USA Network
Television was a different thing altogether back when “Burn Notice” was one of the biggest shows on the air. It was a time before streaming conquered the business, before “Game of Thrones” changed what TV could look like, back when the USA Network’s “Blue Sky Initiative” was the only guideline you needed to generate a hit: Take a couple pretty people, put them on a poster against a blue sky, and let the procedural, episodic storylines carry you to syndication heaven.
“Burn Notice” was popular enough that, ahead of its season 5 premiere in 2011, USA produced a prequel TV movie centered on Bruce Campbell’s wisecracking character, Sam Axe. The TV movie was meant to explain how Sam wound up in Miami at the start of the series, where he links up with lead protagonist Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) and his cavalcade of spy shenanigans. Even if you watched “Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe” at the time, you likely don’t remember that none other than Pedro Pascal plays the villainous, duplicitous Comandante Veracruz in the film, a full three years before his “Game of Thrones” debut as Oberyn Martell.
These days, Pascal is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, with recent turns in everything from “The Mandalorian” and “The Last of Us” to playing Reed Richards in Marvel’s “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.” But back in 2011, he was still making his way up the ladder. His role in “The Fall of Sam Axe,” though brief and somewhat limited by the generic nature of the script, is a fun look back in time at an earlier stage of the modern superstar’s career.
Pedro Pascal was still largely unknown in 2011
USA Network
At the time that Pedro Pascal appeared opposite Bruce Campbell in “Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe,” he was mostly appearing in small, one-off TV roles. A slightly larger part had come over the previous couple of years, with Pascal playing the recurring character of Nathan Landry on the first two seasons of “The Good Wife,” but most of his other credits were brief appearances on procedural dramas and a small role in “The Adjustment Bureau.”
Ironically, the same year that “Sam Axe” came out, Pascal appeared in an unaired pilot for a Wonder Woman TV show, playing a fairly notable role as police officer Ed Indelicato. Although the pilot never aired, Pascal later joined the franchise in a major role in 2020’s “Wonder Woman 1984.”
In 2014, Pascal finally got his big break as Oberyn Martell, aka the Red Viper, on season 4 of “Game of Thrones.” Though his appearance was brief, the role left a lasting impression and helped lead to projects like “The Mandalorian” and major film roles.
How to watch Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe
USA Network
If you’re interested in watching one of Pedro Pascal’s early performances, you can catch “The Fall of Sam Axe” on Hulu, where it’s listed erroneously as “Episode 19” of “Burn Notice” season 4. Otherwise, purchasing a physical copy of the TV movie may be the only option.
Whether it’s worth watching will depend on the viewer. While “Burn Notice” is an absolute classic, its one venture into the realm of “film” is pretty forgettable, with a strong but underutilized performance from Bruce Campbell and an amount of screen time for Pascal that his modern fans may find disappointing. The movie holds a 90% Rotten Tomatoes score, though it is based on just 10 professional reviews, most of which are modestly positive. For fans looking for a Pascal-tinged dip back into the nostalgic era of the USA Network, the movie still offers some appeal.
