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Fox Has Found Its Next ’24’

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As reported a month ago, Ethan Hawke really wants to be television’s next Jack Bauer. His new starring vehicle, Exit Strategy, has gotten an official pilot order from Fox, which should put it in line for a Fall 2011 premiere, should it get a full series pickup.

Exit Strategy is produced by Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci — co-creators of Fringe, and two of the hottest writer/producers in Hollywood — but it sounds like it has more in common with Alias than 24. Hawke leads a 5-member team of special CIA agents who are sent into the field to extract fellow operatives when a mission goes bad. Exit Strategy is expected to tackle a different crisis in a new country in each episode. No word yet on whether the show will showcase any of Kurtzman & Orci’s signature love of mythology (which they likely picked up from pal J.J. Abrams).

What’s more, the pilot will be directed by big-screen director Antoine Fuqua, who worked with Hawke on Training Day and Brooklyn’s Finest. David Guggenheim wrote the script, and Hawke himself will serve as the show’s producer (much like Kiefer Sutherland did on 24).

Ethan Hawke Wants to be the New Jack Bauer

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Movie star Ethan Hawke and his emotive eyebrows are considering moving to the small screen in his first series starring role. The project is called Exit Strategy, and it finds Hawke leading a team of CIA experts who are regularly sent in when field ops (like deep cover assignments) go bad, to extract the agents-in-danger. This “high octane procedural” will take on a new crisis in a different country each week, and my allusion to 24 in this post’s title is no accident; Fox is planning Exit Strategy as a successor to Kiefer Sutherland’s late great action series.

Exit Strategy has a pilot script order from Fox with a pilot order almost a lock, thanks to Hawke’s all-but-a-done-deal involvement. The actor would also be a producer on the show. David Guggenheim wrote the script, which is being produced by Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci’s TV studio K.O. Paper Products. K.O. is also responsible for this season’s Hawaii Five-O reboot, and has Locke & Key in the works for next year. K.O. and Fox reportedly have several A-list directors interested in helming the pilot.

I like the idea of a sophisticated, new high-profile action series now that 24 is gone, but Exit Strategy sounds like a bird of a very different flavor. Kurtzman and Orci’s involvement gives me hope for some great mythology elements, but the fact that it’s described as a “procedural” means it likely won’t have any ongoing storylines. Color me curious.