24 will be returning to Fox, three years after its cancellation.
Just days after the network announced that it had canceled the Kiefer Sutherland drama, Touch , chairman Kevin Reilly confirmed that Sutherland would be reprising his role as Jack Bauer in a 24 limited series.
The 12-episode revival, titled 24: Live Another Day , will be produced by the series’ former showrunner, Howard Gordon ( Homeland ). Gordon is also executive producing the upcoming Sean Bean drama Legends , which has been ordered to series by TNT.
“24 compressed over 12 weeks, Jack is back,” Reilly told reporters early Monday morning during a conference call. Reilly added that 24 would be Fox’s first limited run series with the potential for additional closed-ended stories.
The decision to bring 24 back as an event series comes a year after plans to adapt it as a full-length film were dashed because 20th Century Fox and Imagine couldn’t agree on a budget . Sutherland and Gordon, as well as other producers, were committed to a movie adaptation which, unfortunately, doesn’t appear to be coming to fruition anytime soon. However, Gordon told The Hollywood Reporter in 2011 that he wouldn’t be heartbroken if 24 never made it to the silver screen .
“I’m very proud of that run and how it ended. It was very hard to get it to the finish line with some kind of grace in closure,” he said. “Why mess it up? But if you find the right story…”
Reilly said the producers all agreed that “ 24 being compressed into two hours isn’t 24 ,” and that Gordon had a “little light bulb” go off when Fox made the announcement that it would go forward with turning it into a limited series.
“The [event series] franchise is less than six months old and we’re getting a who’s who of Hollywood in the door to participate in this,” Reilly said. He added that the 24 limited series would bridge Fox’s fall and midseason schedules as the network starts shifting into year-round original programming.
Are you happy to see 24 revived for a new season?
