Fox has announced a pilot order for a 24 reboot called 24: Legacy. After its eight season run from from 2001 to 2010, the hit series 24 was a show that did not go off the air easily. A TV movie titled Redemption followed the series and in 2014 Keifer Sutherland reprised his role as Jack Bauer in the ninth season/limited series 24: Live Another Day.
This is exciting news for 24 fans, but unfortunately Keifer Sutherland will not be starring in the reboot as Jack Bauer. Although Sutherland will not be joining 24: Legacy, Deadline shares rumors that he may still have some involvement in the project. We may have seen the last of Jack Bauer, but we haven’t seen the last of Sutherland, who will be returning to TV in a political conspiracy thriller on ABC next season.
The pilot order comes after 24‘s executive producers Howard Gordon, Manny Coto, and Evan Katz delivered a pilot script to to Fox just before the holidays. Coto and Katz co-wrote the script, which was met with enthusiasm by the network, especially after they realized they would be able to resurrect 24 without the obligation of bringing back Jack Bauer.
With a new series comes a new cast, and while an actor for the main character has not been chosen, we have confirmation they are looking to cast a diverse actor for the part. Fox CEO Dana Walden told Variety that “The character was originally conceived as being a diverse actor. We wanted it to be as different from Jack Bauer as possible. That was the original thinking behind having this be a diverse lead. Whether that’s African-American or a Latino actor, we’ve been really excited by some of the people we’ve been seeing throughout our internal process.”
Just like the original 24, we can expect the same real-time format, splits screens, and ticking clock. This time around, 24: Legacy will follow the story of a military hero who, upon returning to the U.S., realizes that it looks like some trouble has followed him home, and he seeks help from CTU. This trouble he can’t seem to escape could be one of the largest attacks on U.S. soil.
While the lead actor has yet to be chosen, the pilot is set to start filming this winter.