24 revival is in the works – but will Kiefer Sutherland return as Jack Bauer?
It's still early days for the return of the real-time thriller
A revival of 24 is still in the works, despite Fox recently shelving plans for a prequel centred on a young Jack Bauer.
Former 24 executive producer Howard Gordon told Deadline that Todd Harthan, showrunner on medical drama The Resident, is currently developing a potential relaunch for the real-time thriller.
"We can’t do it to just do it," Gordon said. "We want to find the right story. Todd Harthan who is running The Resident is working on it."
Fox, he added, "certainly wants to do it" – but would any 24 revival be a reboot or a continuation?
According to Deadline, there are early talks in place for any new version to bring back original star Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer.
Sutherland originally played Counter Terrorism Unit agent Bauer for eight seasons from 2001 to 2010, before reprising the part in limited series 24: Live Another Day in 2014.
Fox later produced a spin-off without Sutherland or the Bauer character in 2017, but 24: Legacy - fronted by Corey Hawkins as new character Eric Carter - received mixed reviews and was cancelled after a single season.
In 2018, Sutherland suggested that he would "never say never" to reprising Bauer again. "We shot the last season [Live Another Day] here in London and I didn't expect to do that," he told ITV's Lorraine. "I said we were never doing 24 again, I was wrong, so I learned to stay quiet about that."
Asked if he'd been keen to return to 24, he added: "If the story is good. As long as the story is good."
Authors
Morgan Jeffery is the Digital Editor for Radio Times, overseeing all editorial output across the brand's digital platforms. He was previously TV Editor at Digital Spy and has featured as a TV expert on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Atlantic.