We sat down with legendary 24 producer Howard Gordon this week to discuss 24: Legacy, the latest incarnation of the iconic show that introduced us to Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer / the insane tension of real-time telly.
With President Trump recently signing a controversial executive order banning people from seven countries (Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Iraq) from entering the United States, and having previously gone on record about having few qualms with regard to torturing terror suspects, the world's starting to look more and more like an episode of 24.
Previous series have featured Islamic terror suspects and extreme torture - so, does Gordon feel he has a moral responsibility to take a different approach in the current political climate?
"The short answer is yes," Gordon told Digital Spy. "I don't know whether everyone will feel that way. We had this experience on Homeland as well, which, because of its format and its auspices, has a much more different, deeper and nuanced exploration of these challenges. That show was criticised by some people for being racist.
"I think inevitably people will accuse us of being reckless and irresponsible, that's going to happen. But, from our perspective, I can tell you there is a moral responsibility. But you can't be held hostage, as a storyteller - if you start censoring yourself, it washes out the colours.
"At some level I think it's the job of the show to be provocative. Sometimes this show was a lightning rod, and people would ascribe to it things that, to my mind, weren't true. I was always grateful for the dialogue, and for the fact that the show became a pretext to have some very important conversations for real."
What to Read Next
The real world feels like it's turning into a 24 plot…
"[laughs] It does."
….How do you think Jack Bauer would react to Donald Trump?
"That is a… I am definitely going to pass on that question [smiles]."
UK viewers can see 24: Legacy when it premieres on Wednesday, February 15 at 9pm on FOX.
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Sam is an entertainment writer with NCTJ accreditation and a twenty-year career as a film journalist.
Starting out as a staff writer at Total Film, moving up to Deputy Online Editor, Sam was responsible for Total Film’s YouTube channel, where he revolutionised the magazine’s approach to video junkets, creating influential formats that spread to other outlets.
He’s interviewed a wide range of film icons, including directors such as David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Ridley Scott, Michael Bay and Sam Raimi, as well as actors such as Meryl Streep, Nic Cage, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Anne Hathaway, Margot Robbie, Natalie Portman, Kermit the Frog, all of the Avengers and many more.
Sam has also interviewed several comic creators, including Stan Lee, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and he has a zombie cameo in The Walking Dead comic.
In 2014, Sam went freelance, working directly for film studios including Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Disney, as well as covering red carpet events for film marketing company PMA Productions.
Sam is the co-host, producer and editor of the Arrow Video podcast, which has seen year-on-year growth since its creation in 2017, gaining over half a million listens in that time.
His byline has appeared in outlets such as Yahoo, MTV, Dazed, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Good Housekeeping among others.
In 2012, Sam made it to the final of the Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year competition, and went on to become a filmmaker himself, directing three features that have all played major festivals, and secured distribution – starring in two of them.
Jim Carrey once mistook Sam for Johnny Cash, and John Carpenter told him to ‘Keep up the good work.’ He promises to try his best.
