elisha cuthbert says the schedule on 24 was so intense that she is not sure she could do it again. The actor, 43, was reflecting on the Fox series while promoting Every Year After, and she called the show a whirlwind.
24 and Elisha Cuthbert
“I mean, the success of it all was overwhelming and thrilling and exciting,” Cuthbert said, adding that she has “great memories” of the period but also remembers how “really intense” it was. She said, “We were working so much that the one-hour format... especially with all the action and all the intense night shoots, I mean, it was not an easy show to film.”
That comment goes to the mechanics of 24, which premiered in November 2001 and ran for nine seasons. The series was built around a one-hour format, with each episode representing one hour of a day and each season playing out as a full day.
Kiefer Sutherland and Kim Bauer
Cuthbert played Kim Bauer, the only child of Jack and Teri Bauer, on a show centered on Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland. She said the production was “a well-oiled machine,” but still “a grueling schedule,” and added, “I don't know if I'd have the energy to partake in that again.”
She also said, “It was amazing” and “groundbreaking,” and noted that she keeps in touch with people from the cast “on occasion.” For readers who only remember 24 as a fast-moving thriller, her remarks put a price tag on that pace: night shoots, the one-hour structure, and a workload that left even one of the series’ central performers reluctant to repeat it.
Every Year After
Cuthbert is speaking about 24 while promoting Every Year After, which is based on the book Every Summer After by Carley Fortune. The contrast is plain: the new project is the current job, but 24 remains the one that still carries the weight of a nine-season run and the kind of schedule that can make a return feel unrealistic.
