24: Live Another Day - Ninth Season

Action!

Move! Move, damn it!

Damn it, move!

This is the opening of "24: Live Another Day."

We start with CIA ops chasing somebody.

The series begins running, you know?

Freeze it right there.

That Jack Bauer has survived, intact, to live another day

is good news for a lot of people.

What the hell have you been doing the past four years?

I was really excited that "24" was coming back.

I couldn't believe it.

There's fireballs. There's action.

It's all good, "24" kind of stuff.

It's a high-octane thriller

with, literally, time ticking down.

- It's a self-destruct program. - Damn it!

Why is he here? Why is he back?

Jack Bauer is a traitor and a psychopath.

Is he here to harm the president?

Is he here to help the president?

We don't know.

If an American president is assassinated on foreign soil,

you're looking at a world war.

London and the CIA will never be the same.

Man: Action!

It's Bauer.

This year, we have some crazy stuff coming up,

stuff we haven't done before.

Coto: It's a story that starts from moment one, this season.

The train is already moving, and you got to run to catch up.

And you're on for a ride from episode one all the way through.

There's not one letup.

Simone: Help me!

What's wonderful is it is "24,"

but it's a new iteration of "24."

The show is set in London, England.

And it's the first time we've actually shot fully on location.

What brings Jack to London

is he's been out of the United States

since the very end of season eight.

He managed to escape to Eastern Europe,

where he's been underground for 4 1/2 years...

Man: Target acquired.

And has resurfaced because of the circumstances of the day,

to protect the president of the Untied States.

Katz: James Heller, played by William Devane,

was formerly in the series as the secretary of defense.

President Heller, In this case, is in London.

Man: People have never been comfortable

with our using drones for targeted assassinations.

Mr. President?

I'm thinking I don't blame them.

Devane: We're here to negotiate a treaty... a drone treaty.

It's a precarious situation,

so I have to come and actually do it myself.

James: I think the most important thing

is for the prime minister to hear the news from me.

Katz: And while he's there, of course,

Jack emerges with news of an attack.

The question being asked in the initial part of the series is,

"is Jack Bauer there to assassinate the president?"

Gordon: Jack is an international fugitive,

and he's wanted, not just by our country,

but by every country.

I know How many lives you've saved,

but they're just gonna see a man who snapped,

who went off on a... a revenge spree.

A man whose country labels him a criminal.

Coto: Fans of the series remember,

you know, Jack left off as a fugitive.

You were really something...

in your time.

Basically, CTU was turned off,

and Jack was left in the darkness.

And now a CIA team is hunting down Jack.

Man: Cut!

But Jack is onto something,

and there's much more than just him having been caught.

There's a larger mystery that he's trying to uncover.

Cassar: Why is he here? Why is he back?

Does this have something to do with the president?

And does it have something to do with these drones?

So, really, that becomes our mystery.

Two weeks ago, I intercepted intel framing

an assassination attempt on President Heller

supposed to take place in London... here, today.

- You're gonna help me. - I'm afraid I can't do that.

But you don't have a choice.

Gordon: Despite being hunted and... and being made a pariah,

Jack is still a hero. He cannot help himself.

Has anyone ever mentioned

your rather... spectacularly rude habit

of asking for favors accompanied by the threat of a gun?

Sutherland: What brought me back was really Howard Gordon,

who was our lead writer.

Called me up and said, "Look, I've... I've had this idea

"for about 12 episodes for a while,

"and it's kind of just gnawing at me.

Would you be interested in doing it?"

Gordon: We really wanted to see Jack Bauer.

Look, it's really like seeing an old friend again.

And I have to say, when we saw the dailies

of Jack Bauer for the first time,

we just all smiled and looked at each other.

Katz: He really looks great. He's cut.

He looks like someone who's been living raw

and on the edge for years.

You know who I am.

Trigger an alarm, and I'll blow your head off.

I think he found Jack again pretty quickly.

Kiefer and Jack Bauer are pretty well connected at this point.

We didn't waste any time.

Our first week,

we were just stock blocked with action and dialogue,

so he had to fit into and he had to do it quickly, and he did.

Sutherland: And it is very exciting to be Jack Bauer again.

Move!

Gordon: It is not just Kiefer, of course.

A good number of the old team are back together.

It was like the band came together for this.

Evan is a... is a... is a veteran.

He's the most veteran writer on the show...

was there since season two, and I came in at season five.

Katz: We're lucky enough to get John Cassar back,

who was our producer and director for years.

Cassar: I've done 58 episodes and the TV movie,

so to have it come back again is very exciting.

Sutherland: Jon directed so many of the seasons of "24"

that I really do rely on him greatly.

Action!

We're gonna push this as hard as we can.

If we lose the base,

those men will have died in vain!

Look, I'm not saying we quit.

I'm just suggesting that we withdraw,

wait until the rancor dies down.

I don't have time.

Katz: We're doing 12 episodes, instead of 24.

This is a special-event series.

Here we go!

Those 12 episodes

are still gonna represent one full day.

Somewhere within it,

we're going to skip an hour or two, or maybe a big chunk.

Sutherland: We're not trying to change the show.

Jack is not gonna be skipping.

You know, it's not gonna be a romantic comedy.

He's gonna have a crappy day,

and he's gonna fight his way through it,

and... and... and that's what the show is.

Certain dynamics are different, but the show isn't different.

You're going after the wrong guy.

Cassar: I think all the action and special effects

are what you usually expect on "24,"

and, really, that's what I'm going for...

and maybe a little beyond what you expect,

and that's what we always,

I think, expect our audience to expect from us.

Action!

Cut. Yeah, baby!

That's the one.

This year may be my favorite cast that we've ever had.

It's extraordinary.

Cassar: First, we've got some characters

that you loved that we've brought back.

My God. Chloe.

Woman: What happened to you?

Coto: The notorious Chloe O'Brian.

Chloe's not nearly the same individual

that we saw in season eight.

Rajskub: Chloe is with the group

that believes in information being freed.

They have no qualms about letting out secrets.

It's the opposite of how Chloe used to believe.

Coto: She has turned anti-government.

She has become

kind of like a darker version of Edward Snowden.

Intelligence agencies keep secrets

because what they're doing is criminal.

That's naive, even for you.

You're smarter than that.

You don't get to judge me,

not after what I've been through.

Rajskub: Chloe and Jack start out at odds

because Jack has kind of come out of nowhere

and wants her to go with him

and help him to stop this plot against the president.

Jack, in four years of hiding, doesn't really trust anybody,

and Chloe has gone through her own evolution.

And they don't start off as the best of friends.

We're not the same Chloe and Jack as we were,

and we're not seeing eye to eye.

Chloe: Why are you doing this, Jack?

Some fantasy that, if you save Heller,

all will be forgiven?

You knew Heller. You know he's a good man.

No, I don't know that.

William Devane is reprising his role as Heller.

Devane: I'm now the president,