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Fox orders pilot for new ’24’ series with ‘African-American’ lead instead of Jack Bauer

Following 2014's 24: Live Another Day mini-series, FOX is reportedly ready to return to the chaotic world that is 24. Only this time, the studio is planning a full reboot, meaning no Jack Bauer (although former star Kiefer Sutherland is on board as executive producer alongside Brian Grazer).

FOX confirmed that another version of 24 was in development back in May of last year, but details were scarce. Today, we learn that the new series will revolve around a military hero, "Eric Carter," who returns to the United States and the trouble follows him back — compelling him to ask the Counter Terrorist Unit for help in saving his life, and stopping what could be one of the largest-scale terror attacks on American soil.

The casting process for the pilot, which films this winter, has already begun, and it's rumored that producers are specifically seeking an African-American actor for the lead. However, Fox Television Chairman and CEO Dana Walden and Gary Newman suggest a Latino actor could be considered as well.

“We wanted [the star] to be as different from Jack Bauer as possible, whether that’s an African-American or a Latino actor,” Walden said, because apparently the only difference between people is the color of their skin, not actual personality traits or a history of events that made them the person they are.

“As envisioned, the lead character would be diverse, so that will be our first effort in casting, Newman said. "As always, we’re going to cast the best actor we can find for the role. As you can imagine, bringing 24 back, we want to really try to create some distinction and make this feel different than Jack Bauer’s 24, so having a diverse actor in that lead role I think would be helpful in doing that.”

The series order would be for a 12-episode arc, similar to the approach FOX took with 24: Live Another Day. That would be a major shift from the traditional 24 episode format, in which each episode represented an hour of the eventful day. “That’s something we discussed for years, ‘It’s 24 — it has to be 24 episodes,’ ” Walden said. “I don’t think any of us believe that a 24-episode arc in this day and age is the way to go.”

Another change from the original format is the shift in focus from a lone wolf lead to more of a "two-hander," with Carter being paired with a female co-lead. “There’s also a female co-lead who is a former head of CTU,” said Fox Television Chairman and CEO Dana Walden at the Television Critics Association in Pasadena on Friday. “It doesn’t feel like it is fully replicating the original in terms of how much Jack Bauer carried by himself, but it’s a very prominently featured lead.”

This is personally something I've thought 24 has always needed, as a single lead limits the worry of danger because you know the lead will never die.

Overall, we're look at a "new CTU" and "new cast of characters" dealing with sleeper cells radicalizing Americans. “It’s a completely different story in terms of the special ops groups that we’re focusing on," said Walden. "It’s a very contemporary feeling story about the potential to activate new sleeper cells in the United States and radicalizing Americans. It’s a whole new story. There are nods in the pilot to prior CTU agents, there are a couple photos that will feel reminiscent of the original, but no ongoing [returning] characters.”

Matt Liebl

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Matt Liebl
Tags: 24

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