24 Ending After This Season

It looks like Jack Bauer is finally going to get a relaxing day. Over the weekend it was announced that this season of 24 would be its last. Premiering on Fox just before September 11, 24 became a huge hit as Bauer annually had a terrible day while working for the Counter Terrorism Unit. After Eight seasons, star Keifer Sutherland says the writers and producers just got a little burned out. Of course, there was also the high production costs and slipping ratings, but who’s counting. But fear not 24 fans, Jack Bauer might be returning in a big-screen spin off that might feature our hero in Europe. Says Sutherland in USA Today:

“Ultimately, we felt we had a much better opportunity of doing something special by doing a film … than going back to another season and doing 24 more episodes. The more you do it, the more you paint yourself into a corner, and I think, ‘How many times have I played the same moment over and over?’ “

As for the plot of the movie, USA Today added this:

Though the ending was not “retrofitted” to pave the way for a feature film, “they would be able to move together seamlessly,” Sutherland says. A first draft of the script has been written by Billy Ray (State of Play) and would take place in a single day, though it hasn’t yet been OK’d. Avoiding the real-time format will allow Bauer to travel across Europe.

The show will end this spring with a two-hour season finale.