24: Legacy boss Manny Coto has spoken about the show's portrayal of Muslims.
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The spin-off launched in the US last night (February 5) and its stark opening scene saw loyalists of a deceased terrorist violently torture and kill an American soldier and his family.
Coto and fellow showrunner Evan Katz have said that the premise of the series was inspired by the real-life operation that killed Osama bin Laden, and Coto has insisted to The Hollywood Reporter that they weren't trying to create outrage.
"If we didn't know the way the entire season went and how it came out the other side, we might be concerned," he explained.
"The story of this season deliberately starts on an image that you might call jingoistic, expected and possibly inflammatory. We weren't trying to be inflammatory, but it's what the story itself called for."
Related: 24: Legacy review – has the new spin-off got Bauer power?
Coto continued: "The season, as usually with 24, spins in a different direction. The show does not come out on the same end it went in. We overturn deeper truths. There are things going on that we don't understand at first."
Katz added that 24 as a whole has a "real concrete history of doing this", such as season two starting off about terrorists having a nuclear bomb, before it later transpires that a secret political faction encouraged them to do it to raise support for a fraudulent war.
As well as there seemingly always being a mole in CTU, 24 has previously begun with a focus on Islamic terrorists, before revealing the Americans behind the scenes pulling the strings, and 24: Legacy could be similar.
"I like to say the series begins as if it was written by Trump, but it ends as if it were written by Hillary. It's not going where you think it's going," teased Coto.
Legendary 24 producer Howard Gordon recently told us that the spin-off has a "moral responsibility" under President Trump.
24: Legacy continues tonight (February 6) in the US on Fox and premieres on February 15 in the UK on FOX.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
