It has been sixteen years since the first series of 24 debuted on our TV screens and in that time, it’s not really gone away. Always remaining relevant with the changes in the political and social climate, 24 ran for eight seasons to 2010, and even spawned a TV film 24: Redemption in there somewhere too. It returned in 2014 with the UK-set 24: Live Another Day with Kiefer Sutherland reprising the role of Jack Bauer for the very last time.
Following that, we thought we’d seen the last of the series, but then this spin-off 24: Legacy was announced. Moving away from the exploits of Bauer, the new show revolves around a new protagonist in Corey Hawkins’ Eric Carter, an ex–Army Ranger who has returned to the United States, residing in Washington D.C. The new series wastes no time in getting back into the action, and soon we discover that a group of former special forces operatives, who happen to be Carter’s former colleagues, are being targeted and killed one-by-one. We soon discover that one of them has stolen a top secret USB drive containing a list of US-based terror cells and the codes to activate them for future attacks. When Carter discovers who stole the drive, he finds himself caught up in a world of double-crossings, corruption and extreme terrorism as he takes the law into his own hands to prevent an imminent attack on the U.S.
24: Legacy has all of the hallmarks of the original series. Back are the key format traits from previous series; the ticking clock, the split-screen visuals, familiar music and the action taking place in real-time over 12 hour-long episodes (with ad-breaks).
Any fears that the format had become dates were diminished in the first five minutes of the high-octane pilot, and even with an absent Jack Bauer, this format remains strong enough with a new leading man, and Corey Hawkins shines in the role of Carter. The supporting cast is also solid with Miranda Otto stepping sideways from her role on the similarly themed Homeland to play Rebecca Ingram, the former head of CTU, and Jimmy Smits as her husband Senator John Donovan, who may or may not be in on the corruption running through the core of the narrative.
There’s enough going on in each episode to win you over to return for the next, and as a box-set it works just as well as any of the other series. The main issue that I had with 24: Legacy is the same one I had with ‘Live Another Day’. To comply with the theme of the show that all of the events take place within a 24 hour window, the narrative jumps 12 hours in the final episode, which is very different to the first eight seasons, which were all comprised of 24 solid episodes. This allowed the story to breath, the characters to more depth and to be developed more, and of course stretched our anticipation over more episodes. It’s a shame the action -and there is a lot packed in here – is limited to just these twelve episodes. I definitely wanted more.
With news that 24: Legacy has been cancelled after just this one season may have potential viewers shying away from an investment here, but it is worth the visit for its non-stop thrills and spills, its excellent acting talent and well-executed storyline. There is promise of more 24 to come, albeit in a different incarnation, but when you treat this as an event-series stand-alone, it’s hard to walk away disappointed.
Extras: 24: The Legacy Lives On, Deleted Scenes.
24: Legacy is available on Blu-ray™ and DVD from 24th July, 2017.
