Meanwhile, over on this side of the Atlantic, fans of Fox's real-time thriller 24 have already known for several months about the horrific fate awaiting agent Jack Bauer's wife Teri (played by Leslie Hope) in the show's season finale.
Yes, after suffering through a day that had her kidnapped and raped, shocked into amnesia, suspecting her husband was cheating on her and thinking her daughter was killed in a fiery explosion, Teri Bauer was finally--mercifully--killed by her captors.
Of course, no one took the news harder than Hope's real-life mother, who had traveled from their home in Nova Scotia, Canada, to celebrate the season finale with her daughter in Los Angeles.
"My mom said, 'I can't believe I traveled 5,000 miles to see them kill my baby!'" Hope says, laughing.
Mom's not the only one shocked by the turn of events. Since the show's rookie season wrapped in May, fans have been buzzing about whether Kiefer Sutherland's small-screen wife really did die in the final episode, or whether she'll magically reappear next season.
Hope and other cast members say they were kept guessing from week to week when it came to story lines and plot twists for season one--so she can't be 100 percent sure she's really dead.
But don't count on any miracles. After all, she says, "I'm not sure what more they could do to me."
"I had a great opportunity as an actor to explore the gamut of possibilities, not just in the scope of one year, but in one day," she tells E! Online. "But as far as I know, I'm not coming back to work."
Hope also is dismissing reports this week that she's bitter about her demise, or about changes on the show as it heads into season two. While at the Monte Carlo television festival, she was quoted by Britain's Guardian saying Fox is pressuring producers to cast more "beautiful women in their 20s," and she reportedly questioned the future of the series now that coexecutive producer Stephen Hopkins has departed.
But Hope says her comments were misconstrued, and she's confident Kiefer and company will do another great job next year. "They surprised us every week with those great scripts, and I fully believe they'll be able to do it again," she says.
For 24's much-discussed finale, Hope says producers had three scripts written, and they ended up shooting two of them: One with Teri Bauer living, and the other with her getting killed.
"But I must tell you that, honestly, the better ending is where I am dead," Hope acknowledges, despite the fact that it didn't exactly help her future on the show. "It was fantastic the way Kiefer handled it. It was innovative and groundbreaking."
Meantime, don't tell anyone in Europe how it ends. The show is currently faring well in Britain, and plans are afoot for 24 to begin airing in France and Germany as well.