FOX has announced that Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winner Jimmy Smits has been tapped for the key role of John Donovan in the drama pilot 24: Legacy, from 20th Century Fox Television. Howard Gordon, Manny Coto, Evan Katz and Brian Grazer will serve as executive producers on the pilot, which will be directed by 24 veteran Stephen Hopkins.
Smits will portray John Donovan, a powerful U.S. Senator with higher political aspirations, who is married to the blazing smart former head of CTU (Miranda Otto).
24: Legacy has plans to follow Hawkins as Eric Carter, a man with a troubled past who turned his life around in the Army Rangers, becoming a military hero. After settling with his wife Nicole in Virginia, Carter’s past comes back to haunt him and he’s pulled back into action. He eventually asks CTU for help saving his life and stopping what potentially could be one of the largest-scale terror attacks on American soil.
24: Legacy is being produced by 20th Century Fox Television, Imagine Television and Gordon’s Teakwood Lane Productions. The pilot will feature an all-new cast of characters and retain the real-time, pulse-pounding, fast-paced format with split screens and complex interweaving storylines, with each episode representing one hour of an eventful day.
Originally premiering on November 6, 2001, 24 was nominated for a total of 73 Emmy Awards, winning for Outstanding Drama Series in 2006. Over eight seasons, Kiefer Sutherland garnered seven Emmy Award nominations and one win for Outstanding Lead Actor – Drama Series. While the series gained global recognition, Sutherland’s portrayal of the legendary character penetrated the American psyche like no other dramatic television character to become part of the cultural lexicon. The most recent chapter in the franchise, 24: Live Another Day, was a 12-episode event series that premiered in the summer of 2014 on FOX, reuniting series stars Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Kim Raver and William Devane. The series was both a critical and ratings hit, garnering three Emmy Awards.
