"24" is back in action Sunday, January 17 on FOX, and Kiefer Sutherland's spilling secrets about the upcoming eighth season that sees the show moving to New York!

"It's absolutely a character in the piece," says Kiefer about using the Big Apple as the setting for the new season. "We didn't feel that there was another city in the United States that would suit the energy of '24' more than New York."

In the shadows of the Statue of Liberty and the United Nations, Day Eight unfolds as President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones), alongside new chief of staff Rob Weiss (Chris Diamantopoulos), negotiates international security with Omar Hassan (Anil Kapoor), a determined Middle Eastern leader visiting the U.S. on a peacemaking mission. What could go wrong? Good thing Jack Bauer's in town…

Kiefer says the first four episodes are always the hardest to create each season because "you're trying to set up a story that's going to last 24 episodes, and at the same time you're trying to get an audience hooked and excited about what they're going to see; I would have to say fear is the dominant emotion that's going around all of us during the filming of those first four episodes."

But Kiefer assures that fans do not have to worry that the change of location will mark a radical change in the show.

"It's a perfect blend of something that is going to be very familiar to our audience, but something that's also going to be viscerally new and exciting," he explains.

He adds that now that his character is a grandfather, "He's in a really positive place, and I think Jack Bauer's been in a very dark place for a long time, so to be able to start the character from that vantage point at the beginning of the season really gives him something to fight for."

There will be plenty of exciting action, as usual, but Kiefer still has to draw the line when it comes to some of the more outrageous stunts: "They won't let me jump off a 30-story building or something like that, but I do as much as makes common sense," he says with a smile.

And for those fearing that Kiefer may leave the show after this season to pursue other interests, he tells ET, "We've had the most unbelievably loyal audience for the past eight seasons, and I've always said as long as people wanted to watch us do it and they were still excited about the show, we would do it."

Watch ET for more with Kiefer Sutherland!

'24' to Relocate to New York Apr 15, 2009 08:25 AM

Kiefer Sutherland On for Another '24' Mar 24, 2009 09:33 AM