If you are a fan of Kiefer Sutherland playing the terrorism fighting Jack Bauer, you might like to know that there is a possibility that the new series of 24 might be the last time Sutherland plays Bauer.
Kiefer Sutherland was speaking at the launch of 24: Die Another Day the actor stated that head writer Howard Gordon revisited the show after four years to deliver a ‘sense of closure’ reports Onthebox.
Sutherland also commented that ‘condensing the 24-hour format into two-hours for the big screen was also unlikely to happen,’ so it seems fans can’t expect a 24 movie at some point in the future, but who knows.
The actor also remarked… “In season eight, when [Jack] looks up into that camera he’s given a 15-minute window to ‘go dark’ and disappear, that was the setup for a potential movie. I think one of the reasons why Howard wanted to do these 12 episodes and where the idea came for him to write was to end it and bring a sense of closure to the show. So I don’t see a film shaping itself around what we’re doing right now.”
Sutherland has believed that season eight would be the last, “We had put this to bed for a reason: Howard was tired. He had written 196 episodes – almost the equivalent of 100 films – in an eight-year period. I actually called to congratulate him on his Golden Globe win for Homeland, and he told me he was glad I’d done so as he wanted to talk to me about something. So it was a surprise.”
So there you have it, it looks like the new series of 24 just might be the last, disappointed?
It was a scene, early into the second hour of Fox’s 24: Live Another Day, when Jack truly came back for Kiefer Sutherland.
Plowing through anyone who gets in the way of his quest for intel, Jack Bauer — whom we last saw on screen nearly four years ago, at the conclusion of Season 8 — storms the secret base for an elite Wikileaks-style team of uberhackers, one Chloe O’Brian included.
“There was something about the vocal dynamic” during what then follows that best reintroduced Sutherland to his iconic TV character, the actor says. “He comes in really hot … and then kind of goes down to really kind of almost a whispering tone, and that triggered something for me. It kind of made me feel really comfortable and at ease, and then we kind of took off from there.”
In 24: Live Another Day (which has a two-hour premiere on Monday at 8/7), Jack remains a man on the run, even all this time after the events of Season 8 made him a fugitive from his own government. As such, he has been distanced from not only his country but his daughter — quite the payback for a guy who has saved the world probably, I dunno, a half-dozen times.
The incomprehensible dis is not lost on the disgraced former CTU head.
“On an intimate, character level, Jack Bauer is angrier than he’s ever been,” Sutherland suggests. “He’s had to hide in Eastern Europe for four years, he’s been estranged from his daughter and his grandchildren, he has not been able to go back to the country that he feels he served, and that kind of isolation has made him really hard. And that is something that you’ll see very early on in the first episode, in the dramatically dynamic shift between the relationship between him and Chloe.”
Mary Lynn Rajskub‘s snarky computer specialist — now outfitted to perhaps earn the nickname Chloe With the Dragon Tattoo — is but one of the familiar faces on board for Jack’s next very bad day. William Devane is back as James Heller, now President of the United States, while Kim Raver (Grey’s Anatomy) reprises her role as his daughter Audrey aka Jack’s old flame, now wed to the White House chief of staff (played by Tate Donovan, Damages). Other new faces include Benjamin Bratt (Private Practice) and Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck) as CIA agents struggling to figure out what Bauer is up to when he pops back up on the grid in London. Though for now, they’ll of course just hunt him down like a rabid dog.
Swinging Jack back into action is his discovery of intel that an attempt will be made on President Heller’s life during his visit to London for some very delicate talks regarding (of course) drones. Jack, though — more than ever — is a man without a country and thus is laboring to save the day as some sort of “freelancer” for the free world.
“Jack Bauer usually started off every season working within the infrastructure of whatever government agency he’s a part of, or in line with the President of the United States,” Sutherland reminds. “But this season, not only is he not working within the context of that infrastructure, he’s actually working on his own — and the people he’s trying to help are trying to either kill him or arrest him. So that’s a really interesting dynamic.”
Who is behind this possible assassination attempt, which Jack posits would trigger no less than World War III? All signs point to the stone-cold widow of a notorious terrorist, played by Game of Thrones‘ Michelle Fairley. But this is 24, folks — things are oft not as they seem, and allegiances can change in a heartbeat. “This year, all I can tell you is [the villain] will surprise you, I think, and it’s multi-layered,” Sutherland teases. “It’s more than one person.”
That Live Another Day will unspool its 24 hours (over the course of 12 episodes) in London is, in the series lead’s mind, most fitting. Reflecting on when the clock first started ticking for 24, back in November 2001, Sutherland notes, “It was a hit out of the box in London,” making England’s capital city “instrumental in the longevity of the show.”
“Picking a show up for a second season is a monumental investment by a network… and 24‘s success in other places in Europe, and ultimately in Japan as well” made the decision easy for Fox. “So, when I heard that we were going to shoot it in London, there was part of me that felt that that was very fitting…. It made me smile. I mean, if there was a place that I thought deserved our attention, I thought London was it.”
As for the prospects of another Another Day — meaning, an installment of the series beyond this one — Sutherland is taking a wait-and-see approach, watching for the critical and audience reaction while perhaps forever ready to bark out another “Dammit!” as needed.
“I feel very, very strong about the first eight episodes that we have completed” through late April, Sutherland shares. “Now, we just need to really bring it home, and then we’ll see where we’re at.”
There are times when Kiefer Sutherland barely resembles Jack Bauer.
For one thing, he smiles. Sutherland is charming and gracious as he sits with a small group of international reporters in what could pass for an interrogation room with better lighting. The room is upstairs in a converted warehouse studio in West London where Sutherland and the rest of the cast and crew are shooting 24: Live Another Day. The 12-episode, “special event” summer series begins Monday with a two hour premiere on Global.
The 47-year-old actor, dressed casually in a tapered black sweater, looks fit, healthy and relaxed — three words not usually associated with the heroic killing machine he played for eight real-time seasons.
Sutherland thought he’d left Bauer behind in 2010 when Season 8 came to a close. There had been plenty of talk about a movie, at one point to be shot between seasons of his next series, Touch. When that show was cancelled after two seasons, and the movie reboot stalled, Sutherland threw himself into other feature projects, including Forsaken a western shot in Alberta co-starring his famous father, Donald.
He didn’t have to play Bauer again. An executive producer as well as the star, he was among the highest-paid actors in television throughout the run of that series. Besides his steady feature film career, the actor could have made a nice living purring through car ads and other voice-over work.
But, dammit, something about Bauer pulled him back in.
When executive producer Howard Gordon (Homeland) asked how he saw Bauer four years later, Sutherland replied, “harder and meaner.”
“Is that even possible?” came the reply.
Sutherland got why that would be the immediate reaction. Jack Bauer was killing friends and loved ones now to protect the world from terrorism.
Still, says Sutherland, “it’s always possible for someone to go darker.”
Look at Jack’s current predicament. At the end of Season 8, he was completely estranged with no hope of reconciliation with his daughter (played by Elisha Cuthbert). He has lost another person he cared for in FBI agent Renee Walker (played by Annie Wersching). On top of that, he had actually saved the day — “doing things that were seriously questionable, in all fairness, illegal and inappropriate,” allows Sutherland — but if Bauer hadn’t done them, nobody gets to live another day.
Yet there’s Bauer, alone, on the run, hunted by the government he had helped, left with “a huge sense of anger and frustration, self-loathing as well, and that has made for a kind of lethal mix.”
The only way to cope with that, feels Sutherland, “is just to block that all out — you become a really, really hard character.” When Bauer sees the impact of his actions this season, however, on reluctant accomplice Chloe O’Brian (a punked-out Mary Lynn Rajskub) and presidential daughter and former love interest Audrey Boudreau (with Kim Raver returning in that role), “you start to see him going from a very hard rock to being broken down into sand. That’s an interesting thing as an actor to play.”
Bauer turns up in London just as the president of the United States (William Devane) is scheduled to meet with the British prime minister (Stephen Fry). The CIA track him down, led by Steve Navarro (played by Benjamin Bratt).
Bratt had never met Sutherland before coming to London to work on “Live Another Day.” Years ago, both had, at separate times, been linked romantically to the same actress: Julia Roberts.
“He’s the engine that truly drives this show,” says Bratt, who feels all of Bauer’s deadly excesses “wouldn’t work without a great lead actor.” He calls Sutherland “the consummate professional” who “takes his work very seriously and yet he’s a gentleman.”
Ottawa-raised executive producer and director Jon Cassar says many associated with the series always felt the middle episodes “were kind of like treading water a little bit.” With this shorter, summer run, “you don’t get that,” says Cassar. “You’re gonna get 12 really great, tight hours.”
So the plan to bring the show back as a limited run series — not unlike Under the Dome — helped clinch the deal. Sutherland could commit to six months in England instead of the 11-plus he would spend helping to shape 24 episodes a year of 24.
A change of scenery, especially shooting in London, was also a factor. Besides the fun of having Bauer chasing terrorists in front of Big Ben or the Tower of London, the actor was back in the city of his birth. “It’s great,” he says, “when they let me go through the British line at customs.”
Finally, there was age. Sutherland could hear the 24 clock ticking louder than anyone. Already a grandfather at 47, he felt it was now or never.
The Canadian in Toronto-raised Sutherland would emerge in the pick-up hockey games he played in Los Angeles throughout the run of 24. Shooting in England has made that impossible anyway, but the other thing, as he says, is “I’m getting old.”
Four years will have passed when we catch up with Jack Bauer in 24: Live Another Day and given what can happen in 24 mere hours, we’re in dire need of an update on our agent-turned-fugitive’s comings and goings.
But while we’re used to seeing Jack realised on our screens by actor Kiefer Sutherland, our much-needed recap is to come in the form of a comic book series titled 24: Underground and published by IDW Publishing.
Acting as a prequel to Live Another Day, the collection of comics will pick up where the final series of the television show left off back in 2010. Debuting next month, it promises to offer fans a detailed look at the events leading up to Live Another Day.
Behind the new project are writer Ed Brisson and former Alias and Manhunter artist, Michael Gaydos. “Ed burst onto the comics scene with the sci-fi thriller Comeback, which was heavy on plot and adventure, a style that fits nicely with an established property such as 24,” said series editor Denton J. Tipton.
“We’ve paired the rising star with veteran artist Michael Gaydos whose draftsmanship and storytelling skills are second to none. Buckle up for a high-octane tale of Jack Bauer’s missing years!”
Now, while he’s famous for his brooding presence on screen, this is not the first time Jack Bauer has appeared in print… At the height of the television show’s’ success, IDW began producing comics with 24: One Shot, a 48-page graphic novella, first appearing in 2004.
Speaking of the resurrected series, IDW president Greg Goldstein said, “24 was one of IDW’s earliest successes with licensed comics and the show’s stature has grown immensely since then. Returning to the world of 24 in comics, in conjunction with this highly anticipated return to TV, makes perfect sense.”
Written by David Fury (Lost) and Howard Gordon (Homeland), Live Another Day is set and shot entirely in London and will centre around a major terrorist threat to the President of the United States. The 12-part series will mark the first time Bauer has been seen on our screens since the show ended back in 2010 after eight nail-biting series. First airing in the States on May 5, Live Another Day will come to the UK on Sky1 shortly afterwards. Take a look at the trailer below…
24: Live Another Day could get a season 2, if Jack Bauer’s return is successful with a positive audience reception, executive producer Howard Gordon told IGN.
“I think [the series could continue] if it’s successful, if the audience is into it and we feel like there’s more story to be told,” Gordon said, hinting at a 24: Live Another Day season 2.
“But the four-year hiatus since we went off [the air] has really taught us how special this show is – certainly to us, having done it,” he added.
The 12-part limited series Live Another Day is currently shooting in London, with Kiefer Sutherland reprising his role as Jack Bauer and Mary Lynn Rajskub returning as Chloe O’Brian, Digital Spy reports.
The limited series will have just 12 episodes and Sutherland told The Daily Star that he’s anxious about the return of 24, especially if fans are disappointed by Live Another Day.
“I’m nervous about it,” Sutherland said. “We did eight seasons that we were all proud of, and so to open the can up again is potentially very dangerous.”
Agent Jack Bauer, who Sutherland hasn’t played since 24 ended with season 8 in 2010, might be “a little slower” as the years catch up with him in Live Another Day.
“I have to kind of skip, hop before I can start to run, just so I don’t snap a tendon,” he joked.
“If it was at all possible to make Jack more angry or pissed off than he was before, that’s what we’re gonna try and do with the ninth season,” Sutherland hinted, DigitalSpy.com reports.
Are you excited about the possibility of 24: Live Another Day season 2? Or would you prefer the series head to the silver screen? A 24 movie has been teased for quite some time now, but at the moment there are no current pre-production talks in the works.
24: Live Another Day premieres with a two-hour special on May 5th on FOX.
24: Live Another Day could be the first of many new adventures for Jack Bauer.
Kiefer Sutherland’s rogue operative could feature in another limited series or a spinoff film if “there’s more story to be told”, exec producer Howard Gordon told IGN.
“I think [the series could continue] if it’s successful, if the audience is into it and we feel like there’s more story to be told,” Gordon said.
“But the four-year hiatus since we went off [the air] has really taught us how special this show is – certainly to us, having done it.”
The 12-part limited series Live Another Day is currently shooting in London, with Mary Lynn Rajskub reprising her role of Chloe O’Brian opposite Sutherland.
Gordon hinted that O’Brian now resembles “a cross between Lisbeth Salander and Edward Snowden” and also revealed new details about the character played by Yvonne Strahovski.
“She’s a CIA agent whose husband – a fellow CIA agent – is a traitor and was caught selling secrets,” he explained.
“She has been stained by his sin… so she’s a character who’s in need of redemption herself, and she’s very good at what she does. She essentially becomes the Tommy Lee Jones to Jack’s Harrison Ford.”
24: Live Another Day will air on Fox in the US and on Sky1 in the UK from May.
Source: Digital Spy
Here’s a non–news flash: Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is about to have another lousy day. This time the 24 clock will be ticking in the United Kingdom, where political unrest propels America’s favorite absentee antihero into action. (Fox’s 12-episode season won’t document every single hour of the day.) Naturally he’s going to need his requisite wing (wo)man, Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub). Just don’t expect the same eye-rolling smart aleck we loved for eight seasons. After Jack supposedly went off the grid in the 2010 finale, Chloe ended up joining a WikiLeaks-type organization in London. “I’m more hardened,” Rajskub tells EW. (William Devane and Kim Raver will also reprise their roles for 24: Live Another Day, premiering May 5 at 8 p.m.) “I’ve seen more of the world. When you pick up with me, I’ve completely turned against the government.” So that explains the moody makeover? “It’s a very dark, very damaged look,” explains Rajskub. “It’s a bit of an FU to the world.”
Source: Entertainment Weekly
You know, I’ve got, like, 50 metal dots on my face, 50 cameras recording my every facial movement. The process and the technology and what I have to go through just to do a line, and what the engineers and technicians have to do, it’s unbelievable. But then when I saw it… There was a guy who was applying the dots and was just in charge of that part, and he was making his own game; he’s some technical wizard, and this game is supposed to be really cool.
He then described what he’s seen of the game so far:
But they were showing us some stuff that they had just finished in Japan, and they were showing it back to us. It was this one little clip that’s final, final, final, and it’s me on a horse. I’m riding the horse, and then I go from a run to a lope to a walk, and then standing still. I don’t know a lot about games, so I’m watching it, and the guy who’s watching it with me goes, ‘Oh my God. Your ears moved.’ Then he was looking at the throat, and he said, ‘You can see the pulse.’ I mean, it was so real, and all I kept thinking was, ‘This is how they’re going to make movies soon.’ They’re halfway there now, you know, but they’re going to make films like this. This is not far off.
Read the rest of the article here.
When it comes to Super Bowl ads, there are few things that can top the monster of blockbuster films. Often, these clips are the first chance anyone has to see footage from their favorite upcoming tentpole. This fact is what makes the winner of last night’s pile so surprising.
Besides a few title cards during some of its primetime shows, FOX has made little effort to market the fact that 24 is returning to the small screen. That is, until last night. In what was arguably the most well executed trailer of the game, audiences were given their first look at one of television’s most famous heroes, and his most famous partner in crime (who rocked her new look quite well).
But it wasn’t good enough for FOX to simply air the excellent spot for 24: Live Another Day. They also had to tease the trailer throughout the big game with four 15-second clips that all ended with the famous ticking sound of the series’ clock. Much like the upcoming mini-series itself, these clips turned a simple teaser into an event audiences didn’t know they were waiting to see. By the time the actual trailer aired (towards the end of what was a rather lack-luster game), viewers – outside of Seattle – suddenly had a reason to cheer.
In a matter of moments, audiences learned 24 is coming back, that it’s returning in an atypical event due to its detailed title, that it’s set in London and that Chloe is still around. If FOX was looking to turn 24 into the event television it once was, they certainly succeeded last night.
FOX has blow open the doors on their marketing campaign for 24: Live Another Day, and they did it with a method we see used far too rarely these days… surprise. No one knew this trailer was coming. In fact, few people outside of hardcore fandom were even aware the show was making a comeback. But now, 24: Live Another Day is national news. This is proved no greater than by the fact that the trailer (at the time of writing this article) already has thousands of hits on FOX’s YouTube page.
Utilizing the less-is-more style of its basic cable sister, FX, FOX made us care about Jack Bauer again. No longer is he stuck in the world of development hell that is feature films. 24: Live Another Day is real, and it’s coming… soon.
If you’re not into watching the Super Bowl for the game, the epic commercials, or the half-time show, then at least tune in for the new “24: Live Another Day” promos.
Fox’s reboot of the Kiefer Sutherland real-time drama “24” will find Jack Bauer racing against time in London over 12 episodes. The miniseries event may not make its premiere until May 5, but fans will get multiple sneak peeks of “24: Live Another Day” during Sunday night’s game. According to Variety, a series of 10-second promo spots will play throughout the evening, leading up to what Fox calls a “show-stopping” 45-second first look.
Hopefully the televised reunion of Sutherland’s Jack and Mary Lynn Rajskub’s Chloe O’Brian will quench your “24” appetites for a few months.
The Super Bowl XLVII airs Sunday, Feb. 2 at 6:30 p.m. EST on Fox.
Make sure to tune in to see the first promos for 24: Live Another Day!!!!!!
