Acclaimed 24 star and co-executive producer Kiefer Sutherland has signed a production deal with Twentieth Century Fox Television, it was announced today by Twentieth Century Fox Television Presidents Dana Walden and Gary Newman. Under the terms of the new deal which is effective in June, Sutherland will hire a development executive and begin to develop and executive produce series programming for all the networks through his newly created banner. The deal also calls for Sutherland to remain in his award-winning role of Jack Bauer for additional seasons, as well as be named an executive producer on the drama alongside Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran, Howard Gordon and Evan Katz.
“Working with Kiefer Sutherland over the past five seasons of ’24’ has been one of the great pleasures of my professional career,” commented Walden. “He is an extraordinary actor with amazing instincts, he’s fiercely intelligent and he has fantastic taste in material. When he told us he had ambitions to create and produce television series, we jumped at the chance to help him achieve that goal.”
Remarked Newman, “In his years on 24, Kiefer has demonstrated an incredible understanding of what makes for a compelling story or character, and he brings a passion to the process of making television that extends well beyond his own performance. As the gifted producers of that show will tell you, he’s been instrumental in maintaining ’24”s exceptional quality over five seasons. We believe he could become every bit as accomplished a producer as he is a performer.”
“These past five years have been one of the most creative and rewarding experiences in my career,” said Sutherland. “The extraordinary support that we have received from Dana Walden, Gary Newman and everyone at Twentieth has made a difficult show like ’24’ succeed on all levels and for that I’m truly grateful. I am thrilled to extend my commitment to all my friends and colleagues at “24” and I’m looking forward to this expanded relationship with 20th Century Fox.”
Kiefer Sutherland has garnered a Golden Globe Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and multiple nominations for his role as Jack Bauer. On the big screen, he will next be seen starring with Michael Douglas and Kim Basinger in “The Sentinel” and also as the voice of the lion in Disney’s “The Wild.” Sutherland is represented by Suzan Bymel of Management 360, the William Morris Agency and attorney Jamie Feldman.
In 24‘s fifth season, the FOX network drama is up by an impressive +13% among Adults 18-49 (5.9/13 vs. 5.2/12), +15% among Adults 18-34 (4.7/12 vs. 4.1/11) and +13% in Total Viewers (14.2 vs. 12.6 Mil). The series, which passed its 100th episode milestone in January, is currently enjoying its best critical notices and ratings ever, and was recently deemed “the No. 1 drama on television” by Entertainment Weekly.
20th Century Fox Television, a division of News Corp, is a leading supplier of entertainment programming domestically and around the world.
