Will Kiefer Sutherland return to his iconic “24” role of Jack Bauer? He did once before in 2014 for the 12-episode limited series “24: Live Another Day,” but Sutherland recently told GQ magazine that he’s keeping the door open for more “24” because he feels Bauer’s story remains “unresolved.”
“I miss it. It was an incredible experience,” Bauer said of starring on the long-running Fox drama series. “I have learned that you’re just better off not to be definitive about your answer of whether you will do something or not do something. I love playing that character. I do believe the story is unresolved. If something were to be written that made sense to me and that I thought was going to contribute to the franchise then I would be behind it, even if my participation in that were to be limited.”
Sutherland added, “My involvement will always be predicated on what I perceive is the quality of the writing. If [original showrunner] Howard Gordon is motivated to do it, we’ll see what happens.”
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“24” originally ran for nine seasons and 192 episodes between 2001 and 2010. It won the Emmy for outstanding drama series in 2006. Bauer told GQ he almost quit the show during its first season when filming was interrupted by the September 11 terrorist attacks. “24” premiered in November 2001, just a couple months after the attacks.
“All of us felt very strongly that after that terrible day of 9/11 when our show started emulating one of the great tragedies in American history. … I remember going through weeks of not wanting to do it anymore, and I think everybody on the show felt the same,” Sutherland said. “Nobody wanted anything coming close to representing this awful thing we just watched happened. Having said that, the country felt very differently. Even if it was just a television show and a guy fighting back, that’s what they wanted. So that’s what we did.”
The “24” franchise returned in 2017 with spinoff series “24: Legacy,” which featured a new leading character played by Corey Hawkins. Sutherland executive produced the show, but did not play Bauer. The actor spoke to NME earlier this year about a potential idea for a new “24” series.
“I think the only thing that would ever make sense — and I’ve told [Howard Gordon] this — is that you launch the new cast because they’re trying to get [Jack Bauer] back from China or wherever the hell it is that I ended up,” Sutherland said.
Watch Sutherland’s full GQ interview below.
