Comic-Con 2009: 24

Panelists included producers Howard Gordon, David Fury, Brannon Braga, Manny Coto, Evan Katz, composer Sean Callery, returning actors Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, and new castmembers Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica), Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire), and Freddie Prinze Jr. (Scooby Doo).

• Katee knows that she has no job security on this show and could get her head chopped off and put in a bag at any time.

• According to Mary Lynn, CTU looks cool this season and has tunnels.

• Incidentally, both of them looked fantastic and very un-Starbuck and Chloe-like.

• Donald Sutherland is not expected to make an appearance on 24.  Jack Bauer’s dad has already been on the show, and, as Kiefer pointed out, given how similar they look, he can’t really play anyone else.  Donald was almost given a role on the show, but there were scheduling conflicts with his work on Dirty Sexy Money and that opportunity has passed.  But, as Kiefer added, if you really want to see him, you could watch one of his 100 or so movies any time.

• Kiefer sincerely thanked the crowd and said that these were the best 8 years of his life.

• Howard Shore said that the theme of the upcoming season is peace.

• Kiefer described this season as being more grounded in what could happen in the real world, which brings it back to season 1.  The threat this time concerns a UN Peace Conference the Iranian and US presidents are attending.  He hopes that this kind of peace will happen, but acknowledges that threats inevitably come out of it.

24 returns with a 2-night, 4-hour event on Sunday, January 17 and Monday, January 18, 2010, on Fox.

For more on Comic-Con and 24, click here.

Photograph courtesy of IMDbPro