24 movie in early development, but will Kiefer Sutherland return?

Could Jack Bauer be destined to return on the big screen? 20th Century Studios and Imagine Entertainment are in the early stages of developing a movie based on 24, the acclaimed action-drama TV series starring Kiefer Sutherland.

Imagine Entertainment co-founder Brian Grazer teased the 24 movie (as well as a Backdraft reboot with Glenn Powell) while appearing on MSNBC’s Squawk Box last month. “Imagine has always played in that zone where there is that high probability chance that it will be successful in movie theaters,” Grazer said. “It’s great for us, because we’ve built, over 30 years, over 100 different products and brands, whether it’s ‘Backdraft,’ which I’m now going to do today with Glen Powell, or whether it’s ’24,’ a movie that we’re going to do in a very interesting way with Disney and Fox.“

Grazer continued, “These formats of the late 90s, early 2000s have become very important because the streamers, or studios, are right now even more risk-averse. They like brands that are already established that people have a high level of awareness to, where you actually add a new twist, or really interesting casting, which is of course what we’re doing with ours.“

Kiefer Sutherland starred in 24 as counter-terrorist agent Jack Bauer, with each season covering 24 consecutive hours in real-time. Audiences hadn’t seen anything quite like it at the time, and the series quickly became a huge success. 24 came to a close after eight seasons but returned several years later for 24: Live Another Day, a twelve-episode limited series. There was also 24: Legacy, a spinoff series that only lasted a single season, and Fox has also been trying to get a 24 revival off the ground for years.

Sutherland has previously expressed a desire to return to the franchise and and even offered a suggestion for how the story could continue. The last we saw of Bauer, he was being taken away by the Russians in exchange for the freedom of Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub). Sutherland teased that one possible revival could see a new team trying to free Jack. “Howard [Gordon] and I talk all the time and invariably it comes up,” Sutherland said. “The idea of him being brought back — I’m just spitballing — I think that’s an interesting idea. You introduce a new cast of people in their effort to get him out, and it lives on from that point. There’s a lot of ways to go about it.“

As the 24 movie is still in the very early stages, there’s no word on whether Sutherland will return as Bauer, but I’m sure fans would love to see him back.