Actor Kiefer Sutherland may not be returning to Fox’s new iteration of its hit show "24" (more on that in a future column), but he will return to TV in a much-hyped Washington DC based series, which was snatched up by ABC.
This fall, Sutherland plays a low level cabinet member who sits out the President’s State of the Union address as the “Designated Survivor” (also the show's title). The series creates the worst case scenario in which the Capitol is bombed and no one in line for the presidency survives the attack.
The designated survivor has been a practice since at least 1981, amid fears of a possible nuclear attack by the Soviets during the State of the Union, the Inauguration, or some other major presidential event, which could potentially kill the president and all others in line for the presidency. One cabinet member (who must be eligible to serve as president) is given presidential level security, access to the "nuclear football," and is kept safely away from the area of the event, in this case, the Capitol.
Thankfully, the designated survivor has never been called to serve in real life, but the idea that they would is certainly interesting fodder for storytelling.
In the first episode, Sutherland's Tom Kirkman is sworn in as the new president, facing an unknown enemy and unsure he is ready for the job. At the same time, members of the president's staff see him as unfit to lead the nation.
The new president’s first duty is to oversee the effort to find out who was behind the bombing of the Capitol, and how the White House will respond to it. In the trailer, we see Sutherland's character disagreeing with officials from the Pentagon on how to proceed.
It's easy to see why ABC picked up a show with such an intriguing premise.
For fans of Sutherland's Jack Bauer—the enthusiastic and brutal, top terrorist fighter in the world—in the original version of “24,” it might be a bit odd to now see him playing an ill-prepared president, who isn't necessarily as gung-ho in going after the bad guys.
Sutherland has an impressive supporting cast, including Maggie Q ("Nikita") as an FBI agent, Natascha McElhone ("Californication") as the new First Lady, Italia Ricci ("Supergirl") as his Chief of Staff and last but not least, Kal Penn ("House") as the president's speech writer. In real life, Penn served as Associate Director of the Office of Public Engagement in the first term of the Obama administration.
After his short-lived Fox series, "Touch," Sutherland returned to his most famous role in a new season of "24: Live Another Day" in 2014. Now, here he is again in a series focused on terrorism.
With so many real life acts of violence, especially from ISIS and the like, it's little surprise that Hollywood producers continue to use that in storytelling (though the source of the attack on the Capitol is kept a secret in the trailer and likely will be secret for a while).
Series creator David Guggenheim is no stranger to this genre. His resume includes the 2012 film "Safe House," starring Ryan Reynolds as a CIA agent and Denzel Washington as an apparent traitor to the agency. He also wrote a CIA-focused pilot, "Exit Strategy," which was never picked up.
Guggenheim has thus far not gone on the record about the inspirations for "Designated Survivor."
Expect ABC to promote the new show heavily over the summer, before it premieres on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT in the fall.
