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THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
The eighth-worst day of Jack Bauer’s life will be set in Manhattan. After six seasons in Los Angeles and one in Washington, D.C., Bauer and the reconstituted CTU are setting up shop in New York City. THough the bulk of the scenes will still be filmed on sound stages in Los Angeles, filming of the eighth season (which starts next month) will include footage shot in the Big Apple.

Entertainment Weekly, which first broke news of the change of scenery, also reports that a new character named Brian Hastings will lead the newly reformed CTU. Additional agents – including Chloe – will be part of the team.

TIME BANDITS
Kiefer Sutherland told British website ITN.co.uk that there will not be a significant time gap between the seventh and eighth seasons of 24 (likely less time, in fact, than fans actually waited in real life between the sixth and seventh seasons).

"The ending of season seven is going to have a direct impact on everything that takes place in season eight," Sutherland told the website.

Sutherland also noted that that Jack Bauer may die in the eighth season. But don’t bet on it.

DAY 7 ON DVD
The current season of 24 is slated for a May 19 DVD released. High-Def Digest reports that the current season of 24 is also expected to be available in high definition on Blu-ray beginning in May. It will be the series first foray into the format.

BAUER BUTTING HEADS
While 24 isn’t supposed to move to New York until next season, Jack Bauer – rather, the actor who plays him, Kiefer Sutherland – has already found himself embroiled in an action-packed night. Earlier this month, Sutherland was charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly head-butting a fashion designer Jack McCollough during a star-studded part following the Costume Institute Gala in Manhattan.

According to reports, Sutherland confronted McCollough after the designer either bumped into or knocked over actress Brooke Shields while she and the 24 star were talking. When Sutherland demanded an apology, McCollough reportedly responded by shoving the actor.

A representative for Shields, however, said the designer did “nothing in appropriate.”

A representative for Sutherland said: "We are troubled by the untruthful and self-serving information circulating regarding Kiefer Sutherland and events of last Monday evening, We are confident, however, that the investigation being conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the NYPD will confirm that Kiefer Sutherland was neither the instigator nor a wrongdoer in this incident. Out of respect for this law enforcement process, Kiefer Sutherland will not be making any comment."

Sutherland is currently on parole from a 2007 DUI charge in California.

Sutherland, who turned himself in and was not arrested, is due in court on June 22. With Season 8 of 24 due to begin filming this month, there is no word on how or if the charges will affect production.

Jack Bauer? He's all that in the eyes of a new CTU agent to be played by Freddie Prinze Jr., the latest actor to sign on for 24's eighth season.

A star of such films as She's All That and two Scooby-Doos — where he played opposite lady love Sarah Michelle Gellar — and the short-lived sitcom Freddie, Prinze Jr. joins the Fox drama as Davis Cole, a Marine who now heads up the resurrected CTU's Field Ops division. In that role, Cole fancies himself the new Jack Bauer, says the Hollywood Reporter.

24 has trod this path before, introducing a strapping field agent (James Badge Dale's Chase Edmunds, Ricky Schroder's Mike Doyle) who ostensibly might one day relieve weary Jack and inherit the "Drop it!" mantle. Chase, though, dropped off the radar after losing his hand (and girlfriend Kim), while Mike had a bomb go off in his face (a manuever to one day be known as The Juliet).

Also joining 24 is Mumbai-born beauty Nazneen Contractor (CBC's The Border), playing the daughter of Anil Kapoor's Middle Eastern leader. Counting down to her untimely kidnapping in five... four... three... .

Earlier this week, Jennifer Westfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein) and Chris Diamantopoulos (The Starter Wife) were added to the 24 cast.

Season 8 of 24, to be set in New York City, premieres Jan. 17, 2010.

thanks Kalpini

MORE CASTING NEWS
Other new additions to the 24 cast include Chris Diamantoupolos (American Dad) as new White House chief-of-staff Rob Weiss; John Boyd (Lady in the Water) will play CTU analyst Jonas Schwartz; Jennifer Westfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein) will play ambitious journalist Meredith Reed; and, as previously reported, Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire) will play Middle Eastern leader Arman Hashemi..

GREENING 24
Last year, the cast and producers of 24 announced they would be taking steps to reduce the show’s carbon footprint. Last month, they announced that the production had successfully reduced its emissions by 43 percent through greener efforts through a host of energy-saving techniques such as replacing incandescent lighting with compact fluorescent lighting, encouraging production staff to turn off all electrical equipment when not in use, and introducing the use of biodiesel-blended fuels to power generators and production vehicles.

The ultimate goal of the 24 cast and crew is to be carbon neutral.

“This is a passion project for us at 24, and we’re amazed by how much we were able to achieve this past season in terms of conserving energy and reducing carbon emissions,” said 24 executive producer Howard Gordon. “But now the really important work begins, which is to inspire our audience to make changes in their own lives.”

UNITED NATIONS TO PLAY KEY ROLE IN SEASON 8?
In a July 2 interview with TV Guide magazine, 24 star Kiefer Sutherland praised the set of the UN. “The new U.N. is very cool,” Sutherland told the magazine. “I was quite awestruck when I saw the set for the first time. The designs are so tasteful and represent such a diverse political spectrum, literally matching samples of graffiti taken from the ruins of the Berlin Wall. A lot of thought went into it.” He added that the production has been granted permission to shoot scenes in the real U.N.

CASE DISMISSED
Kiefer Sutherland's scheduled July 17 court appearance to answer for an assault charge in May has been cancelled, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. The 24 star was charged with misdemeanor assault after allegedly head-butting a fashion designer Jack McCollough during a party in May, but he had since issued a statement expressing his regret for the incident and McCollough reportedly accepted the actor’s apology. The court appearance has not been rescheduled.

COMICON ALERT: 24 CAST LIVE
Stars of the upcoming season of 24 will be participating in a panel at the San Diego Comic-Con from 2:15 to 3 p.m. on July 24. Fans will have a chance to see Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Anil Kapoor, Freddie Prinze Jr., Katee Sackhoff and 24’s executive producer Howard Gordon. The panel will feature a sneak peek at the upcoming Season 8. For more information, visit www.comic-con.org.

LOGAN’S RETURN
Disgraced former President Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin) will reportedly return for the eighth season of 24. Shanked by his wife late in the sixth season, Logan was last seen flat lining in the hospital, but the unlikely return of Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) last season demonstrated that virtually anything could happen in Jack Bauer’s world. Logan’s return may have been foreshadowed last season when Bauer leaned that Logan was still alive and under house arrest. According to the New York Daily News, President Taylor (Cherry Jones) will call on Logan for his assistance in calming an escalating international diplomatic crisis.

'24' scoop: Will Kiefer quit?

The clock may be ticking on Kiefer Sutherland’s 24 contract, but don’t count out Jack Bauer just yet. Sutherland told reporters at press tour this afternoon that he’s “absolutely open” to sticking around for a ninth season.
“I’ve always said that as long as people wanted us to make it , and people were really interested in watching it, I would be interested,” he said. “There are a lot of components involved. Right now my focus is on finishing season 8.”
Fox honcho Kevin Reilly expects formal talks on Day 9 to commence next month. “Collectively, we just made a decision to launch the season [first] and then sit down in the next four to six weeks,” he tells me. “But my sense is Kiefer will want to keep it going.”
In the meantime, 24 exec producer Howard Gordon isn’t letting the uncertainty surrounding the show’s future affect how he ends season 8. “The way I’ve looked at it is that every single season [finale] could have been a series ender,” he says. “We just want to take it across the line credibly and then let the [other part] take care of itself. As long as Jack’s not dead, anything is possible.”

STOP THE CLOCK: 24 CANCELED
After eight action-packed days and a two-hour adventure in Africa over the course of nine years, time has run out for 24. After weeks of speculation, FOX announced on March 26 that its groundbreaking series would not return for a ninth season. Fighting declining ratings, increasing production costs and mounting creative challenges to keep the series fresh within the real-time format, the cancellation didn’t come as a surprise. "This has been the role of a lifetime, and I will never be able to fully express my appreciation to everyone who made it possible,” series star Kiefer Sutherland said in an official press statement. "While the end of the series is bittersweet, we always wanted 24 to finish on a high note, so the decision to make the eighth season our last was one we all agreed upon." The saga is likely far from finished, however, as Jack Bauer is expected to return on the big screen. "I'm very excited about the idea (of a movie). I'm very excited about the opportunity, and singularly because it's a two-hour representation of a 24-hour day,” executive producer Howard Gordon told Variety. “So for the first time, it will be very feasible in this 24 hours to go from England to Russia, or from China to Japan, depending on where they choose to set it.”

24 MOVIE COMING SOON?
Shortly after news of the cancellation of 24, discussions of the long-awaited 24 film franchise began to pick up steam. The series star, Kiefer Sutherland, has long said that a 24 movie would be a possibility once the series came to an end, because the writers were simply worn out from scripting 24 episodes of a real-time action-drama. "I know they get incredibly burnt and bent," Sutherland told USA Today. "Ultimately, we felt we had a much better opportunity of doing something special by doing a film ... than going back to another season and doing 24 more episodes. The more you do it, the more you paint yourself into a corner, and I think, 'How many times have I played the same moment over and over?’” The newspaper also reports that a first draft of a 24 film script has been written by Billy Ray (State of Play), which would take place over the course of one day and allow Jack Bauer to travel.