Fall Preview: Kiefer Sutherland Returns in ABC’s Designated Survivor
Cover photo of Kiefer Sutherland by Maarten de Boer
Jack Bauer has left the building. After nine seasons on Fox’s pulse-pounding 24, Kiefer Sutherland is no longer channeling an action hero but a thinking man called to action. In ABC’s new political thriller Designated Survivor, he plays freshly minted U.S. President Tom Kirkman. When we first encounter Kirkman, he’s a lusterless Cabinet member—the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, to be exact—and a pancake-flipping family man. Then a massive terrorist strike hits the Capitol Building during the State of the Union address, wiping out all of the country’s top officials suddenly leaving Kirkman to take over as president. “I had heard this weird piece of trivia about a ‘designated survivor’—it’s a real thing in our government—and found it oddly fascinating,” says creator David Guggenheim. “How does someone go from a low-level Cabinet job to the most powerful person in the world in an instant?”
Plenty of wheels are being set in motion as the series unfolds, and for Sutherland, that’s the main draw. “The show works on three levels: There’s the thriller aspect with the conspiracy investigation; there’s the family drama; and there’s the political angle,” he says. “All of those storylines can intersect and also live on their own. We have a lot of landscape to work with.”
Also in this issue:
• Fall Preview: Scoop on the best new shows, including The Good Place, starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson; Michael Weatherly’s Bull, reboots of MacGyver, The Exorcist and Lethal Weapon, plus new shows for Michelle Dockery, Matt LeBlanc, Kevin James, Sarah Jessica Parker and more.
• Harry Connick Jr.: The charming crooner launches a new daytime show, which he calls “a late-night show party in the afternoon.”
• Mariska Hargitay: The Law & Order: SVU star writes about her real-life commitment to battling sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse.
• TV Guide Magazine Advocacy Awards: A preview of our second annual partnership with the Creative Coalition to honor creators and stars who give back.
• Plus: Dancing With the Stars, The Bold and the Beautiful and the best of movies, streaming, sports and more.
