24: Live Another Day – Entertainment Weekly Cover Story

Once 24 got the green light, the next task was figuring out which fan favorites would join Sutherland’s tortured hero in a game of beat the clock around Big Ben. At least one decision was easy: A 24 without Jack’s lippy sidekick Chloe would be like a Bond movie without Q, so naturally Mary Lynn Rajskub was the first former costar Sutherland reached out to when the series was becoming a reality. “I had heard a rumor of it, and it was all over Twitter,” says Rajskub. “[There’s] this very human aspect, where you’re just sitting there thinking, ‘Oh my God. Is this true? What does this mean for me?'” Something pretty rad, it turns out: Gordon & Co. wanted a disaffected Chloe–who had watched Bauer become a fugitive from the U.S. government after saving the world countless times–to play a central role on the reboot.

When we catch up with Chloe, she’s been living off the grid as a punked-out hacktivist in London with her Edward Snowden-like boyfriend, Adrian Cross (Alien Resurrection‘s Michael Wincott). “I started out as just a rule follower,” says Rajskub of Chloe, who now sports a spiky bob and heavy eyeliner. “I don’t want to say I’m like Jack now, but I’m more hardened. I’ve seen more of the world. I’ve made more choices on my own, whereas I used to exist within the system. She’s kind of just mean now.”

Kim Raver had completed three seasons as Dr. Teddy Altman on Grey’s Anatomy when Gordon called her about reprising the role of Audrey Raines, Jack’s love interest from seasons 4 through 6. Though it would require a major life change–Raver and her husband would end up temporarily uprooting their young kids and moving to London–there was no way she could say no to revisiting Audrey, who’s now serving as an aide to her father, President Heller, and married to his chief of staff, Mark Boudreau (Tate Donovan). “Stepping back in, that first morning, felt like we never went away,” says Raver.

And while it’s unlikely we’ll see Jack and Audrey run off for a surprise wedding at Westminster Abbey, the flame will be rekindled once the two are brought together over the presidential death threats. Audrey, explains Raver, is “a hopeless romantic. Jack, for her, was the one and only. No one will ever match up.”

Since the season 8 death of Renee Walker (Annie Wersching) left Jack without a female agent counterpart, Yvonne Strahovski (Dexter) joined the London team to play CIA field operative Kate Morgan, a relentless sleuth who almost immediately discovers holes in Jack’s story. “She takes risks,” says Strahovski, who binged on the first and eighth seasons of 24 before starting work. “She’s not entirely by the book, which is very Jack Bauer.”

Of course, every 24 season needs a worthy adversary for Jack, and on Live Another Day he’ll face off against Margot, the widow of an infamous terrorist. Michelle Fairley, who was last seen getting her throat slit at a wedding reception gone wrong on Game of Thrones, landed the role after Judy Davis had to drop out for personal reasons. “This is a passionate woman who morally believes she is in the right,” says Fairley of Margot. “She’s standing up for millions of people, so therefore you have to give her integrity. Even though she may be characterized as a villain, she totally believes 100 percent in what she’s doing.”

Funny, the same could be said for Jack. In other words: The torture is back, 24 fans!

“It’s not because we advocate torture in the real world,” insists Sutherland. “It’s a phenomenal dramatic device. ‘I need this piece of information and this is what I’m willing to do to you to get it.’ It’s not because we’re suggesting that people do this, or that it’s appropriate for the police or for the army to behave this way. But in the dramatic context of our show, that’s how desperate it is. I don’t think we get through two episodes where he’s not doing something like that. He hurts a few people:’