From 2001-2010, Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer had the eight longest days of his life on 24. The action-packed thriller was one of Fox's most popular TV series, and after the show went off the air, there was talk about continuing Jack's adventures on the big screen. Those plans didn't end up coming to fruition, because according to producer Brian Grazer, there were just too many production issues to make the 24 movie a reality. Grazer explained:
It just worked better for television. We couldn't really find the right world to put it in, the right location. To base it in America seemed not very authentic whereas to do a TV show in America was the perfect bridge. We put it in European countries, but it wasn't working there with the economics, we couldn't find enough money to make it. So we couldn't find the right location, we couldn't find the right story, and it was always too expensive.
While promoting the upcoming spinoff series 24: Legacy, Brian Grazer informed Deadline about why the plans for a 24 movie failed, citing how the initial problem was not being able to find the right location, which subsequently led to budgetary restrictions. So while some fans may have loved to have seen Jack Bauer dish out his unique brand of tough justice in theaters, 24 ultimately didn't go the route that shows like The X-Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Entourage did. Instead, the 12-episode limited series 24: Live Another Day aired in 2014 and was set in London.
Although 24 was never brought to theaters, it get the TV movie treatment with 2008's 24: Redemption. After the 2007-2008 Writer's Strike delayed the release of 24 Season 7 by a year, the show's creative team decided to make a movie set between Seasons 6 and 7. The story saw Jack Bauer in the fictional African nation Sangala shooting bad guys serving the dictator Benjamin Juma. It's not quite the same, but hey, it's better than the rumor that one iteration of the 24 theatrical movie would have been a crossover with the Die Hard franchise, titled Die Hard 24/7. Seriously.
While it doesn't look like a 24 movie will ever happen, fans can return to that universe next month in 24: Legacy. This time around, the main protagonist will be Eric Carter, an ex-Army Ranger. So far the only character from the original 24 seres who's been announced to return is Carlos Bernard's Tony Almeida, and with Kiefer Sutherland busy with ABC's Designated Survivor, it's seems unlikely we'll reunite with Jack Bauer, though maybe something will be revealed about what his fate was following Live Another Day.
24: Legacy premieres Sunday, February 5 after the Super Bowl, and it will move to its normal air time the following Monday at 9 p.m. EST/PST. If for whatever reason the powers-that-be decide to revisit making a different kind of 24 movie, we'll be sure to let you know.
