Jack Bauer is making up for lost time.
Fox has confirmed that a two-hour prequel to the upcoming, long-delayed seventh season of 24 is in the works, set to hit the airwaves this fall.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the prequel will bridge the gap between the sixth and seventh seasons, the latter of which will premiere next January, one year later than originally planned.
The Emmy-winning, clock-ticking Kiefer Sutherland series was the first major casualty of the writers' strike. Only eight of its title-fulfilling 24 episodes were finished when the industry-debilitating work-stoppage took hold.
Rather than air a portion of the season, and face the threat of alienating fans, Fox opted instead to sit on the completed episodes so the season could air in its entirety next year.
It's unclear how the show's trademark gimmick—each one-hour episode takes place in real time—will be altered during the two-hour prequel movie or how far in advance of season seven's start the action will be set.
Meanwhile, the writers, producers and recently unincarcerated Sutherland are due to resume work on the remaining two-thirds of the new season, as well as the one-off prequel, in April.
But one notable face will be missing from the set.
The show's cocreator and executive producer, Joel Surnow, announced last month, at the end of the writers' strike, that he would not be returning to shepherd 24. His departure was apparently amicable, as Fox sent out a statement heralding his contribution to the series and saying the door was always open for him to return.
Prior to the commencement of the strike, show producers confirmed the seventh season of the show will be set not at Los Angeles' CTU headquarters but for the first time in Washington, D.C., and will feature the first-ever female president, played by Cherry Jones.