If you’re still reeling from last night’s totally mind-blowing episode of 24, we feel you. Really, we do. And that’s why we’re here to offer up some equally mind-blowing intel on the dreaded series finale (yes, time really is almost up).
And have you heard of a little thing we’re calling the fan-freaking-tastic 24 movie?! Oh yeah, there’s some scoop on that, too. Now about the finale…
We caught up with the cast and creators of 24 at the finale party last week (sobfest!) and learned some pretty interesting things about the series ender—for one, it really will be end of 24 life as we know it, regardless of the impending flick.
“The movie is another thing entirely,” show runner Howard Gordon says. In fact, when we asked Kiefer Sutherland if the finale will spill over into the film, he squashed the theory right then and there. “It’s less of a cliff-hanger as much as it is a personal ending between a few of the characters, which is very intimate for us, when we’re not blowing up the planet. It was very wonderful for us to make and I hope the audience likes it as well. I’m very happy with it.”
Echoes Howard: “It’s exciting, it’s emotional and it just feels right. The ending fits somewhere between Jack dying and a happily ever after.”
“The series really lends itself to the movie, but having said that, it is a satisfying ending,” Mary Lynn Rajskub, who plays fan fave Chloe, says. “Things are coming to a head in a pretty exciting way. This whole year has been a really strong year to go out on and the ending is just as strong.”
And according to Mary Lynn, this isn’t even the end: “I know for sure that I’ll be Chloe for at least a few years from now.” Even longer if we’re to take the following Kiefer statement to heart: “One of the things that is stopping this [finale party] from being a very sad night for me is we’re all going to be working together on the films,” he explains (yes, films plural!). “I don’t have to say goodbye to Jack Bauer just yet.” And thankfully, neither do we.
Kiefer also says that moving into the end, Jack experiences “moments” of happiness, but “his are unfortunately fleeting. It’s certainly something we’re pursuing.” Promises Mary Lynn, “Chloe going to be a changed person by the end of this, too. She’s going to confront Jack in a pretty major way by the end.”
As for the much-talked-about movie, Kiefer was happy to chat about what will become of our favorite TV superagents. “It’s going to be a real fresh start for us,” he says. “It’ll be the first time we’re not doing it in real time. The film will be a two-hour representation of a 24 hour day, which alleviates the writers of the responsibility of writing in real time, which is unbelievably difficult.”
The whole process is progressing nicely, too, he tells us: “We just got a screenplay, we’re working on that. It’s in the proper stages and we can start to hopefully put together a production schedule.”
Going into the end, and what appears to be another beginning, Kiefer really just has this to say: “We’ve got our fingers crossed.” And for the record, so do we.
