During its TCA winter tour panel, Fox announced that it has ordered the pilot 24: Legacy, a potential new series installment of the groundbreaking and Emmy Award-winning drama franchise most recently revived as the event series 24: Live Another Day, it was announced today by Dana Walden and Gary Newman, Chairmen and CEOs, Fox Television Group. This series will not feature Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, with Entertainment Weekly reporting that the producers are seeking either an African-American actor or a Latino actor to portray a new character named Eric Carter. Here's what Fox Television CEO Gary Newman had to say in a statement.

"As envisioned, the lead character would be diverse, so that will be our first effort in casting. As always, we're going to cast the best actor we can find for the role. As you can imagine, bringing 24 back, we want to really try to create some distinction and make this feel different than Jack Bauer's 24, so having a diverse actor in that lead role I think would be helpful in doing that."

The pilot will feature an all-new cast of characters and retain the real-time, pulse-pounding, fast-paced format with split screens and complex interweaving storylines, with each episode representing one hour of an eventful day. The project will revolve around a military hero's return to the U.S. and the trouble that follows him back - compelling him to ask CTU for help in saving his life, and stopping what potentially could be one of the largest-scale terror attacks on American soil. This remake will also feature a female co-lead, according to Fox Television Chairman Dana Walden.

"There's also a female co-lead who is a former head of CTU. It doesn't feel like it is fully replicating the original in terms of how much Jack Bauer carried by himself, but it's a very prominently featured lead. It's a new CTU, a new cast of characters, It's a completely different story in terms of the special ops groups that we're focusing on. It's a very contemporary feeling story about the potential to activate new sleeper cells in the United States and radicalizing Americans. It's a whole new story. There are nods in the pilot to prior CTU agents, there are a couple photos that will feel reminiscent of the original, but no ongoing [returning] characters."

Howard Gordon (Homeland, 24), Manny Coto (24) and Evan Katz (24) will serve as executive producers. The project will be produced by 20th Century Fox Television, Imagine Television and Gordon's Teakwood Lane Productions. Production on the pilot is said to begin sometime this winter, with casting currently under way.

Originally premiering on November 6, 2001, 24 was nominated for a total of 73 Emmy Awards, winning for Outstanding Drama Series in 2006. Over eight seasons, Kiefer Sutherland garnered seven Emmy Award nominations and one win for Outstanding Lead Actor - Drama Series. While the series gained global recognition, Sutherland's portrayal of the legendary character penetrated the American psyche like no other dramatic television character to become part of the cultural lexicon.

The most recent chapter in the franchise, 24: Live Another Day, was a 12-episode event series that premiered in the summer of 2014 on FOX, reuniting series stars Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Kim Raver and William Devane. The series was both a critical and ratings hit, garnering three Emmy Awards. 24: Legacy is a production of 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine Television in association with Teakwood Lane Productions. What do you think of this new 24: Legacy reboot? Do you want Jack Bauer to return, or are you glad he's not coming back?