Most seasons of 24 fall into a comfortable two-part rhythm. That’s a lot of villainy for one man but thankfully Cromwell is the kind of actor who has the gravitas to pull it off. He worked behind the scenes in the Sentox nerve gas conspiracy of season 5 and conspired with Cheng Zhi to advance China on the world stage. Phillip founded BXJ Technologies and got a taste for corporate villainy. And the choice was weirdly fitting for the increasingly operatic drama of 24. Installing Jack’s own father Phillip (James Cromwell) as the big bad of season 6 is absolutely a move straight out of a soap opera. This conversation came well before 24’s sixth season and one has to imagine whether Howard Gordon took that soap opera producer’s advice.

I can’t find it now and I trust that it’s been lost to internet history, but EW (then fully branded as Entertainment Weekly) once hosted a conversation between 24 showrunner Howard Gordon and the executive producer of a daytime soap opera (whose name I also cannot remember but I swear this happened!) to talk about how they would run each other’s show’s. Because Tony Almedia is an ally-turned-antihero, not a villain. Note: The Tony Exception – You will not find Tony Almedia (Carlos Bernard) on this list. Here are 10 that come pretty close to doing so. It’s not easy to survive, let alone stand out on a show featuring Jack Bauer. Still, some 24 villains deserve commendation.

And honestly, that would have probably been preferable when compared to 24’s oft-racist depiction of generic Middle Eastern terrorists. Jack could be tracking down and assassinating Sesame Street muppets and the thing would still work.

Avatar: The Last Airbender and Structural Perfection on TV By Alec BojaladĪmid all that excitement, it doesn’t much matter who the villains are.

24 season 2 villain