24: Will Jack Bauer Die on the Big Screen?

Kiefer Sutherland and his bosses talk plans for the end of the series

By Kristin Dos Santos Jan 14, 2009 11:15 PMTags
24: RedemptionKelsey McNeal/FOX

Looks like Jack Bauer might not be invincible after all.

Not only did 24 executive producer Howard Gordon tell reporters he might very well "blow up the whole world" and Jack Bauer with it, but he's also talking about doing a big-screen 24 movie that will happen when the Fox series ends—and that end might come sooner than you think.

"My hope is to go after the eighth season," Gordon tells us, "and Keifer and I have talked about it, and I think that’s sort of what we’re aiming for."

Wait a minute. Does 24 really only have one season left? And could Jack Bauer really die? Here's what Kiefer Sutherland and company tell me...

"I don't know. I take it one day at a time," Gordon says when asked if he really plans to call it quits on 24 after season eight.

"I think we came to the conclusion," Gordon explains, "and I think we’re in agreement with Fox that the only way we’re going to do it is after the show’s over. I don’t think a big-screen 24 works while Jack is on TV."

Fair enough. But they're not really going to blow up the whole world and Jack Bauer with it, right?

"We realize now that [Jack's] more a human being than we really thought," says executive producer Jon Cassar. "He's not the Superman everyone thinks he is."

According to Kiefer, Jack's end is not preordained, but he does have to go sometime: "I see [Jack] as a really human figure, and I think there is something innately tragic about people. I think there is no winning. We're all going to die. There's something kind of sad in that, and yet there's something really beautiful and hopeful."

In the meantime, Kiefer will just keep kicking ass on Monday nights on Fox during the current seventh season, which premiered on Sunday.

He'll also keep shouting Jack Bauer's favorite word. "Dammit has just become every expletive that you can’t use on television rolled into one," Kiefer says with a laugh.

How do you feel about a possible end for 24 and and a big-screen 24 movie? Post in the comments...

—Additional reporting by Natalie Abrams