Just days after Fox canceled Kiefer Sutherland drama Touch, the actor is returning to Fox to reprise his role as Jack Bauer in a 24 limited series.
The continuation of the series -- which spanned 192 episodes and a TV movie from 2001-10 -- will be produced by its former showrunner, Howard Gordon (Homeland). Like the original series, the 12-episode reboot, dubbed 24: Live Another Day, hails from 20th Television and Imagine TV's Brian Grazer with Gordon's banner Teakwood Lane on board to co-produce. Fox will bow the limited project in May 2014.
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The revival of 24 as a limited series comes a year after hopes for a big-screen adaptation fizzled when 20th Century Fox and producer Imagine could not agree on a budget after Suthlerland and producers including Gordon had been committed to doing it for years. In 2011, Gordon told THR that conversations were "definitely happening" to bring 24 to the big-screen.
"24 compressed over 12 weeks, Jack is back," Fox entertainment chairman Kevin Reilly told reporters early Monday during a conference call ahead of the network's upfront presentation.
“It’s something that I think if it doesn’t happen, I will not be heartbroken,” he said at the time. “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. Why mess it up? But if you find the right story …”
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“I miss the character terribly and I know Kiefer does, too,” he continued, adding that what was currently in the works were to take place abroad and, unlike traditional episodes of the series, would likely expand to more than 24 hours.
For Fox, 24 joins Wayward Pines as the network continues its push into the limited "event" series. Matt Dillon starrer Wayward Pines, from M. Night Shyamalan and The Playboy Club's Chad Hodge, was announced early Friday and will bow in 2014.
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Fox currently has a handful of other event series in development as it looks to lure top names for shorter time commitments in a bid for prestige and to draw eyeballs to programming without interruption, a la The Following. Fox also has event series Blood Brothers (from Band of Brothers' Bruce C. McKenna), a Shogun remake from Michael De Luca and Nigel Williams and The People v. O.J. Simpson, which hails from Golden Globe winners Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (The People vs. Larry Flint).
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit
