Here's Why '24' Is Returning As A 12-Part Miniseries

Kirsten AcunaMay 2, 2014, 00:48 IST

Greg Williams/FOX

When "24" returns to Fox Monday, we'll see Kiefer Sutherland return as fan favorite Jack Bauer.

This time, he'll have 12 hours - instead of the usual 24 - to stop a terrorist threat in London in a new miniseries, "24: Live Another Day."

During a conference call with series executive producers Evan Katz and Manny Coto last week, Coto explained the decision for less episodes has a lot to do with the recent success of miniseries on other networks.

"The idea for this, to do a 12-hour season, I think has a lot to do with the success of 12-hour limited series," says Coto. "I think 'Under the Dome' was probably something that sparked the network and/or the studio's curiosity about doing something like this. And it makes it a special event; it makes it something to catch."

Brownie Harris/CBSDean Norris ("Breaking Bad") stars on CBS' "Under the Dome."

"Under the Dome," based on the Stephen King novel, became CBS' largest summer premiere since the start of reality series "Big Brother" in 2000. Ratings throughout the season stayed steadily above 10 million per episode. Season 2 will premiere June 30. Similarly, HBO had recent success with its 8-episode miniseries "True Detective" starring Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. Coto explained the 12-hour episode format will be similar to 2008's made-for-TV movie "24: Redemption" that took place in real time. He says reducing the episode count helped in more ways than one. "For us, as writers, it's been fun to condense the storytelling into this 12 hours," says Coto. "When we look down the runway of the season we don't have 24 hours to fill, whereas in the old series we might try to stretch things out because we knew we had so much time. Now, we're finding ourselves with the end in sight and really working to resolve all of our storylines."

Cookies on the Business Insider India website

Here's Why '24' Is Returning As A 12-Part Miniseries