Why bother to try out a new idea when you have all these trusty used ones lying around? While the promise of a “24” movie has been kicked around since the real-time TV series ended in 2010, Fox announced today that it would in fact be returning as a 12-episode summer show called “24: Live Another Day” in 2014. Kiefer Sutherland will be reprising his role as Jack Bauer, reuniting with showrunner Howard Gordon (who’s been occupied with “Homeland” since “24” ended) for the limited series.
That’s right, 12 episodes, though the announcement promises that the event series will both retain the real time format and style of the original’s run while having those episodes representing 24 hours. What does that mean? Will the episodes be two hours long, or will the series only show every other hour, leaving the audience to infer what happened in between? Who knows! “Live Another Day” will be set several years after the events of the final season.
“Jack Bauer has always been an exciting, thrilling character, and I confess that I’ve missed him. I think the audience has too,” said Gordon, who also serves as the show’s executive producer, in the press release. “The character has evolved through the years, and this new and exciting event series format is perfect to tell the next chapter of his story and continue to reflect how the world is changing. Fans can rest assured that the Jack they know and love will be back.” Jack might be pleased to learn that primetime TV’s grown accustomed to torture in his downtime, with Guillermo Díaz playing a lovable former wet worker on “Scandal” and Alfie Allen’s Theon Greyjoy presently getting his bits methodically hacked off on “Game of Thrones.”
“24: Live Another Day” is produced by 20th Century Fox Television, Imagine Television and Gordon’s Teakwood Lane Productions. The original series was created by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran.
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