FOX Developing ‘24’ Spinoff With New Male Lead to Replace Jack Bauer
FOX’s 24 revival Live Another Day certainly did well enough to kickstart similar returns from The X-Files and Heroes Reborn (Zzz…), but hasn’t quite pushed the network to commit to a second round with Jack Bauer. In fact, they may not have to, as FOX has begun developing a new spinoff without Kiefer Sutherland at the helm.
According to TVLine, FOX is proceeding with Live Another Day vets Manny Coto and Evan Katz to develop a new iteration of 24 with a younger male terrorist hunter, paired with and older, seasoned female partner. Sutherland’s iconic Jack Bauer might pop up occasionally at least, appearing in a guest capacity
Should FOX decide to move forward with the 24 spinoff, production would keep to the smaller event-series model, rather than return to the full 24-hour cycle, at least at first. If nothing else, producer Howard Gordon told Yahoo previously that any iteration of 24 would at least keep the “real-time concept,” while any story would be “in the tradition of 24.” Breathe easy, then.
There’s no telling if FOX would get a new 24 off the ground in time for 2016, or what involvement Kiefer Sutherland might take, but could a new pair of leads revitalize the franchise? How much of the old team should return for a new series?