In an interview with the BBC, Kiefer Sutherland, once and for all, ruled out any possibility of returning to the 24 franchise. Sutherland starred as the seemingly invincible counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer for all eight seasons of 24. He also returned as Bauer in 2014’s limited spinoff series, 24: Live Another Day. But Jack will not be back again.
The incessant countdown clock in Sutherland’s head must have told him that his time with the real-time action series is up. “24 is definitely over now for me,” he told the BBC. “It’s one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever been given as an actor,” Sutherland continued, “but it’s moving on without me. I want to do other things.” Sutherland made these remarks to the BBC at the launch of his new film, Forsaken, in which the junior Sutherland stars opposite his father Donald Sutherland for the first time ever. But Young Sutherland explained that his heart is still with television…just not 24. And that’s fine, because Fox is already looking for a younger, hotter person to play a counterterrorist agent who tortures a bunch of people anyway.
“I want to do more television,” Sutherland said. “My experience of 24 was unbelievable, but the main benefit was that it was nice to do something that people actually watched, and that they enjoyed,” he added. “I don’t think there’s a better medium than television out there at the moment. So think I want to do more of it and look for projects where I can repeat my experience.”
So what’s Sutherland’s post-24 project going to look like? He said he’s waiting for the right thing to come along, but it seems he definitely wants it to have a big audience. “You have to take your time though to find something like it—and that means you have to work less,” Sutherland said. “So I’ll be waiting for something that’s worth it, with the potential for the kind of audience access that 24 had.”