’24’ Boss Shares Update on Potential Revival After Kiefer Sutherland Tease

Martin Holmes November 13, 2025, 10:27 am

Kiefer Sutherland in 24 — Kelsey McNeal / © FOX / courtesy everett collection

What To Know

Showrunner Howard Gordon confirmed that a new project to revive the thriller series 24 is in development, following recent teases by star Kiefer Sutherland.
The revival is not yet official and requires approval from Disney, with Gordon emphasizing the need for a strong, meaningful concept to justify bringing the series back.
Sutherland expressed enthusiasm for Gordon’s new idea, stating that material has been written and he believes it is strong.

Kiefer Sutherland recently teased a potential revival of the thriller series 24, and now the showrunner behind the hit drama, Howard Gordon, has confirmed a project is in the works.

Speaking to Deadline while promoting his new Netflix series The Beast, Gordon was asked about Sutherland’s comments, in which he suggested he could step back into the role of Jack Bauer in a potential revival of the franchise.

“It’s absolutely in process, there’s something we are developing,” Gordon told the outlet. However, he noted that nothing is official yet as it requires the go-ahead from Disney, which owns the rights to 24 following its acquisition of 20th Century Fox Television.

Gordon added that he and Sutherland have “such a nostalgia” for 24 but had struggled for a long time to come up with a strong idea to bring the series back.

“One thing we couldn’t figure out for a long time was a direction that ever held water, that sustained itself. This feels like it could be, but it’s not formal, it’s not done,” he shared.

Gordon, who also co-developed the series Homeland and Tyrant, said he doesn’t want to make something “that’s not good” because “I don’t think that’s fair to the show. It’s not fair to the fans, not fair to, frankly, to myself.”

“So it has to be something that you connect to, or at least you tell yourself you’re connected to,” he continued. “It may not turn out very well, but you have to at least believe that it’s something.”

24 aired from 2001 until 2010 and was an action-thriller TV series set in real time that followed counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer, played by Sutherland. Each season covered a single day in Bauer’s life, with 24 episodes representing 24 hours in the day.

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Gordon has his reservations over whether viewers are still interested in that style of storytelling, though he noted the success of HBO Max’s The Pitt, which takes a similar real-time approach.

“We’ll see if [The Pitt] can really keep on doing it every year. But it seems to me like, maybe people are missing that element and maybe that will adjust somewhat if not return entirely. I know someone is there experimenting and HBO, I think they still release weekly,” he stated.

Gordon’s comments come after Sutherland’s interview with CJAD 800 Montreal’s Aaron Rand in September, where he teased a 24 revival.

“Howard Gordon has come up with an idea that I like,” Sutherland said. “Before, it was just that the material had not been written. So I would have to say I’m not the one that’s in the way… Something has been written. I think it’s really good. I think it’s really strong.”