'24: Legacy' revives format with familiar clock, new characters

The clock is ticking again.

Though Kiefer Sutherland is mainly occupied with another series (ABC's "Designated Survivor"), Fox is keeping one of its most successful franchises going as "24: Legacy" gets a post-Super Bowl LI premiere Sunday, Feb. 5. Normally to be seen Mondays starting the next night, the suspense drama still has Sutherland as an executive producer.

Corey Hawkins succeeds Sutherland's Jack Bauer as Eric Carter, a military veteran who helped carry out an assault on a terrorist cell in the Middle East. Six months later, that group's survivors are in the U.S., targeting the soldiers who executed that raid to recover something that will facilitate a major attack on America.

Barely escaping with his wife (Anna Diop) from a home invasion, the pursued Carter seeks help from an ex-CTU official (Miranda Otto) whose senator husband (Jimmy Smits) is a presidential candidate.

As the new hero of "24," Hawkins allows, "I'd be crazy to say there wasn't any pressure ... if the challenge wasn't there, then there was no reason for me to say 'Yes' to the role. The (pilot) script happened to be amazing when I read it. It lifted off the page, and then your mind just starts going with where you can take it and what it means in television to be a hero and look like I look. That just really stuck with me."

"24: Legacy" also promises the return of former CTU operative turned enemy Tony Almeida, again played by Carlos Bernard. Gerald McRaney appears as Smits' father.

Deeming "24" a series "that changed the way we watch television," Smits reasons "it's great that they chose the word 'Legacy' for this.

"They're honoring what that show was, but the world has changed seismically, especially geopolitically - and that fuels the storylines. The guy who directed the original pilot, Stephen Hopkins, is back with us now. Keeping the ship on course is so important, but even the editorial choices that are being made are taking it to the next level."