Fox Television Group CEOs Dana Walden and Gary Newman had a conference call with reporters ahead of the Fox upfront presentation that takes place today, where they were asked about 24: Legacy.
“Legacy, we were so happy with the creative on that show, we think Corey Hawkins did a great job,” said Fox TV chairman Dana Walden. “… as you probably know Corey is on Broadway right now with Six Degrees of Separation … his schedule wouldn’t allow us to consider the show for the fall … it’s another show to talk about.”
We hearing producers will be pitching ways to keep 24 going in the weeks after Fox’s upfront presentation. While Fox say they were happy with the creative, ratings went from the show’s post-Super Bowl presentation of 17.6 million viewers down to about 3.3 million viewers for its finale, so we’d be surprised if there were no major creative changes.
Gary Newman to TVLine:
As for 24: Legacy, which averaged a 1.0 during its springtime run, Newman told TVLine they were “so happy with the creative” execution, as well as Corey Hawkins’ job in the lead role. “Replacing Jack Bauer is no easy feat,” he noted.
Hawkins, however, is currently busy with his Tony Award-nominated run in Broadway’s Six Degrees of Separation, and that in part has put a pin in any new season of 24: Legacy, though the thriller remains “very much in mix” at Fox, Newman said.
Executives were also interested in talking to Howard Gordon, executive producer of the series, to get a sense of potential next creative steps, said Dana Walden, chairman-CEO of Fox Television Group.
The future of 24: LEGACY is also up in the air. They believe that star Corey Hawkins did a great job of taking over the lead role in 24, but he’s currently starring on Broadway and his schedule would never have allowed him to return for the fall season. The network also really had no intention of doing consecutive new seasons of 24: LEGACY, Walden said. However, Newman said that they have every intention of discussing the future of 24 when they return to Los Angeles after Upfronts and there is a chance the show could return in the future.