Every year, Fox seems to have different plans for 24. They brought Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) back for one last limited series 24: Live Another Day. They tried 24: Legacy with a new cast that only lasted one season. In 2018, they developed a Jack Bauer origin story and a 24 legal drama simultaneously, but by 2019 they were both on the back burner.
Last summer, Fox CEO Charlie Collier told reporters there were no plans for more 24. Now it’s another Fox TCA session and there’s more news, this time from a producer of 24. Manny Coto has a new Fox series on the way, the A.I. thriller neXT. Coto, a producer of the original 24 series, spoke with /Film at the Fox party and updated us on what he’s heard. He knows what happened to the legal spinoff and he thinks the network is trying to get Sutherland back.
Just when Kiefer Sutherland thought he was out…
24: Live Another Day was intended to be Jack Bauer’s swan song. The idea of an origin story would have been presumably to cast a different actor in the earlier adventures of Jack Bauer. Perhaps the failure of 24: Legacy made Fox rethink trying to do 24 without Sutherland.
“All I know is they’re still interested in 24 to bring it back in some form,” Coto said. “I’m pretty sure they probably want to figure out some way to bring Kiefer back in some way.”
Would Sutherland want to? 24 is exhausting, filming real time episodes and doing two more hours than the average TV season. Sutherland did eight full seasons and the abbreviated ninth. He got to do Designated Survivor after that, so perhaps he’s had enough of a break.
The 24 legal drama had a pilot script
The idea of using 24’s real time format – every episode covering an hour of the story – in other genres is intriguing. A legal drama seemed suited for it and Coto said that one got as far as a pilot script.
“I wasn’t involved in developing them but I know the guys who were developing them,” Coto said. “The legal one got to a script. They just ultimately decided at the last minute, like any pilot, they decided it just wasn’t right. I don’t know much further than that. I think they just got to a script and decided it wasn’t working.”
Coto hears there’s still 24 in development
When Coto says above that Fox is still interested in 24, he means more than just, “Hey, that sounds great.” Coto says there is active development, but as he’s involved with neXT he doesn’t know more specifics.
“There is another one I believe in development,” Coto said. “There was a counterterrorism one in development and I think that’s still in development. I talked to Howard Gordon not long ago. I think they’re still working on coming up with an idea. I don’t know how far along they are or where it is but I know it’s not going away.”
Well who do we aend script ideas to? I think they should have Jacks nephew as a new Jack like charachter, looking for and saving Jack from Russia. They can refer back to some charachters and episodes that were fan faves. Save Jack, bring the daughter back, tell what heppened to Chloe or bring her back too, Tony A, and pres Heller . They have a lot to run with.. Now would be the time with all this stuff happening now but dont go all politically correct on us.
As an ardent fan of 24, let me say this:
There is no flavor in 24 without Jack Bauer, an I mean Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer.
There can absolutely be no 24 without Jack Bauer and Chloe O’Brien.
The two together make a formidable force!
We don’t want closure—we want 24 with Jack Bauer (Kiefer) that could continue. Anyway, I am sure Jack broke out of the Russian prison already, or had friends help him. He’s too good to be stuck there forever. Unless, he’s now somehow undercover in Russia. His moral compass is intact—the question is which possibly global problem is he trying to solve now? And, of course, how Chloe will surface to help him. Maybe Kate Morgan will be involved. Or, you know, maybe Audrey isn’t really dead, but was tucked away somewhere for protection? Jack is capable of handling anything if his despair doesn’t get the better of him. He possibly can have a young man he mentors who’s a very good fighter, and who develops over time the intellectual and analytical skills needed. He and Jack could have a rocky contentious relationship that gets better over time.
I am a fan too, but I am not optimistic now that Fox was bought out by Sinclair. The new owners would probably prefer a new narrative. One that is totally the opposite of what Jack stands for.