Jack Bauer Might Return for a 24 Prequel Series...You've Never Seen A Boner Quite Like This
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER – Jack Bauer’s next chapter may be an early one.
Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the next installment in the 24 franchise will be an ongoing prequel series that tells the origin story of how Jack Bauer became Jack Bauer. Original series creators Joel Surnow and Bob Cochran are said to be teaming on an idea for the character originally played by Kiefer Sutherland. Executive producer Howard Gordon is attached to the project and is working with Surnow and Cochran on the idea.
Surnow and Cochran are co-writing the script for what sources say could be an ongoing series rather than a closed-ended limited series like the most recent incarnations in the franchise, 24: Legacy and 24: Live Another Day. It’s unclear when the series could be on the air, though there had been rumors in May that Fox could launch the new installment for midseason. Casting has not begun.
Okay I’ll admit I jumped the gun on my reaction to this.
For some reason, blinded by excitement, I assumed Kiefer Sutherland would be returning to play Jack Bauer. I think it’s because all of the tweets and header pictures for all the articles were pictures of Kiefer Sutherland. But I guess when you stop and think about it, an origin story for Jack Bauer would mean a young Jack Bauer by definition, and with the way that years and calendars and aging works, Kiefer Sutherland would not in fact appear to be a younger Jack Bauer. That’s my mistake. However with all the technology in makeup and shit like that I’m not totally convinced they can’t make it work. I mean I think 3 or 4 hours in a makeup chair every day is worth it more than another lame ass reboot with different actors? The last one just wasn’t very good. It didn’t work. It wasn’t the same. Jack Bauer is an iconic character and that is one of the roles that really can’t be done justice by anyone else.
Two months after that, Fox and producers 20th Century Fox Television co-president Dana Walden said the network and studio were in early talks with producers including Surnow for what they dubbed a “really exciting idea” that was “very compelling.” The goal is to keep the show’s “ticking clock” and sense of urgency and real-time storytelling and to apply it to something else.
“The next version of 24 probably will not be CTU, American Intelligence Agency. It will be some other venue using that same style but exploring it through a different mode,” former Fox exec David Madden said at the time.
Another reason I think the new run could be salvaged: because everyone is going to fucking hate it. The Twitter babies are going to lose their MINDS. Torture, violence, guns. There is not a show that is a worse fit for 2018 sentiment than 24. And that hatred from the whiners and haters is going to fuel my love for it.
Seriously just picture the Twitter reaction to these scenes:
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It’s gonna be a pearl clutching bloodbath.
Now excuse me while I enter a 10 hour 24 rabbit hole for the rest of the day. See you tomorrow!