’24: Legacy’ EP Brian Grazer on Why Reboot Is Still Timely: Terrorism ‘Is Pervasive’

“24: Legacy” executive producer Brian Grazer believes that original series protagonist Jack Bauer resonated with audiences because of the political climate immediately following 9/11.

“Jack Bauer, in his time, was a wish fulfillment character,” Grazer told TheWrap. “There were bad things going on in America, red tape was holding things up, and then he found a way to get through it and do the right thing.”

In the new series, former Army Ranger Eric Carter (Corey Hawkins) is pulled back into action as his past comes looking for him. Carter will ask the Counter Terrorist Unit for help in saving his life and in stopping what potentially could be one of the largest-scale terror attacks on American soil.

The story has several similarities with the original series, something Grazer attributes to the increased presence of terrorism in our daily lives.

“In our modern society these stories are proving to be always timely,” he said. “It just seems terrorism and things like terrorism have entered our world in this way that is pervasive, and we want to get rid of bad things.”

Grazer went on to say that when seeking an actor to play Carter, Hawkins was the front-runner do to some input from an old friend.

“I thought [Hawkins] was amazing in ‘Straight Outta Compton,’” he said. “Dr. Dre is a buddy of mine, and he’s a perfectionist. He was always talking about this guy they got to play him… We were not about making the character black or white; it was just about getting the best actor.”

“24: Legacy” will debut on Sunday, Feb. 5 immediately following Super Bowl LI.