24 Prequel Series Featuring a Young Jack Bauer in the Works at Fox
Jack is back… but he’s a bit younger than the last time you saw him.
Fox is developing a 24 prequel series centered on a young Jack Bauer, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with original creators Joel Surnow and Bob Cochran working on an idea “that tells the origin story of how Jack Bauer became Jack Bauer.” Longtime 24 executive producer Howard Gordon is also involved in developing the concept. The series is still in the early stages, but could be ready to air as soon as midseason.
Kiefer Sutherland starred as tough-as-nails anti-terrorism agent Jack Bauer during 24‘s original run on Fox from 2001 to 2010, winning an Emmy for the role in 2006. The new series, though, would presumably cast a different actor to play the young Jack. (Casting has not yet gotten underway.) Sutherland did reprise his role as Jack Bauer in 2014’s one-off revival 24: Live Another Day.
Fox attempted to reboot the franchise last year with 24: Legacy, starring Corey Hawkins instead of Sutherland — but it was cancelled after just one season. Following that, Fox chairman Dana Walden revealed that the network was working on a “very compelling” idea to continue the franchise.
Would you tune in to hear a young Jack Bauer say “dammit” in a 24 prequel? (And who should play him?) Drop your thoughts on the news in a comment below.
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Bauer: A 24 Story will flop big time. Kiefer Sutherland is 24.
This ^
The first time I agree with Nina Myers.
^ THESE.
I think Nina Myers would agree with my overall sentiment about poor ol’ Jack (though perhaps not for the same reasoning *cough*):
Just Make One More Day with Kiefer as Jack… and kill him off however you please… but *please* just let the poor guy die.
We all enjoyed the ride, but I dare any one of you to say he doesn’t deserve to be afforded the opportunity to finally just rest in peace. He never wanted to revisit his past (whether it kept coming back in his face or not), so why do this against his wishes?(!)
That being said, Jack “Kiefer Sutherland” Bauer, is the only Jack, so stop trying to reboot things which ought best be as the wonderful show that was.
Absolutely agree that no one can play “Jack Bauer” but Keifer Sutherland! No Keifer No 24 succeeding!! Just like “Lethal Weapon” ended for a lot of fans when they killed off Clayne Crawford, as he WAS the Lethal Weapon.
I’m on the fence, but if somehow they could include Sutherland’s Jack Bauer (as say, young Jack’s father??) I might be on board. Casting will be key to the success, without it there is no hope it’ll catch on. So who is you’re ideal “Young Jack Bauer”? If only Zach Roerig was a little younger, or Lucas Till didn’t already have a show. Cody Christian or Dylan O’Brien?? Supporting cast could include: Chris Wood, Alan Van Sprang, Lauren Graham, Giacomo Gianniotti, Matt Lanter, Thomas McDonell, Pauley Perrette, Caitlin Stasey, Rainn Wilson (goofy tech guy), Charles Michael Davis, Andrew Lees, AnnaSophia Robb, Keke Palmer. To name a few ;)
I’ll give it a shot, but, unlike Randy and Wade, I don’t have my hopes up high.
The ending of Live Another Day left a bad taste in my mouth. I didn’t watch Legacy and I won’t watch this either. Free Jack!!!
Perhaps they could cast a teenage lead that resembles Sutherland and then have Kiefer dub in all the dialogue. And a talking animal sidekick would be cool too.
As long as its a cougar im in hahah
I want Elisha Cuthbert to play the talking Cougar in makeup and fur. Either that or one of Rupaul’s costumed contestants, I’ve seen some pretty convincing cat makeup on Drag Race and I think this would be much better than CGI.
They tried it once, but discovered that “24” without Kiefer Sutherland isn’t the “24” that people want to see. I can see where they’re jealous of “Young Sheldon’s” success, but “Young Jack” won’t fly.
Jack was already around his late 30s and was said to have completed law school, served in the US Army for 12 years, and then had stints in LAPD SWAT and CIA before joining CTU. Unless he entered/graduated college younger than most, that’s a lot of accomplishments and career service for someone Bauer’s supposed age at the start of Season 1. I get the feeling that they’d strip some of that canonical stuff out to make it a bit more believable.
Jack Bauer never completed law school. Get your facts straight. Jack has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Master of Science degree in Criminology and Law from the University of California, Berkeley.[
Still that’s 2-3 years after college that they have to account for in his age. While Sutherland was around 33-34 when he got the role, the subsequent career history the creators gave Jack ages him to around 40 when S1 began and around 60 when he last appeared in 24: Legacy.
Until we see Keifer Sutherland as the real Jack Bauer get out of the gulag cliffhanger he was left in, no more “24” for me. Skipped “Legacy,” will skip this.
Same.
It also seems like they’re trying to do what Amazon is doing with the prequel Jack Ryan series starring John Krasinski. The difference, though, is that Krasinski is the big name that will undoubtedly reel in the viewers (myself included). Without a big name star in the lead, and without Sutherland, this may very well flop.
Keifer is 24 all the time
Didn’t NBC try this with “Taken” and a young Brian Mills?
no. Kiefer Sutherland is Jack Bauer no one else! if they can’t continue wit him they should finally leave 24 end
Except they should not let it end on a cliffhanger, which is what we have been waiting around with for the past few years. So, no, they should not let it end yet. Finish the Jack Bauer story first.
These idiot’s just don’t get the message. It was not broke, you did not need to fix it
Sutherland is the only one that will ever make 24 work.
I’d love to be a fly in that producer meeting.
“Hey, guys, here’s an idea… The Taken prequel with the same premise did so well that if we combine it with the 24 sequel, this is bound to be gold!”
“GENIUS!”
Why? 24 wasn’t worth bothering in it’s original run.
You’re crazy! 24 was the ONLY thing worth watching on TV – fast paced – fabulous special effects and jaw dropping turn of events. Keifer was AWESOME as Jack Bauer.
No.
Just do a 24 movie to resolve what happened to Jack [the resolution being that he’s freed] and then it die. Without Jack Bauer, there is no 24.
No. I wouldn’t tune in for a Young Jack. Nope. Legacy worked for me, having someone new at the CTU made total sense to me. But not a Young Jack Bauer. Nope not me.
One thing I never understood – or wasn’t clear. Was Bauer the ONLY field agent for CTU? Do they have “shifts” and the show was always on Jack’s shift? Why was CTU formed and why was it different from other security agencies?
Jack Bauer wasn’t just a field agent for CTU. He was CTU’s director of field operations…
From 24wikia: The Counter Terrorist Unit was the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence arm, under the National Protection and Programs directorate. The agency was also overseen by both the Secretary of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. CTU was established after the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. The parent organization of CTU is the CIA, who utilizes the agency as a domestic branch.
No….. No Kiefer, not watching
How about bringing back Kiefer for one season to give the loyal fans closure, while grooming his heir apparent.
I´ve always thought that Yvonne Strahovski´s Kate Morgan character should be the logical custodian of 24. Legacy was sheer crap and the new Idea doesn´t float my boat.
Fox are such morons. They already failed once. They go on and on about how they can’t do another because of how many bad days can one guy have. Yet now they what to shove this crap on us? Which will indeed be crap because 24 as a prequel is stupid. You know what can and can’t happen, so any ticking clock(which they got sooooooo lazy with in that dumb spinoff thing) would be pointless.
Considering Sutherland was only 34 when he filmed the first season, they’d have to go REALLY young. Like 24 years old! Genius!
The problem with all these 24 reboots is that there weren’t actually a lot of good seasons of 24. The first one was all right, but horribly paced and cougars and lots of bad and then his wife got killed YAY THIS SHOW IS AWESOME! Then it went back and forth with the best season coming in Season 5: The Season with the Shocking Deaths. Then it went back to the ups and downs and movies and a bunch of garbage, but then it got interesting when they brought in Freddie Prinze Jr as an obvious replacement for Jack but they destroyed that by making Katee Sackhoff’s character the most interesting one in that entire series. Then they clearly decided they were going to go with a woman instead and they introduced Yvonne Strahovski as the next Jack Bauer and then proceeded to give us the same crap we’d already seen over and over and over.
The problem isn’t the loss of Kiefer Sutherland, who brings limited range to his acting, but the scripts, which bring a limited worldview. A worldview, I might add, won’t be as widely accepted as it was shortly after 9/11.
Would rather see a 24 with Jack Bauer running CTU if he can’t be in the field. 24 without Kiefer Sutherland in some capacity, isn’t 24
Kiefer Sutherland, CGI’ed though, like how Michael Douglas was CGI’ed in Ant Man to make him look younger.
Keifer was the best part of the show. He was perfect in the role. It was a great concept, but the show ran out of ideas. In the last season, they actually went out and hired the guys that ruined Star Trek to join the writing staff of 24 so they could ruin another franchise. They succeeded.
Plus, a younger Jack Bauer would wreak havoc on his kill count, which currently stands at 309 on screen kills.