Press Tour Journal: '24' character MIA

Jayne Atkinson as Karen Hayes on "24." (Fox)UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. -- In response to the Golden Globes live blog, reader LUV PENS asked what became of the wife of Bill Buchanan (James Morrison) on "24." Jayne Atkinson starred for a couple of seasons as presidential adviser Karen Hayes, but she's nowhere to be found in the new season that debuted Sunday.

I sought out "24" executive producer Jon Cassar at a Director's Guild reception to try to get an answer.

"Karen is not back this year," he said. "Weren't she and Bill bumpy at the end of year six?"

Neither he nor I could remember exactly where the Bill-Karen relationship stood -- it's been almost two years since season six ended -- but he said there would ne references to her in the new season.

"She's just one of those people who passes on in '24,'" Cassar said. "You can't service everyone."

At the moment, Cassar said he's working to whittle this season's finale of "24" down to an hour running time. At the moment, it's coming in at 23 minutes too long.

UPDATE: "24" executive producer Howard Gordon said there was a reference to Bill's wife in a script, but it got cut.

"They're still married," Gordon said. "Everything is fine."


Posted Jan 13 2009, 09:14 AM by Rob Owen

Comments

LUV PENS wrote re: Press Tour Journal: '24' character MIA
on Tue, Jan 13 2009 10:32 AM

Thanks for trying to find out about Karen. One never knows about these characters on "24'. For all we know, he may have been holding out on you...the element of surprise as they say!

I believe this season may turn out to be one of the best.

Rob Owen wrote re: Press Tour Journal: '24' character MIA
on Tue, Jan 13 2009 10:57 AM

No, trust me, he wasn't holding out. Karen won't be back this year.

Traffic wrote re: Press Tour Journal: '24' character MIA
on Tue, Jan 13 2009 11:46 AM

Rob, thanks for the info. I agree with Luv Pens. Although I doubt it could top season 1 or 5 (whichever was the Logan season), I am hopeful this will be a good one. Sure the plot is the same every year (Jack has to do illegal things to save a bunch of people from dying), but the writing and acting keep it exciting. I (almost) never tire of hearing Jack say, "That is not the right play," or "We'll do this my way.: Chloe is awesome as usual, and I like the edition of Janeane Garafalo.

AlmeidaIsGod[dot]com // For the Love of Tony » Memorandums » Karen Hayes Not Scheduled To Return In Season 7; Audrey Unlikely But Possible wrote AlmeidaIsGod[dot]com // For the Love of Tony » Memorandums » Karen Hayes Not Scheduled To Return In Season 7; Audrey Unlikely But Possible
on Thu, Jan 15 2009 6:57 PM

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