Season 8

Season 8

january 17th, 2010
2 night-4 hour premiere.

*Warning - This Page contains Season 8 Spoilers toward the bottom*

Episode List:
8x01 - 4:00pm-5:00pm - Hapiness
8x02 - 5:00pm-6:00pm - 2010.01.17
8x03 - 6:00pm-7:00pm - 2010.01.18
8x04 - 7:00pm-8:00pm - 2010.01.18
8x05 - 8:00pm-9:00pm - Babysitters Club
8x06 - 9:00pm-10:00pm - Relationships
8x07 - 10:00pm-11:00pm - Jackknife
8x08 - 11:00pm-12:00am - Rods
8x09 - 12:00am-1:00am - 2010.02.22
8x10 - 1:00am-2:00am - 2010.03.01
8x11 - 2:00am-3:00am - 2010.03.08
8x12 - 3:00am-4:00am - 2010.03.15
8x13 - 4:00am-5:00am - Refreshingly Redundant
8x14 - 5:00am-6:00am - Obtuse
8x15 - 6:00am-7:00am - Vintage
8x16 - 7:00am-8:00am - 2010.04.05
8x17 - 8:00am-9:00am - 2010.04.12
8x18 - 9:00am-10:00am - 2010.04.19
8x19 - 10:00am-11:00am - 2010.04.26
8x20 - 11:00am-12:00pm - 2010.05.03
8x21 - 12:00pm-1:00pm - 2010.05.10
8x22 - 1:00pm-2:00pm - 2010.05.17
8x23 - 2:00pm-3:00pm - 2010.05.24

8x24 - 3:00pm-4:00pm - 2010.05.24
Cast Photo

Left to Right: John Boyd as Arlo Glass, Katee Sackhoff as Dana Walsh, Mykelti Williamson as Director Brian Hastings, Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe O'Brian, Freddie Prinze Jr. as Cole Ortiz, Annie Wershing as Renee Walker, Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, Anil Kapoor as President Omar Hassan, Cherry Jones as President Allison Taylor, Chris Diamantopoulos as Rob weiss

Kiefer Sutherland (R)- Jack Bauer: ~~Working at the United Nations but still involved with CTU.~~ ComicCon said Jack is "Retired" but brought back in to help with the threat on Hassan. He is happy for the first time since Season 1. BuddyTV says that he is living with Kim, his Granddaughter Teri and assumingly Steven, Kim's husband.
Elisha Cuthbert - Kim Bauer: Possibly on her way out of town.
Mary Lynn Rajskub (R) - Chloe O'Brien: Working at CTU and is behind on the tech stuff-and is not happy about it. She has been at home with her son.
Gregory Itzin - Charles Logan:Possibly returning in episode 13/14 - announcement made on November 1st, when they are filming the episode 13/14 pair. Ausiello says "Logan will resurface towards the end of Day 8 when Cherry Jones’ President Taylor reluctantly enlists her disgraced predecessor to assist with an escalating diplomatic crisis." Possible return of the Suvarov's? Again, we have Jon Cassar to thank for this - he was the one that made sure Logan didn't die for sure in Season 6.
Carlos Bernard (?) - Tony Almeida. ~~Completely unverified at this point, but I am hearing whisperings of his involvement in this season.~~Bernard said on his own page he is not returning. How very, very, very disappointing.
Cherry Jones (R) - President Allison Taylor. Not prominent in the first half of the se-ason. Olivia and Henry are unseen as of the first 9 episodes or so. Jones said that she didn't have a lot in the first half of the season and is prepared for lessin the 2nd half. :( Jones confirmed at the Emmy's that Taylor is single this season.
Bob Gunton - Ethan Kanin: Ethan Kanin will be appointed the new Secretary of State and he fares well in the off season.[Auseillo]
Annie Wershing (R) - Renee Walker: Fired from FBI, working at CTU. “She comes back pretty damaged ... definitely darker, and she has some stuff going on [.] There is some really cool stuff happening with her, and it's so cool that I don't want to ruin any of it!” Wershing Evidently, Renee has 'an agenda of her own' this season
John Boyd (R)- Arlo Glass: Systems analyst at CTU.
Freddie Prinze Jr. (R) - Cole Ortiz: Head of Field Op's at the new CTU. Was a marine and "fancies himself the new Jack Bauer" according to the Hollywood Reporter. (Oh yeah, that'll work - ah NO). Engaged to Dana Walsh. He's modelling his character after a cousin of his who is serving overseas.
Katee Sackhoff (R) - Dana Walsh: Data analyst at N.Y. CTU. Highly respected and starts out better than Chloe and is not quiet about it. Engaged Cole Ortiz and has a skeleton in her closet that she doesn't want to let out. 24 shows her sweeter side, "For a while." Chloe's Boss. Out from behind her desk somewhere around the 5th hour.
Mykelti Williamson (R) - Brian Hastings: CTU Director that has 'razor sharp intellect.'
Chris Diamantopoulos - Rob Weiss: Taylor's new Chief of Staff. Argumentative and tough.
Anil Kapoor - Omar Hassan: Visiting President of ~~Iran~~ Kamistan on a peacemaking mission that is the center of the plot. There is an assassination attempt on him at a Peace Conference at the UN. He's a "good guy, a very good guy" which is why he took the role. (Kapoor interview). Howard Gordon says that Kapoor’s ability to convincingly portray a royal presence or a president was why they hired him
Jennifer Westfeldt - Meredith Reed: Ambitious journalist that is connected to Hassan
Nazneed Contractor - Kayla Hassan: Omar's daughter.
Clayne Crawford - First Name Unknown, Last name Unknown (LNU) - Bad Boy from Dana's past. Still involved to at least episode pair 6/7.
Benito Martinez - Victor Ruiz: Evidently gets shot at some point.
Paul Wesley - Stephen L.N.U. (Kim Bauer's Husband)
T.J. Ramini - Tarin Karoush: An associate of Omar Hassan
Domenick Lombardozzi - John Mazoni: NYPD Cop (recurring), "senior asshole NYPD partner" to Phillip Lu.
Johnny Wu - Phillip Lu: Rookie NYPD Cop (recurring) - Only up to Ep. 4
Callum Keith Rennie - Unknown at this point.
Stefan Kapicic - Unknown Villian: Has a shootout with Jack early in the season. He's a spotter. ~~Possibly just in premiere.~~ Survives to at least episode 8.
Doug Hutchison - FNU Dvaros: Dangerous European Terrorist
Callum Keith Rennie - Vladimir Laitanan. Russian mobster around ep 6 or 7. "We love this character' (writer Brannon Braga)(News)
Jürgen Prochnow- Bazhaev: European Mobster, leader of organized crime group. Jack's nemesis early this season.
Sashib - All I've got is his Twitter that said he had filmed scenes with Anil Kapoor. (Ep 9/10)
Matthew Yang King - F.N.U King. Funniest tweet ever from the actor: "Just finished first day of 24. My characters name changed from Calhoun to Calahan. Then Keifer looked at me, smiled and changed it to King." (Ep 9/10)
Mido Hamada - Mehran (Recurring): the leader of a group of operatives in an Islamic country working against their president (THR).
David Anders - Josef Bazhaev (Recurring): European Mobster, "heir apparent to an 'Eastern Promises'-style godfather. Josef is a dangerous man but is cautious and worries about things more than his father." (Zap2It)
Roman Mitichyan - Uknown
Rami Malek - Marcos: "A would-be suicide bomber who is Arab American with sympathies toward radical Islam." (This and next 2-THR)
Julian Morris - CTU SWAT Agent (BTB) Owens
Hrach Titizian - Nabeel: the 2nd-in-command of security for President Hassan (I wonder what happened to the 1st in command)
John T. Woods - Unknown
Stephen Root - Police officer 'In search of a prisoner gone missing'.
Gleen Morshower - Agent Pierce: Not really giving anything away in this interview, but Morshower says two things, 24 is 'winding down' and "I'm done with 24 now" so his other project is coming back off the back burner. I don't know what kind of interviewer this was supposed to be that didn't ask the question about Season 8. Brutal.

David Fury has spoken about the possible return of Charles Logan and (WAHO) Tony Almeida. Quoting: "There's certainly a chance of [bringing back old characters]. We've certainly been talking about that," says David Fury. "At this point, we're only in the first third of the season, but we have begun to discuss some of the characters that could return." Fury says he really wants to see Teri Bauer (Leslie Hope) return to the show. "If Tony is still alive, there's every chance that Teri pulled through," jokes Fury. In all seriousness, there's a likely possibility that Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin) and Mandy could appear. Also, "You may see Tony—there may be an opportunity for Tony to be pivotal in the show," adds Fury.

Kim Raver: Audrey Raines - Evan Katz told Entertainment Weekly magazine that "some of the things that we are doing this season [Season 8] preclude [her returning]. So I think not."

What We Know:

-Season 8 is likely the last season for Kiefer Sutherland. Jon Cassar stated on a 24 UK Podcast interview that Kiefer said this was his last (but he finished that with the fact that he'd said this at least 2 times before). Also, there was some information from the KieferBenny site that I missed. It was a blog posting from Brad Turner's daughter that apparently confirmed that this was Kiefer's last year. I never saw it, but the blog was removed and information was impossible to come by after the original chat. I am believing that it looks right now like this will be Kiefer (and Jack's) last season. Based on that assumption, I'm using the same color scheme as I did in Season 1 because if it's Kiefer's last season, it's my last season (for the site and as a viewer) and I wanted to come full circle.

-Kiefer said at ComicCon that indeed his contract is up this year but if they have a great idea for Season 9, he will do it. Again he says that if the audience will have another season, he will be willing to do it.

-Tweet from Hrach Titzian about the future of the show: "I just got home from shooting "24". What a great show! And a great crew! Too bad it's supposed to be the last season:(10:46 PM Aug 5th from web"

-Season 8 starts at 4:00 p.m. and is set in New York.

-They will not, as of this time, actually be filming in New York. They have enlisted the help of Stargate Studios to make NY real for them. Click here to see a really neat video about how they work. It also shows that the scene with Jack and Tony on the stairs last year at the end of 7x10wasn't really DC.

-Timelines have been heard between a couple of months up to 3 years after Season 7. I hope it's sooner than later but judging by baby Teri, it's longer.Cherry Jones said it is 18 months between the two seasons. Many Coto said it was an "Unspecified number of months after Season 7." How... ambiguous. Could be 8 or 9 months.

-We will see "a bit later" how Jack survived the pathogen

-"Season seven and eight, probably more than any other season that we've done before, are really connected together. The storylines from season seven really do play all the way through into season eight," said Kiefer. It will tie right into Season 7.

-Carlos Bernard was quoted as saying that telling if he will be back would be "giving too much away". Hmm.

-Direct Quote from interview with writer David Fury: "You may see Tony—there may be an opportunity for Tony to be pivotal in the show."

-There has been talk of bringing other back as well if this is Jack's last year. Names tossed around include: Leslie Hope (Teri Bauer-I think it's a joke), Greg Itzen (Charles Logan), Mia Kirshner (Mandy the assassin) and, of course, Tony. (eOnline)

-Peace is the main theme for the season but Kiefer reassures that "... we still blow shit up."

-Showrunner Howard Gordon says that "The main conflict is a peace agreement that is being stxruck between President Taylor and an unnamed middle eastern country whose President is Anil Kapoor... in many ways it is the culmination of all that Jack Bauer has worked for, all that he's lost and everything he's sacrificed so in some ways what he's saving is peace itself. This guy [Kapoor] is being targeted, his peace agreement is being targeted and it centers around the UN... [for Jack,] in many ways Season 8 is the culmination of everything that's come before, emotionally, Jack is in a different place than we've seen him in a very long time, for the first time in a long time he's got something to live for. What Jack has to live for you asked me if it involves Kim, Renee, a granddaughter and I would say all of the above." There will be a different, reconstituted CTU." (FoxYouTube)

-And here it is in Kiefer's words: "Basically the threat centers around a peace conference at the U.N. that is being headed by the President of the United States and the President of ~~Iran~~ Kamistan. The rest of the day goes forward from that point."

-There has been discussion about there being an underground tunnel/pathway between the UN and CTU. Photos of Kiefer in a field may or may not have confirmed this. This is true, verified by the ComicCon sneak peek at the season. You can drive in it, Ortiz drives into the new CTU early in the season and CTU is apparently underground.

-New CTU is very shiny, sleek, lots of glass and metal. Very futuristic.

-Early in the season we have (*eyes rolling*) Ortiz and Walsh talking to Walsh's sister about bridesmaid dresses. Oh, I can't wait - can you detect sarcasm?

-Victor, the man who gets Jack involved calls the man who is trying to kill the ~~Iranian~~ Kamistan President, "Russian or something."

-Chloe and Jack will have a bit of stuff going on together in the 3rd and 4th episode. Mary Lynn Rajskub tweeted that she starts at 6am Monday (July 6) and it's "Chloe and Jack all day"
-More Tweets from MaryLynn: July 7th: "Watching memorial coverage in my trailer while 24 crew sets up for our scene w Annie w, mykelti w, katee s & mlr" That would be CTU Director,Agent and Renee.
-Also tweeting between Mary Lynn Rajskub and Annie about a chopper ride. Would be in the Episode 3/4 pair toward the end of the filming cycle.

-New UN set supposed to be great according to Kiefer: "[Kiefer] is raving about the new sets. “The new U.N. is very cool,” reports Kiefer. “I was quite awestruck when I saw the set for the first time. The designs are so tasteful and represent such a diverse political spectrum, literally matching samples of graffiti taken from the ruins of the Berlin Wall. A lot of thought went into it.” The actor says the show has been granted permission to shoot at the real U.N. in New York City, but says “we’ll probably use that primarily for exteriors.” The new season will also see sleek new Counter Terrorism Unit headquarters, where new agents/lovers Freddie Prinze Jr. and Katee Sackhoff will be based." (Keck)

-Kiefer on Jack and Renee: "That was someone he obviously had very serious feelings for. The desire for season eight is to protect all of the things that would make living worth while." (eOnline) Another take from Kiefer again: "People would like to see [Jack] at least have the option to have a good life," Kiefer Sutherland tells us. "We stripped a lot of those components over the years, by virtue of killing everybody, that whether he wants to live or die seemed to become innocuous—like who cares, there's nothing really to live for. What we did for this season is to really try and create something that would make Jack want to live,"

-Mary Lynn Rajskub on Chloe:"My character starts off a little bit behind, if you can believe that for being such a genius, because I've been at home with my son. So, I'm back at CTU and having to relearn some stuff."

-Katee Sackhoff on her and Cole's relationship: "There's a dark side to this relationship that you find out about fairly quickly. For a character like Cole—who is someone who is very disciplined and substituted a lot of feelings that he had post 9/11 for the qualities that define a Marine, like self-respect and dignity and honor—for someone like that to go through what this character is going to go through, it's really going to turn his world upside down as far as their relationship goes." This must be the skeleton in her closet that she wants to keep there.

-There are some kind of swamp scenes about half way through the season.

-Possible character death/big thing going on in Episodes 13/14. They have been filming a huge shoot out involving SWAT and a guy who acts on the show named 'madking' on Twitter posted this: "Uh oh... 24 fans that's all I gotta say... Uh oh." (October 30th) Also, in one of my favorite Tweets ever: "Breaking for lunch at 12:30am. Man, Kiefer just gets more energy as the night wears on. The guy has endurance on his endurance"

-Carlos Bernard is likely not returning (Unless its some kind of elaborate ruse, this was released just days after hearing that he was on the FOX lot somewhere, but that's reaching). From his official site:

LM: Are you going to a part of Season 8 of 24?
CB: I’m asked this question on a daily basis, so I might as well answer it. I’ll never say never when it comes to 24. It’s been such a special part of my life and an honor working with all of the incredibly talented people that have helped make the show the success that it’s been. That being said, I have not been contacted by the studio or producers of 24 about season 8. They’re already well into filming next season and I’m about to start work on a film in South Carolina. So, at this point, I highly doubt that I’d be able to be involved in the next season of 24.

Fox Press Release:

KATEE SACKHOFF, FREDDIE PRINZE JR., MYKELTI WILLIAMSON, JOHN BOYD, CHRIS DIAMANTOPOULOS AND JENNIFERWESTFELDT JOIN THE CAST OF “24” FOR SEASON EIGHT

Series Returns with Two-Hour Premiere Event Sunday, January 17, on FOX

Katee Sackhoff, Freddie Prinze Jr., Mykelti Williamson, John Boyd, Jennifer Westfeldt and Chris Diamantopoulos have joined the cast of 24 for the series’ eighth season. The Emmy Award-winning drama starring Kiefer Sutherland returns for its next astonishing day with a two-night, four-hour premiere beginning Sunday, Jan. 17 (9:00-11:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

Season Eight will unfold in New York City amidst the shadows of the Statue of Liberty and the United Nations. In this new day, CTU has been upgraded and is run by MBA-schooled and razor-sharp head honcho BRIAN HASTINGS (Williamson, “Forrest Gump”). COLE ORTIZ (Prinze Jr.), an ex-Marine who wants to follow in JACK BAUER’s (Sutherland) footsteps, runs the division’s Field Operations. Expert data analyst DANA WALSH (Sackhoff, “Battlestar Galactica”) collaborates with systems analyst ARLO GLASS (Boyd, “The Notorious Bettie Page”) inside CTU. ROB WEISS (Diamantopoulos, “The Starter Wife”) serves as PRESIDENT ALLISON TAYLOR’s (Cherry Jones) new chief of staff, and MEREDITH REED (Westfeldt, “Grey’s Anatomy”) is an ambitious journalist with ties to the unfolding situation.

As previously announced, Sutherland, Jones, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Annie Wersching also return. In addition, Bollywood icon Anil Kapoor (“Slumdog Millionaire”) makes his American TV debut as OMAR HASSAN, a Middle Eastern leader who comes to the U.S. on a peacemaking mission.

24, created by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, is a production of 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine Television in association with Teakwood Lane Productions. Howard Gordon, Evan Katz, David Fury, Manny Coto, Brannon Braga, Brad Turner, Alex Gansa, Kiefer Sutherland and Brian Grazer are executive producers while Chip Johannessen and Patrick Harbinson serve as co-executive producers.

Behind the Camera

-Jon Cassar, with the show since Season 1 and the man who directed most of the finales/premieres since Season 2 is not returning. Huge loss for the show.
-Episode 1: Brad Turner Directing
-Episode 2: Brad Turner Directing
-Episode 3: Written by David Fury and Alex Ganza, Directed by Mylan Cheylov
-Episode 4: Written by Chip Johannesen and Patrick Harbinson [New this year]. Directed by Milan Cheylov
-Brad Turner has been promoted to Executive Producer
-Episode 5: Brad Turner Directing - Started Filming July 13th '09
-Episode 6: Brad Turner Directing - Started Filming July 13th '09
-Episode 7: Mylan Cheylov Directing
-Episode 8: Mylan Cheylov Directing
-Episode 9:
-Episode 10:
-Episode 11: Started filming September 21st
-Episode 12:
-Episode 13: Filming week of October 16th - Directed by Mylan Cheylov
-Episode 14: Filming week of October 16th - Directed by Mylan Cheylov
-Episode 15: Brad Turner Directing
-Episode 16: Brad Tuner Directing. In 15 or 16, Rodney Charters said that they 'say goodbye to a friend'. Cast/crew? Who knows.

Benito Martinez as Victor Ruiz and Jack - and Kiefer plays with the camera. In the shot on the right, the man in the glasses is Michael Klick, Producer and sometimes director and I'm pretty sure the one ine the blue hoodie (not with his hand up) is Sterling Rush, the prop guy.

The Bauer family. This must be a rehearsal for filming right after because Kiefer has a cigarette behind his ear, but he's wearing the same clothes as the other photos.

Sources:

http://www.busybeeblogger.com/2009/06/01/back-to-work-on-24/

http://johnnywu.tv/blog/

http://scifiwire.com/2009/07/news-briefs-leoben-reunit.php

LA Times Info from ComicCon

USA Today from ComicCon

Newsarama from ComicCon

eOnline ComicCon

FutonCritic from ComicCon - lots of stuff on that page that`s not here.