Kiefer Sutherland has let the world know he’s ready to revisit his iconic role as 24-year-old Jack Bauer because the character’s story still seems “unresolved”. The subject was discussed in a GQ Magazine Questions and answers.
“I miss it. It was an amazing experience,” Bauer said of the long-running Fox drama. “I’ve learned that it’s better not to be definitive regarding your answer as to whether you will or will not do something. I love playing this character. I believe the story is unresolved. If something was to be written that made sense to me and that I thought would contribute to the franchise, then I would be behind it, even if my involvement in it was to be limited.”
Sutherland’s answer is not necessarily idle soul-searching. As recently as September 2021, Fox announced that it was in “active creative discussions” to revive the series. The original series ran for nine seasons and also branched out into a movie, which is a long way for a series of 24-hour periods.
However, any franchise revival is likely to be far more susceptible to criticism or outright resistance from pro-torture work. The original show premiered on Nov. 6, 2001 – just weeks following the 9/11 attacks – and would land differently with contemporary viewers likely to be much more critical of a franchise so historically steeped in stories. with racial issues.
About this time and the events leading up to the show’s premiere, Sutherland told GQ that he and “everyone on the show” felt ambivalent. “Nobody wanted anything close to the portrayal of this horrible thing that we just saw happen,” Sutherland said. “Having said that, the country felt very differently. Even if it was just a TV show and a guy fighting back, that’s what they wanted. So that’s what we did.”
