Worrying news from the 24 production offices; according to Entertainment Weekly, the TV series is shutting down production on its seventh season for 18 days, so the staff can rewrite the lead-in to the year's climax.
Executive-producer Howard Gordon:
"We had a couple of scripts that we weren't happy with. We just couldn't get this direction to work, and we found another one that we liked better, so we wound up retooling it."
Should fans be alarmed? Perhaps not. Shutting down production for rewrites is a good thing. The writers would have done the same thing in previous years, given half the chance. TV shows have a very tough schedule in the US, which ordinarily means the latter half of 24 (written while the show is on-air) is wobblier than the first half (written during the summer hiatus). It does seem strange that they've had so long to plan season 7 and still seem to be having difficulties, but the parallel production of TVM "Exile" probably didn't help.
In related news, Elisha Cuthbert is reprising her role as Jack's daughter Kim Bauer in the second half of season 7. She will apparently arrive on the show with a child, Jack's grandson.
24's seventh season will premiere in January on FOX and shortly after on SKY1 in the UK.
