No matter how many years pass, Fox just can’t seem to quit 24. The original 24 series, starring Kiefer Sutherland as badass counterterrorist agent Jack Bauer, went on for eight seasons on Fox, running from 2001 to 2010. After a few years of development on a feature film that never ended up coming together, 24 returned in 2014 for a 12-episode limited series called 24: Live Another Day - and even though the show’s plot left Jack Bauer alive at the end, that was the last we ever saw of him.
Fox, which has recently revived such past series as The X-Files and Prison Break, announced in January that it was developing a reboot of the 24 franchise, to be called 24: Legacy, which would include and all-new cast and leave out Sutherland, while retaining the show’s trademark real-time action premise. Now, the Legacy project is formally moving forward.
Fox has decided that it is giving a series order to 24: Legacy, following a well-received pilot episode. According to Deadline, the order is currently good for 12 episodes.
24: Legacy stars Corey Hawkins, Miranda Otto and Jimmy Smits. Sutherland is not part of the cast but is onboard as an executive producer. Manny Coto and Evan Katz, both veterans of the original series, are the creators, along with Brian Grazer and original 24 co-creator Howard Gordon. The premise, as reported by Deadline, sounds a lot like the same old 24:
Along with Lee Daniels’ Star, also on Fox, 24: Legacy is the first show ordered to series for the 2016-17 fall TV season.
“24: Legacy centers on military hero Eric Carter (Hawkins) whose trouble follows him back to the U.S. – compelling him to ask CTU for help. The show chronicles an adrenaline-fueled race against the clock to stop a devastating terrorist attack on United States soil – in the real-time format that the original series became famous for.”
The original 24 series may have fluctuated wildly in quality over the course of its run, with the show frequently writing itself into corners, often repeating itself, and bending the bounds of realism to a ridiculous degree. But at its best, 24 was the most exciting and action-packed show on TV at the time. And the show’s premise was so dynamic that it’s not hard to see why Fox might see more potential for success in it.
The big questions will be, will viewers tune in to a 24 that’s missing Jack Bauer? And will a show strongly wedded to a very specific era - post-9/11 and the Bush/Cheney Administration - fit into a very different time?
24: Legacy doesn’t yet have an official premiere date, but will debut on Fox at some point during the 2016-2017 TV season.
Source: Deadline
