24 Season 5: Sean Astin Joins Cast

Well this could be a good thing for the show, for once. Variety is reporting that "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy star Sean Astin is joining the cast of Fox's 24. Word on the street is that he'll be working for CTU, but anything else about his character is unknown at the present time.

Also, here's the latest blurb from The 24 Insider (Spoiler alert):

Episode: 5.1 & 5.2
Airdate: January 8th, 2006
Airtime: 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

In 24 time, Season 5 will pick up 18 months later, with hero Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), having faked his death, now living with Diane (Britton) and her son, Derek (Corbet), as the latest national security threat materializes. Jean Smart will play First Lady Martha Logan. A shaky President Logan (Gregory Itzin) is back, as are CTU chief Bill Buchanan (James Morrison) and key operatives Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub), Edgar (Louis Lombardi) and Curtis (Roger Cross). Tony (Carlos Bernard) and Audrey (Kim Raver), Jack's last love interest, also will be featured. As with the fourth season, 24 will begin with a two-night, four-hour premiere on Jan. 8 and 9 (8 p.m. ET/PT) before moving to its regular Monday time slot on Jan. 16 (9 p.m. ET/PT), with no reruns or pre-emptions scheduled until the May finale. Also, Sean Astin will be a series regular and Variety reports he'll be working for CTU.

Sean Astin, good actor, but in the overall feel of things, big freakin' whoop. Dude can play an underdog football player and a damn good hobbit, but I seriously hope his acting skills are completely overlooked because of 24's lameness. Guess we'll find out in January.

24 Season 5: This Doesn't Look Right

WARNING: Of course this post contains spoilers.

There's been a serious lack of new news about 24 lately, but I did notice that some behind-the-scenes pictures have shown up on the internet. Not too many interesting pictures, except for the three of the car.

Let me explain the situation... the writers of the show want to bring the shock value (not shocking as in how they interrogate ALL of their captives – with electricity – that remains at an all-time high) of the first few seasons back into season five (remember the plane exploding, good... remember the stealth bomber, bad). So early in the season, some well-known characters are gonna bite the dust from a car bomb. I can only assume that the picture is showing us the car, post-explosion.

Looks cool, doesn't it? I think so... whoever is going to be in that car, the police are going to have to pick up pieces of their body from all over. Not to mention all the pieces of the car they'll have to clean up. Lucky for them, the tires nor the hubcaps were messed up. Those bombers, so very precise they are.

24 Season 5: Enlisting Comedic Actors To Help Show

So the latest and greatest from the 24 camp is a slew of casting news. Here's what we know (Warning, potential spoilers):

Taken from http://www.24spoilers.tvheaven.com/

– Jean Smart, who won two Emmys for guesting on "Frasier," will play the wife of President Logan.
– Connie Britton, best known for her work on "Spin City," is set to play Sutherland's love interest.
– Brady Corbet will play the son of Britton's character and is expected to have a strong connection to Sutherland's character early on in the season.

That's two ladies who are best known for their comedic roles on popular sitcoms, and a teen that's been in "Thirteen" and made appearances on three sitcoms... does it get any more ironic than that? Granted, Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe) has been on Mr. Show and other comedies, but that's Chloe.

In other news about how season five will begin...

Taken from http://www.24spoilers.tvheaven.com/

The writers want to bring back 24's shock value and they plan on killing off several series regulars right off the bat. I've been hearing that the original plan was to kill off at least two series regulars within the first few opening minutes of the premiere (The assassinations have a direct connection to Jack). Somehow elements within the United States Government and possibly the Chinese Government discover that Jack is still alive and they know his suspicious death was an elaborate hoax. (The season five DVD exclusive prequel will will likely deal with how they know Jack's alive.) In order to suppress the diplomatic damage, Jack Bauer and all of the people who know he's alive are being hunted down and killed, one by one. The season takes place well after Jack fled the U.S. and it's impossible to know exactly who knows that Jack's still alive. We all know Tony, Michelle and Chloe know but the people erasing Jack may think others close to Jack know. Audrey, Kim and even Secretary Heller may be targeted for assassination.

Know what? That's fine. Kill them all. Except Palmer. I'd even go for Jack being offed, now THAT would really bring the shock value back to the show.