Kiefer Sutherland Returning For New 24 Series

The hit show is coming back in May 2014 for a limited series - there will only be 12 episodes this time round.

Keifer Sutherland 24 premiere NY

Sutherland played Bauer for more than 190 episodes.

Kiefer Sutherland is to reprise his role as Jack Bauer for another series of 24, Fox has confirmed.

Returning in May 2014 for a 12-episode run, it will still follow the real-time style of the original series but "skip" some hours - for example jumping from 8am to 10 am.

The new series will be called 24: Live Another Day, and while there are no plans to resurrect the show permanently other stand-alone series could follow every now and again.

The shorter format will not damage the show, said Fox entertainment chairman Kevin Reilly, who added that plans for a 24 movie had been scrapped because producers thought a two-hour movie would not do it justice.

Writer and producer Howard Gordon, who worked on the original 24 run as well as Homeland, is set to take charge of the new series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The tense action drama ran from 2001 to 2010, and Sutherland's role as counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer reinvigorated his career.

Each one-hour episode of 24 depicted events as they happened in real time and the innovative format became a massive hit around the world, running for eight seasons.

"The response to 24 is unlike anything I have ever experienced as an actor before," Sutherland said.

"To have the chance to reunite with the character Jack Bauer is like finding a lost friend."

The announcement comes in the same week that Fox pulled the plug on Touch, another show starring 46-year-old Sutherland.

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