24: Legacy
What: Reboot with a mostly new cast of characters and a new hero, starring Corey Hawkins, Miranda Otto and Jimmy Smits.
When: Premieres after the Super Bowl, about 7 tonight, then begins its regular time at 8 p.m. Monday.
Where: Fox.
What: Reboot with a mostly new cast of characters and a new hero, starring Corey Hawkins, Miranda Otto and Jimmy Smits.
When: Premieres after the Super Bowl, about 7 tonight, then begins its regular time at 8 p.m. Monday.
Where: Fox.
Fox’s “24: Legacy” starts off with the familiar beep-beep-beep countdown. While Kiefer Sutherland’s stop-at-nothing Jack Bauer isn’t part of the reboot that begins Sunday, the new series drops you quickly into a powder keg of a conspiracy.
The new badass is Eric Carter (Corey Hawkins), a former Army Ranger who is tipped off that members of his team that assassinated a terrorist sheik six months before are being targeted.
As usual on any “24,” there are subplots within subplots beginning with Carter and his wife, Nicole (Anna Diop), who are attacked shortly after he’s been alerted. The ex-Ranger eventually leaves Nicole back in the old neighborhood with his older brother, Isaac (Ashley Thomas), who runs a shady operation. There is bad blood between them. So you know something will happen down the line.
Meanwhile, he contacts former CTU chief Rebecca Ingram (Miranda Otto), who had recently resigned to help her husband, Sen. John Donovan (Jimmy Smits) campaign for the presidency. The original raid had been under her purview, and she happens to be at her old stomping grounds when he calls. Realizing that there may be a traitor in the agency, she sends Carter out to find a member of the team who may have something taken from the raid.
And meanwhile, there are homegrown terrorist sleeper cells around the country ready to strike with the right signal, which may be connected to what was taken in the raid. One involves a Chechen immigrant high-school girl manipulating her teacher with sex.
The original “24” premiered a few months after 9/11, and most Americans wanted a man like Jack Bauer who would do anything to protect the country. The series actually was cited in debates about using enhanced interrogation methods on terrorism suspects.
This “24” comes after a contentious presidential election and little more than a week after President Donald Trump banned entry from seven Muslim-majority countries. So considering the protests and the tensions in the country, the series’ timing perhaps could be better.
Considering that the series takes place in “real time,” there is a fair amount of soap opera in the plot, though it never slows down enough to bog down. Hawkins’ Eric, though, is an interesting change from Jack’s hot-headedness. Like Jack, Eric is driven by mistakes he has made in the past, but he is less maniacally driven, and Hawkins brings an everyman presence — like a John Ford hero — to the role.
“24: Legacy” could re-enforce Islamic stereotypes, especially for those don’t know any Muslims and only see them portrayed as terrorists, but it’s not the series’ intention. It’s meant as escapism, not realpolitik, and we should have faith people know the difference. Yes, there are flaws in the series, but in the first three episodes it keeps you hooked.
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