better. Like anything else, you’ve got to put in the 10,000 hours. I'm just always so grateful that I still get a chance at this age to do that.”