One of the first shows Fox is promoting today at the TCA winter conference is 24: Legacy, the first incarnation of the series without Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer in the lead. Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton, The Walking Dead) takes on the unenviable position of replacing Sutherland at the center of this impossible 24-hour day. Executive producer Howard Gordon explained that “we really felt Jack had run his course with this” over the course of several seasons. Hawkins was enthusiastic at the panel about playing the series’ first black lead, Eric Carter: “When I was growing up, we never got to see a superhero with superpowers who looked like us.” He also discussed how strenuous shooting the series is; Anna Diop, who plays Carter’s wife, joked that both she and Hawkins had to visit the medic after the first day on set.
But the new trailer’s largest reaction came from the reveal of Tony Almeida as a special operative at the end. Granted, the producers admit that the shot of Almeida in the orange prison jumpsuit is “old footage,” with new footage to come. But they enthused how much they loved working with Carlos Bernard and his character of Almeida, which is why Tony was seen leaving prison in the series extra 24: Solitary, leaving the door open for his return. The series also features Jimmy Smits as a senator running for president, with Miranda Otto as a CTU head. Fox is giving the new 24 a hard push, premiering it after the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 5.