24: Live Another Day Finale Filming Location Spoilers

Before reading, please be aware that this article contains (minor) spoilers, as should be obvious by the headline. No specific characters are mentioned, just vague descriptions of filming locations and the scenes that are being shot. This info comes from letters that were sent to residents in the filming area.

We’ve posted this article with a spoiler-free headline and generic thumbnail image so that you had a choice on whether to click through on the home page and read it or not – now’s your chance to press the back button in your browser if you don’t want to know anything about the finale.

Here’s a few small tidbits about the finale:


Liam Garrigan

Actor Liam Garrigan who plays Ian Al-Harazi in 24: Live Another Day tweeted this photo with Kiefer Sutherland yesterday along with a note that he finished wrapping his scenes. If the Ian character appears in the finale episode, we can assume that his mother Margot (played by Michelle Fairley) does as well.


Sniper scene at Battersea Park

24 Finale Night Shoot
“Another night shoot” via Director of Photography Jeffrey C. Mygatt (jcmygatt on instagram)

An action-packed sniper scene of Kiefer Sutherland’s hit show 24: Live Another Day is set to be filmed in Battersea Park. A letter from Twentieth Century Fox Television has been distributed to neighbouring residents stating that the crew will be filming in London until the middle of June and, for two nights, they would like to film in Battersea Park.

Their work is set to run from 8pm to 5am and will involve four characters having a conversation in the park and three of them being shot by a ‘sniper’. The filming will see two actors holding and firing hand guns, for which they will use silent blanks so as not to disturb neighbours. The letter warns neighbours not to be alarmed that ‘guns may be visible’. The Metropolitan Police have been notified and there will be a police officer present during their filming which will be supervised by a professional armour.

So it’d seem that they’re doing a ‘meeting in a public place’ type storyline, and the meeting obviously goes poorly. One of the four characters involved in this scene seems to have a sniper protecting him or her.


Gun Fights and Explosions at Southampton Docks

Jon Cassar scouting finale with 24 crew
Jon Cassar scouting docks with UK 24 crew on May 22nd (via joncassar on instagram)

Daily Echo:

Southampton’s docks will get a touch of Hollywood glamour as filming of the hit US drama 24 comes to the city tomorrow evening, complete with gun fights on board a small container ship and explosions on Southampton Water. It is understood that up to 180 crew will descend on the city for the overnight shoots tomorrow and Thursday at DP World’s Container Terminal.

A DP World Southampton spokesperson said: “We are extremely excited to have a major production like 24 filming at the terminal. It’s a great opportunity to promote the port and city. This is the first time an American network has shot an entire TV series in the UK, so it’s appropriate that it should be filmed at the UK’s most productive container terminal.”

Residents in the area have been sent a letter from Twentieth Century Fox UK Productions Ltd informing them what to expect to prevent unnecessary concern or calls to police if they should hear gun fire or explosions. It reads: “The action to be filmed will involve some gun fire and pyrotechnics. Due to the nature of the scenes our exterior shots are set at night. We are a professional and conscientious crew who will make every effort to keep noise and disturbance down to a bare minimum.”

Associated British Ports and DPWS have released a joint statement:

Unsurprisingly, there has been a lot of interest from members of the public and fans of the show, interested in coming to the terminal to witness the filming. Please can we remind everyone that the Port of Southampton is a secure and private estate. No general public access is allowed and entrance to the container terminal is only for security cleared personnel and staff only.

In accordance with the port harbour authority, an exclusion zone operates around all ships that berth at the port including ships at the container terminal. During the filming, patrols will be in place on Southampton Water to monitor the exclusion zone. We would therefore respectfully ask that everybody complies with these restrictions for their own safety and that of the cast, crew and staff that will be working at the container terminal.


What happened to time jumps?

Perhaps the most interesting thing you’ll notice is that these scenes are being filmed at night rather than in daylight. If this season takes place over an entire day like we were told, the finale should be set during the 10:00am-11:00am hour in the daytime. Could it be that the writers have abandoned the time jumps idea entirely and are just giving us twelve consecutive hours?

Howard Gordon revealed last month that the first eight hours take place consecutively without time jumps. We know from the press release for the eighth episode that it takes place during the 6:00pm – 7:00pm hour. If they were to continue doing consecutive hours the final episode would take place during 10:00pm – 11:00pm which would be consistent with these recent night shoots on the finale.

Maybe there will be a epilogue of sorts that jumps ahead twelve hours?

52 Comments

Comments Closed
Closing with a “10:00 PM to 11:00 PM” hour is extremely poetic as that’s the one in which nearly every season where the most hardcore shit happens.

Really don’t know if one limited series is good enough to end 24 but I’m not so sure if Fox decides to do more before the finale on July 14th (fingers crossed).

I’d rather they end it with 12 consecutive hours instead of a very sudden jump

When Gordon first revealed the consecutive sequence of episodes 1-8, I figured that the time jump would be used at the end via Jack returning to the US – either a vindicated hero or to face justice for his acts in S8. It made more sense that way than if the writers are abandoning the “Day Nine” theme of a 24-hour block.

Hey now, go easy on the time jumps. We really don’t know what they could do for the show, and I’ve been intrigued by the concept since they first brought it up.

As for this being the final season… I sure hope not. Not much else I can say, but it will be extremely tough to see it return for just 12 episodes and then fade back into obscurity. Even if the season as a whole is top-notch, it’ll be hard not to see it as a final flop if it’s just a blip in the history of the show.

That’s been my gripe from the moment Kiefer started dropping hints of gloom about not wanting to go on because of his age, etc. The entire hype machine that started as soon as the show’s return was confirmed a year ago – from all of the reports/interviews of cast, crew, writers and producers of the original run being reassembled and the excitement they all felt in the “second chance” to the press coverage – seemed designed to be a big tease for the shows’ loyal fans. And I think you nailed it by describing the disappointment the diehard fans will feel if the show does end again after only 12 episodes: it will be just a hiccup, a last gasp, a blip on the screen and ultimately be remembered as an illogical resurrection with no real purpose or commitment to happening in the first place.

the time jumps will allow us to put Jack on a plane to europe – we’re staying in London – the first 8 hours are consecutive – or is it 9? – ah fuck it, we’re not doing them.

Ahh LAD, quite the catalogue of disappointments, wasted opportunities and general wankness.

Frankly, unless this season ends on a spectacular note, I’d be quite disappointed if there was no time jump. That would have been formula-breaking and fascinating.

JackBauerFan1977
June 4, 2014 at 8:03 am
Actually, I don’t want there to be any time jumps during this season. I want this season to be twelve consecutive hours. With a TV show like 24, I’ve never been able to figure out how a time jump is even possible on this unique TV show and it appears that the writers of 24 can’t figure out how to have a time jump occur on it either. It’s better for 24 to stay in the non stop real time concept with no time jumps.

Ever since the series ended, all of the talk about the movie and now the 12-episode season that came in interviews Kiefer, Gordon and some of the writers gave always pointed to how the real-life situation of travel would be natural as a way to insert time breaks. By choosing a Europe location (which the movie was supposedly also going to be set in), Kiefer pointed out how it’d be easy to allow the story to move around different cities/countries. Even if they wanted to keep the current season only in London, they could have let some more time lapse when Jack was captured or when he held the hostages during the 4th episode. It seems the writers are really just winging it now and didn’t decide at the start how they wanted to end the show.

Yes, it would be amazing for the finale to be during the 10:00PM-11:00PM hour, with an “epilogue” at the end. But would the time jump occur at 10:50PM, or 11:00PM, with an added scene at the end? Either way, it would be really cool to hear Kiefer come on again before the final scene with “the following takes place between 10:55AM and 11:00AM.”

If they do have that epilogue, I hope it’s Jack sitting on the couch with Kim her husband, and their children.

In several seasons the big action sequence was wrapped up within the first 20 minutes or so. The shootout on the docks in the first season, the missile in the season 4 finale, the oil rig in the sixth season finale (I think?), and the Tony/Alan Wilson stuff in the season 7 finale.

So I could see a time jump happening around that point (10:20PM). Since the writers would have twelve hours to work with, they could even do a whole bunch of time jumps in the last half hour. I think that’d be a really cool way to do things.

But yeah, at the very least I hope they do a short epilogue scene or something. It would be a shame if there wasn’t any time jumps at all.

Forget the family-time setting with Kim – if they’re going to use an epilogue scene to end the season with, I’d rather see Jack and Kate at some remote cafe like how “The Dark Knight Rises” ended.

you know what this could be broken up in parts, the time jumps may go, the first 12 hours will be seen in 2014 the next 12 will be seen in 2015 this whole day will be split in two seasons that is just a theory I had

Hey, I’d like to avoid reading this post if possible to avoid spoilers, but I wondered if someone might possibly to be able to post, as a comment reply to this, just the information about which locations were used on which day (not what actors/characters were there)? To see if I know it already or not? Would be eternally grateful! :)

Might be a day off on the dates, but here’s the two filming locations listed in the post.

Battersea Park – June 2 and 3
Southampton Docks – June 4 and 5

Ah that’s great, thank you!

I can just imagine a dark close-up scene in the docks with the camera focusing into Tony Almeida taking cover behind a bunch of containers… catching us all by surprise.

I’m not a big advocate of Tony returning, but that would look pretty awesome.

Yeah it would. Based on tweets in sounds like a lot of fans are going to try to take a look at filming tonight. Since there’s always the chance of a surprise character returning, this would be a good time to go dark for people who might not want things spoiled. I think I’ll probably do that once they start tonight’s filming.

I don’t think them people would be able to get anywhere inside the docks so we should be good.

I think Jack Bauer is gonna’ be stuck in a dilemma and he’s gonna say: “There’s one person we can call” and it’ll be Tony.

Aaron Pierce is in London next month – not sure if he’s here already but it’d be cool to see him. But that would be playing for the fans. I’d rather see a storyline which maximises the sensation for all viewers.. because ultimately that is where 24 gets it’s ratings.

They’re filming in the middle of the night during a work week and in a private area with extra security. I don’t think fans are going to see much of anything besides maybe a few explosions from a far away distance.

(BTW guys – if any photos or details do get leaked, I will be very careful and considerate with how I post it on the site).

Thanks, that’s good to know. There haven’t been too many photos leaking from night shoots which is good. Hope they film the super secret stuff on a closed set in the final days of shooting.

I’m calling it – the time jump will be the ending (Jack arriving back in the US and embracing Kim at the airport). Jack will finally get his happy ending.

I really hope this happens!

If the writers, producers and Kiefer really are treating this run as a swan song and ultimate end to the show, then they have to see the poetic justice and logic in putting Jack back on American soil – it would be a fitting way to take the open-endedness of how S8 closed (Jack going into exile/hiding) and now bring some finality with a return to the States, either a pardoned hero or a jailed criminal.

Of course, I’d rather see the show go on and let Jack just vanish to another country for a future “bad day” to come up again…

NikonoclastD2X
June 6, 2014 at 7:38 am
Would want the final scene to be one of Jack stowing away in the cargo hold of an airliner bound for a country that has no extradition agreement with the United States or Russia.

Jon Cassar tweeted that they’re taking 18 days to film this episode pair and are halfway through today. That leaves them with plenty of time for day shoots if the final episode is 10:00AM-11:00AM.

Well, if they need more than 2 weeks to shoot the final 2 hours, something tells me they may need that much time in part because they’re packing up the equipment, etc. and returning back to the US – which would allow the series/season to put Jack back home.

There’s a pretty poetic option for a time jump if it happens following 9.08 that could explain the darkness and still cover the 24 hours of a full season:

-9.08 ends at 8pm in London.
-During 9.08 hour, Jack and other characters head for airport/get on planes/board Air Force One/whatever.
-Twelve hour time jump between 9.08 and 9.09…
-But, in order to account for why it is still dark for the final four episodes, we’ve gone through time zones while traveling in real time, which then alters what time it is when we…
-Land in Los Angeles in the dark.
-And what time is it in Los Angeles if it’s 8pm in London? It’s midnight, of course.
-So now we’ve traveled backwards in time (because London is ahead of LA) to the home city of our show, and landed in the hour in which it all first began.
-This would explain why they moved the time of the premiere back an hour from noon to 11am. It doesn’t make a lick of difference to the story so far whether or not the day started at 11am or noon. The only reason why they might have done this is if it affects the time jump later in the day, in order to make it something specific. It takes a little less than 11 hours to fly from London to Los Angeles, throw in some getting to/from the airplane time and that’s the time jump covered.
-It’s also the only place you could conceivably send the bulk of the main characters so that they’re all still in the story by the day’s end. President Heller has a house on the beach in the area. Kim and her family live in Woodland Hills. Hell, even Aaron Pierce had a house nearby at one point. If they want to bring in old characters, taking the plot to the characters instead of trying to bring all the characters to the plot makes more sense.

Correction: 9.08 ends at 7pm in London. Theory still holds up, time-wise.

Very plausible – and easy to chalk up 9 hour time difference between LA and London, plus travel time.

That’s a very interesting and creative concept. I like the way you’re thinking with the time differences.

But I feel there are some flaws with the premise. What would be a credible reason for all of those characters to abruptly get on a plane to Los Angeles? Maybe there’s another baddy threatening LA that only superhero Jack can deal with? But I can’t imagine the Secret Service allowing President Heller to fly directly to _another_ danger zone just so he could sit around in his beach house.

And if it’s midnight in Los Angeles, characters like Pierce and Kim would likely be fast asleep in their beds (they could be woken up of course, but still). It starts to feel extremely forced in my opinion.

I’m of the opinion that by the end of 9.08, the plots are all going to converge into one enormous f-ed up personal plot for Jack. I think he decided to take Margot out the way he did the drug cartel and the human trafficking ring and he’s been playing her by working alongside her for awhile. He’s chosen now to be the time to stop her because of the threat against Heller that he “intercepted” by helping to plan. Jack is the reason of the enormous coincidence that is the guy who created the override device knew Chloe– he set up Yates just so he could get to Chloe and have help with stopping Margot. This means that by the end of 9.08 when the drone threat gets wrapped up, Margot is going to want personal revenge against Jack. Her mission was to avenge her family– if Jack turns Simone (takes Margot’s daughter from her) and destroys her plans, Margot could well go after Jack’s family, which gives her and Ian a reason to wind up in Los Angeles. This then makes the final four hours of the day a personal plot for Jack.

Morgan & Ritter could well be escorting a captured Jack back to the U.S.. The Heller family could decide to leave London now that the drone threat is over and go to their house, instead of D.C.., for a break (this also makes sense if Heller is no longer the President by this point in the story, if that happens.) And, yeah, some characters’ll be asleep. We first met Mike Novick in his pjs. *shrugs* It adds a little something for them to be woken up in the middle of the night. And we first met Kim at home at just after midnight so… who knows.

Could they fake Los Angeles while still filming in London? They have faked DC, NYC and Mexico. Wonder if they could pull it off.

Probably. I would think it being set at night would probably also make it easier and it seems like the places they’re filming at for the finale that we know about so far could conceivably be anywhere.

Yes that’s a good point. The park and docks that they’re filming at could easily be set anywhere.

At first I thought there’s no way the writers could make such a thing work, but that’s a pretty solid storyline you’ve come up with, especially Margot’s motivation. Well done!

Whether it’s multiple episodes or just a short epilogue scene, I’d really love to see things end in Los Angeles where it all began.

But it seems unlikely that they would skip 12 hours later for the final episode AT THE SAME LOCATION. I do agree that it would be interesting to see a full hour after a time jump however it would be difficult to write without disappointing people who expect a finale with an epic conclusion to the story they have watched for the past 11 hours. If Fox had renewed 24 already then the writers could have made the next 12 episodes as the second half of the current 24 hour period, but it seems very unlikely now. Living up to the 24 title more would have been great.

I do think in reality there will be a short epilogue at the end with Jack back in America, as we know the writers are open similarly to prologues with 24: Redemption and the pre-title sequence before the title at the beginning of this season: “The following takes place between 11:06 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.” However they may hold off on shooting this until they know if 24 is renewed in order to accommodate a cliffhanger ending rather than a definitive ending.

I think they have to end the season at 11:00AM London time in order for it to be “24.” Even if they jump from 10:55PM to 10:55AM for the final scene, it will still count as having covered the 24 hours. I think that would be awesome if they did it that way, with the final scene being the “epilogue.” It wouldn’t be that different from other 24 finales, just the final scene jumping ahead. It seems like the best way to handle the time jump.

If they do the time jump during the episode, what would they call it? 10:00PM to 11:00AM?

That’ll be interesting for sure. I hope they have a bit of fun with Kiefer’s voiceover: “The following takes place between 10:00PM to 11:00AM. Events DO NOT occur in real time.”

That would funny, but would totally throw you off the serious nature of the show. I think it will be “The following takes place between 10pm and 10:48pm” then after the split screen, the title will simply be 12 HOURS LATER. We see Jack in a car with Kim and her children, emotional. Kim says “I’m so happy to have you back, Dad. You ready for this?” Jack collects himself and says “Yeah.” They exit the car and walk up to a podium, where Heller and Audrey are waiting and smiling. Heller presents Jack with a humanitarian award with medals and badges galore. Jack and Audrey embrace and the audience claps and cheers, with Aaron Pierce among them. We pan across to the rooftop of a nearby building, showing a man with binoculars. A close up reveals the man to be Tony Almeida… his facial expression is of faint satisfaction. END OF SERIES?

Shannon, I agree that they can’t skip twelve hours and still be in the same location. Especially since if they don’t make it twelve hours of travel for most of the characters, they’ve just made it kind of a nonsensical plot. It’s like everyone just agreed to stop everything for half a day and take a nap and pick up the suspense in the morning. A little too civilized :)

New West Virginian
June 5, 2014 at 1:47 am
Maybe the Russians capture Jack and want to take him away on a ship the way the Chinese did. But this time Heller won’t just let it happen…..hence the filming on the docks?

Is it possible there could be a small time jump, maybe 1-2 hours in order for the characters to get to Southampton? Seems like it would take more than 10 minutes to get there, even in 24 land. Unless they all took a chopper to get there.

It’s about 70-80 miles from central London to Southampton docks as the crow flies, so yes it would be a good chance to skip an hour or two, Even by chopper it would likely take an hour or so.

A two hour time skip between 11 and 12 could potentially set the finale at midnight. How fitting would it be for the last episode to start at the same time as the pilot? That would be awesome.

Dammit! They were filming at the docks in MY town and I didn’t know about it! I wonder why they chose Southampton when there are plenty of docks in London. In any event, couldn’t have gotten anywhere near the filming with the security they’ve got. Still, it’ll be great to see what they have done there when we finally reach the end of LAD.

Beth Elliot tweeted that night shoots were completed last night. Looks like they filmed 6 days in a row last week, and have 7 days left for day (and/or interior) shoots.

What if the finale scene would be..

Jack returns to the states.. He just killed margot (Or atleast he thought he did.. heck you can see what happened to tony, he got killed but got revived).. Jack has now made contact again with his daughter, Met his second grandchild. And they all return home..
Then the phone goes off.. Jack takes the phone and who is it speaking to him?.. Margot.. saying ”This ain’t over yet!, I’ll be coming after you, and i would keep an eye on your family mr bauer…” BLACK SCREEN
——————
Voila.. 2015 Season 10!.

vaughn ramdeen
June 15, 2014 at 10:19 am
Agree. I want it to end in LA

Bring Jack Back PLEASSSSSSEEEEEEEEE…. make us hate it then end it for good….jack is getting too old for all this back and forth….do a few more seasons and scatter their play dates…just please give us jack back and have it finally end with jack being with the love of his life with a somewhat normal life to retire in…