As he remains hopeful to come back in the future, Kiefer Sutherland shared how a 24 revival should make one major change. Sutherland executive produced and starred in the Fox thriller series as Jack Bauer, an agent working for the Los Angeles branch of the Counter Terrorist Unit and chronicled his various attempts to prevent terrorist threats in the course of 24 hours, which plays out in real time. Having won two Emmys and garnered six additional nominees, 24 remains one of Sutherland's most iconic works and is frequently called upon by audiences for another chapter.
The Hollywood Reporter recently caught up with Kiefer Sutherland to discuss his return to the world of TV espionage with Paramount+'s Rabbit Hole. When asked about the possibility of a 24 revival, Sutherland noted that though he hasn't been hinting "it might come back," he remains eager to do so for a "good story" and thinks it should make a major change in where it actually airs. See what Sutherland shared below:
I think streaming makes sense for every single-camera show, period. I grew up with everything from Barney Miller to All in the Family to Cheers to Friends. There was something very nice and really Americana about those kind of sitcoms. There’s a lot for network television to still do — news and sports and daytime soaps and reality TV. But streaming, and even [premium] cable, has put power into the audience’s hand. And I think the audience showed the industry they’re a lot smarter than they ever gave them credit for. From Handmaid’s Tale to The Last of Us to Game of Thrones to Breaking Bad – the diversity in just those four titles is massive. There’s room for all of it. The appetite for content is voracious. As for 24, it’s not so much that I’ve hinted it might come back — I’m not a writer, so I have no say in this. All I’ve ever tried to say is I’m not the reason it’s not happening. If they came to me with a good story, there would be no hesitation on my part.
Will A 24 Revival Happen (& Should It Go To Streaming)?
Talks about a potential 24 revival have swirled for nearly a decade now following 2014's Live Another Day, which ended with Sutherland's Bauer turning himself in to the Russians in exchange for the freedom of Mary Lynn Rajskub's Chloe O'Brian. The franchise would briefly return a few years later with the Corey Hawkins-led 24: Legacy, centered on a new protagonist trying to track down those responsible for his Army Ranger squad mates' murders, but due to mixed reviews and worsening ratings, it was cancelled after its debut season.
Sutherland himself has been a little back and forth on his potential interest in reprising his role of Jack for another 24 installment. Initially adamant about not coming back during 24: Legacy's run, the star has since changed his tune, having indicated that though he may age out of the genre soon, he feels like Bauer's story is "unresolved" and would like to give a proper conclusion. Late 2021 initially brought word that Fox was in "active creative talks" to bring the 24 franchise back, a claim Sutherland later denied.
Given the mixed response to 24: Legacy and the original show's retrospective controversy for its perceived Islamaphobia and glorification of torture, some may feel it best to let the 24 franchise rest as a whole. At the same time, should the show ultimately return, a streaming home may prove even better than another run on Fox, as it could capitalize even further on 24's iconic real-time format and raise the scale of its action sequences even further. Until such announcement is made, audiences can revisit the entirety of 24 streaming on Hulu as well as Rabbit Hole premiering this Sunday.
Source: THR