'24,' Jack Bauer to return in fall with a TV movie

Zap2it

May 20, 2008

Actor Kiefer Sutherland. (AP Photo)

Fox has scheduled a two-hour "24" TV movie to serve as a prequel to the Emmy-winning drama's long-delayed seventh season.

The network announced last week that the "24" special will air Nov. 23 from 8-10 p.m. The extended episode will take place just a few months before the events of season seven, which will premiere in January.

Fans of "24" have been without their real-time action fix since last May. Because of creative overhauls on the season seven plotline, production got off to a late start last summer and then the writers' strike hit only eight episodes into the new season. Rather than jeopardize the tradition of an uninterrupted "24" broadcast schedule, Fox opted to delay the entire season.

When the prequel special begins, Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer is in South Africa handling an international crisis. Back at home, the newly elected president (series newcomer Cherry Jones) is preparing for her inauguration day. That second part is bound to be more exciting than it sounds.

"We're excited about the prequel because it explores Jack's complex emotional state of mind and still has all the signature excitement and suspense that fans have come to expect from '24,'" says executive producer Howard Gordon in a statement. "Shooting in South Africa affirms everyone's commitment to making this season especially memorable for our fans."

Devoted "24" fans know that an African adventure was one of the initially discarded plot lines for the seventh season. The actual season seven plot will move the action from Los Angeles to Washington and will force Bauer to operate without his familiar CTU backdrop. Little is known except that a national security crisis brings together new cast members Colm Feore, Janeane Garofalo, Annie Wersching, Jeffrey Nordling, Rhys Coiro and John Billingsley, as well as returning favorites Mary Lynn Rajskub and James Morrison. Also returning, under intriguing circumstances, is Carlos Bernard's Tony Almeida.

The show's creative team underwent a bit of a shake-up in February when co-creator and longtime executive producer Joel Surnow left "24" to work on other projects. Veteran show-runner Gordon remains in charge, though, maintaining continuity.