The Hollywood Foreign Press Association recently flew to a remote CIA operating base in an undisclosed location – ok, it was an ex-factory on the outskirsts of London and the “base” was an elaborate filming set for the extremely classified production of 24 – Live Another Day. That’s tight as everyone knows by now, after a five-year hiatus, Jack Bauer will be back next May in the highly anticipated reboot of the 24 series, trying once again to beat the clock and save the world in a new series of action-packed episodes. Fox has committed to a shortened series of 12 for the moment, with a storyline that takes place in Britain. The HFPA got an exclusive sneak peek at the set and spoke with Kiefer Sutherland about his return to his career defining character. Also on hand was Mary Lynn Rajskub who reprises her role as brilliant system analyst and Jack’s confidante, Chloe O’Brien. Here’s some of the facts HFPA’s own agents were able to ascertain about the upcoming plot, or at least the back-story to the series: For the years that the series has been off the air Jack Bauer has apparently been living underground somewhere in Eastern Europe (at the end of season 8 he had become a fugitive sought by both Americans and Russians). He is forced to surface again when he comes across intelligence that suggests the U.S. president is in imminent danger. In order to foil that plot he hooks up with his old associate Chloe, who has undergone life changes of her own. Last we remember of her, she was being arrested by the FBI for abetting Bauer, at the end of season 8. Disillusioned she is now part of a group Assange-type hackers who have their own ideas about how to handle classified secrets.

We’d like to say more but then we would spend a pretty unpleasant 12 hours of our own in the exceedingly realistic black-ops underground interrogation room the production has been using for the shoot…suffice it to say that we have Kiefer Sutherland’s word that 12 will have all the suspense and heart pounding action of 24 (as suggested by the Superbowl trailer). Stay tuned for further briefings – strictly on a need-to-know basis, of course. [gallery:3402]