Fox began their Television Critics Association day with a panel on “24: Live Another Day.” Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Howard Gordon, Evan Katz, Brian Grazer and Manny Coto spoke about where the new miniseries picks up after the events of “24” season eight. They also announced that the premiere date for “24: Live Another Day” is Monday, May 4.
“This really is about Jack and where is he 12 years later,” related Gordon. “I think we’re introducing some very exciting topics. We have analogues for the Snowden affair and the drone issue is a backdrop, but it’s really against the character [of Jack].”
We expect Jack has been on the run since the end of season eight, but what Chloe has been up to in four years is even more surprising. She is the Snowden reference to which Gordon alluded, having joined the free information movement. “We will learn that she has also been damaged over the four years,” said Coto. “She no longer works for CTU. She’s turned against the government and is a more radical Snowden type character.”
When Chloe and Jack finally meet, Sutherland is excited about the drama of their new dynamic. “I think there’s a great impetus to create something new for the show,” noted Sutherland. “Chloe and Jack have had a relationship over the entire span of the show and they have been allies. At the very beginning of this show they are actually pitted against each other by virtue of a set of circumstances. That is a dynamic Mary Lynn and I get to play. It’s also going to evolve over the course of the show. Any time a sense of loyalty has the potential to be betrayed, that’s a lot of meat. A lot of the dynamics of characters coming back have been shifted by circumstances in which we start the show.”
After the panel, Sutherland expanded that Jack expected to stay underground, but he came across a piece of intelligence that he couldn’t ignore. However, as the panel, asserted, coming back won’t be easy.
“Jack was basically left a fugitive on the run,” explained Coto. “Four years later, Jack is still a fugitive. He has disappeared and he has been hunted. He is still hunted as the show begins. What will come into play is a character Yvonne Strahovski plays, a CIA agent who’s been on the hunt for Jack Bauer. The show will open with that dynamic, a CIA hunting Jack. In their minds, Jack is not quite Osmaa bin Laden but a fugitive of high order, someone to be captured. Jack re-enters the picture on his own terms. We will learn he has a mission. Whether it’s a good mission or dark misison ,we don’t know. The CIA is determined to catch him. As she gets closer, Chloe O’Brien will enter the picture.”
Since it has been four years since “24” went off the air, the producers have made a point of making it easy to pick up for new viewers. “You can actually pick this season up without having seen season eight,” said Coto.
“Or the show at all,” added Gordon. “Part of our task to make the narrative abundantly clear to people who’re watching for the first time. People who’ve watched eight seasons are rewarded for their knowledge, but it’s not required.”
However, if you have watched all 194 hours of “24” (including “Redemption”), you will be able to continue the story. In fact, you’ll want to know just about as much as the new viewers about the four years in between.
“Four years need to be explained,” continued Sutherland. “So the exposition will not come off as straight exposition and explaining, but it is a justifiable moment between characters catching up. That lends itself really well to that situation.”
Katz said that the team is about halfway through scripting the 12 episodes, which begin shooting in London this Spring. “I’m anxious about it,” admitted Sutherland about filming abroad. “Traffic is difficult. We plan to shoot outside. Things will be blowing up. I’m sure we’ll be hated by a large portion of London for stalling traffic. I apologize in advance. London has some landmarks that are unbelievably significant and will be very exciting to shoot with the power of London in the background. This is a huge opportunity for a storytelling point of view. In this 12 hours arc we’ll follow president of the US and prime minister of London.”
Gordon added, “Jack wanting to go home is the emotional framework.”
Kim Raver and William Devane have been announced to return as Audrey Raines and James Heller. Heller is now President Heller. The producers joked that the had to research whether they’d killed him off in previous seasons. “We dismissed President Heller because we thought he was dead and we remembered he crawled out,” said Coto.
