The Following Article Contains 24 Spoilers Damn It!

We already know that Kiefer Sutherland has ruled himself out of reprising Jack Bauer on TV again, but we can expect to see at least one original character when 24: Legacy kicks off next year. According to TVLine, Carlos Bernard aka Tony Almeida will be joining the cast of the forthcoming spin-off.

24: Legacy showrunners Manny Coto and Evan Katz issued a statement earlier today;

“Tony Almeida is one of the most indelible personalities in the 24 universe, at times loyal and loving, other times an utterly amoral, ruthless mercenary, Carlos Bernard has done an amazing job portraying this dark and conflicted character, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with his return to the show.”

For those of you that either haven’t seen it or can’t remember the somewhat convoluted story arcs of 24, Almeida was a loyal CTU agent and good friend of Jack Bauer for most of the first five(ish) seasons of the show. However, after an attempt on his life in the season five opener left his wife (Michelle Dessler) dead, Tony’s never quite been the same. Well, he did seemingly die at the hands of Christopher Henderson (Peter Weller) only to return as the bad guy for the show’s seventh season. He even grew a slightly creepy beard to show his commitment to evil.

Although he wasn’t part of the event series Live Another Day, we did get to catch up with Tony thanks to a bonus feature on the home entertainment release. 24; Solitary was a seven-minute mini-episode set in prison with Tony attempting to plan his escape. Given his ‘colourful’ past, it remains a mystery if Tony will be helping the new generation of CTU agents or if he’ll be up to his old evil tricks. We’ll find out all the details early next year when 24; Legacy launches on Fox.