There will be a spin-off show for the popular action suspense television series "24" which will star a brand new leading man.
According to TV Line, 20th Century Fox Television is currently busy developing the spin-off, which will focus on a younger hero. In "24," the lead character was Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer.
It was the show co-creator Howard Gordon who confirmed that the spotlight will indeed be on someone new, but added that the new leading man will keep up the tradition of hunting down terrorists and other criminals while reporting to an older, more seasoned female operative.
Veterans of the series, Manny Coto and Evan Katz, will be overseeing the new show, too. Sutherland might be appearing in the new series, together with Yvonne Strahovski's Kate Morgan.
Gordon also said that the spin-off would maintain "the real-time concept" and the story "is in the tradition of '24.'"
"24" was created by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, and told of the story of Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) agent Jack Bauer. Each season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer and uses the real time method of storytelling. It premiered on November 6, 2001 and has over eight seasons with 192 episodes.
The show is considered a political thriller, since the typical plot would have Bauer fighting against time to thwart terrorism attempts, presidential assassinations, cyber attacks, and sometimes even government and corporate corruption.
The show received widespread critical acclaim, winning several awards during its eight season span. It won Best Drama Series during the 2003 Golden Globe Awards and Outstanding Drama Series during the 2006 Primetime Emmy Awards.
When it finally wrapped up, it was the longest-running US espionage-themed television drama, even beating out "Mission: Impossible" and "The Avengers."
Its story continued in "24: Live Another Day," which was set four years later after the show closed. It began 11 a.m., where Bauer who is now a fugitive in London is trying to stop an assassination attempt on President James Heller by terrorist Margot Al-Harazi. Much later, Bauer also has to work hard in preventing an old enemy and a Russian diplomat from starting a war between the US and China.
It was actually Surnow who came up with the idea of having a series with 24 episodes in each season, each an hour long. When he told Cochran about the idea, he said, "Forget it, that's the worst idea I've ever heard, it will never work and it's too hard." Luckily for fans of the show though, he later changed his mind and they began working on the show.
