The revival of 24 will turn out to be a short-lived one. Fox has decided to cancel 24: Legacy after only one season, proving their earlier comments saying replacing Jack Bauer was no easy feat. The return of the show was one of many revivals at the network, including the return of The X-Files for a tenth season and the Prison Break event series. While Mulder and Scully will likely return in some form, the same can’t be said for Prison Break and the cast of 24: Legacy.
The delay in announcing the cancellation came due to star Corey Hawkins’ commitments on Broadway in Six Degrees Of Separation, forcing the network to reportedly hold their announcement until after their upfronts according to Deadline.
Just don’t count out the 24 franchise as a whole over at Fox. Despite the cancellation for this iteration, the network is reportedly already at work on an anthology series that would take the show back to the original format that told a story in real time. None of the reports indicate if this would mean the return of Jack Bauer to the mix — a difficult prospect given Kiefer Sutherland’s role on Designated Survivor — but it does show that Fox is not ready to give up on the series despite this hiccup.
The premiere for Legacy was given the key post-Super Bowl spot, showing just how much faith the network had in the series. Sadly, as Alan Sepinwall put it in his review, the series was like an old band heading out on tour without their lead singer. If Sutherland were to return for another stint as Jack Bauer, possibly in a rare event series like The X-Files, it might be something that could fill the holes.
