Is a TV show ever really dead? After eight seasons of Jack Bauer attempting to stop terrorist attacks, government conspiracies and assassination attempts in real time, we all thought 24 had run its course. That naturally meant that star Kiefer Sutherland returned for a 12 episode event series, 24: Live Another Day.
Following that, a spinoff starring Corey Hawkins titled 24: Legacy only lasted one season. That’s gotta be it, right? Nope, as Fox is reportedly going back to the well and attempting to develop a new incarnation of 24 which would shift the focus to criminal justice. Deadline reports that the series would retain its real time format and feature a female lead.
The protagonist would be a prosecutor, who “uncovers a legal conspiracy and has to work against the clock to save a death row inmate facing imminent execution whom she had helped prosecute but may be innocent”. It’s also possible that a new incarnation of 24 would take the form of an anthology series, with each new season focusing on a new set of characters.
During the Television Critics Association Press tour this summer, Fox Television chariman Dana Walden implied just that:
“We are really exploring what the future, the next version of 24 might be, maybe in more anthological storytelling…The same kind of ticking-clock format but apply it to something else. It will have the same urgency but may not be set in the CTU, it will have same style and urgency but in a different venue”.
Fox have brought in Jeremy Doner (The Killing) and Howard Gordan (Homeland) to pen the script. It’s fair to wonder if there’s any public interest for more seasons of 24; there’s a reason the event series and reboot only lasted one season. Fox however, seem determined to keep the franchise alive. Let’s see if this latest incarnation can breathe some new life into the series.
#Peace.Love.24
