Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer returned to the screen this week as the event series 24: Live Another Day got underway with a special double-bill [read our review here], and during an interview with Screen Daily at the UK launch of the revived series the star spoke about the planned 24 movie, which obviously failed to materialise…
“We had a look at [a movie]. There are multiple reasons why that didn’t happen and I don’t know all of them. 20th Century Fox is a very big company. We work with the television side. The film side is a whole other area. But in season 8, when [Jack] looks up into that camera and has a 15-minute window to ‘go dark’ and disappear, that was a setup for a potential movie. I think one of the reasons why Howard [Gordon] wanted to do these 12 episodes and where the idea came for him to write was to end it and bring a sense of closure to the show. That was a big part of it. So I don’t see a film shaping itself around what we’re doing right now.”
Sutherland then went on to discuss the small screen revival, stating that: “The last thing you want to do is damage the legacy of a show you’ve put to bed. We had put this to bed for a reason: Howard Gordon, our lead writer, was tired. He had written 196 episodes – the equivalent of 100 movies – in an eight-year period. That gave me pause for thought. But now we’re almost finished I’m so glad, and arguably we’ve made the best season ever.”
Originally published May 9, 2014. Updated April 15, 2018.
