Kiefer Sutherland believes 24: Legacy is very smart, ‘breath of fresh air’ for writers

You’re an executive producer on 24: Legacy… especially with Designated Survivor, how involved will you be with 24?
I was approached in the very beginning. Howard [Gordon] had asked me about some of the ideas that they had, and I just really liked their ideas. I was supportive of that. I’m not going to get involved with the scripts on an episode-by-episode basis, but Howard and I did discuss thematically where the show would go. It’s something that I hope to see do really well. I think they’ve done an interesting thing. There is no specific Jack Bauer character. They’ve created a couple of characters who will deal with the responsibility of that character. I think the casting has been really, really smart. I’ve always said that I believe the idea of 24 [a season covering one day, an hour at a time] was really the star of the show. I still believe that to be true.

It’s something that I would love to see continue to go on, and I promise you, I would have done that show until I couldn’t walk. Howard and I both agreed that it just started to become almost its own parody, because, how many terrible days can one guy have? I think it’s a breath of real fresh air for the writers to not be hung up by the 206 prior episodes for “What can we now do to this character?” For all of those reasons, it was a very smart thing. I really do believe in the potential of the time element of the show, and I wish them all the best, but my main focus, obviously, is going to be on Designated Survivor, and I’m very excited about that.