24 - Season 4 Preview

Here's what we know for sure:
Jack Bauer is back for Season 4 of Fox's 24 titled "Season 4 - Instinct Never Dies" (sounds like a Bond movie to me). The show will start on Sunday, Jan. 9 with a two-hour premiere. Jack isn't at CTU and doesn't do field work field anymore ("I could've joined other agencies if I still wanted to work in the field, but I didn't") and has a new significant other, the daughter of the Secretary of Defense (played by Third Watch'salways-hot Kim Raver). VERY sorry to say that President Palmer and Jack's daughter Kim are no longer listed as season regulars and I've heard NO rumors about any guest shots. The slimey VP from last season is the new President, so we can assume a couple of years have passed and that Palmer followed through with his decision (last year, he told Jack that he had decided not to run for President again in the wake of Sherry's death). Tony Almeida's character is set to return (he was being dragged off to prison when we last saw him) but the status of his HOT wife is unknown. CTU's new supervisor Erin Driscoll doesn't want Jack around, but it appears he is drawn back to CTU by unforeseen circumstances. Chloe, Jack's mousy and annoying assistant from last year (who I kept hoping would be killed off last year) is still at CTU and helps Jack.

Here's the current speculation:
Day 4 starts at 7 a.m. and again last 24 continuous hours over 24 episodes. Accordint to Zap2it, this season begins with an explosion on a commuter train and soon Jack is back to his renegade ways, trying to save Los Angeles and maybe the world from a vague but catastrophic terrorist threat. After extensive housecleaning within the cast, "24" now co-stars Kim Raver ("Third Watch"), William Devane ("Knots Landing"), Oscar-nominated actress Shohreh Aghdashloo ("The House of Sand and Fog") and Nestor Serrano ("The Day After Tomorrow") and features Aisha Tyler ("Friends") in a recurring role. Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland, L) is secretly romantically involved with the Secretary of Defense's daughter Audrey (Kim Raver). In reviewing the preview, we see in one scene that a bad guy is holding Jack's her at gunpoint, perhaps explaining how he's draw back into the world of espionage. Maybe she gets kidnapped - is everyone around Jack just perpetually unlucky?

TV Rules is saying: "Season four begins 18 months later with the episode “Day 4: 7:00 am – 8:00 am.” CTU is now headed by Erin Driscoll (Alberta Watson, “La Femme Nikita”), a steely government agent who made firing Jack one of her first priorities upon taking over. After the explosion of a commuter train, Jack, who is now working for Secretary of Defense James Heller (William Devane, “Knots Landing”) and also is romantically involved with his married daughter, Audrey (Kim Raver, “Third Watch”), suddenly finds himself heading back to CTU for a meeting with Driscoll on Heller’s behalf. Also featured will be Nestor Serrano (“The Day After Tomorrow”) as Middle Eastern businessman Navi Araz, Oscar-nominated actress Shohreh Aghdashloo (“The House of Sand and Fog”) as his wife, Dina, and Jonathan Ahdout (“The House of Sand and Fog”) as their son, Behrooz." Not sure where their information is coming from - there is no sourcing.

Relevent links: Episode guide at TV Tome and a hard-to-find (thanks Google!) gallery of pictures from the premiere. The original casting call looks interesting as it delineates exactly what they're looking for in the new characters joining the show.