TVGuide's Michael Ausiello reported that the original plot required filming some episodes on location in Africa, however the network saw this as too costly. The writers initially opted to find places in Los Angeles to mimic Africa, however they thought it would be easier to rewrite the whole thing.



In a conversation with Ausiello, Mary Lynn Rajskub, who plays socially-awkward CTU analyst and newly expectant mother Chloe O'Brian, said that she had no idea on what was happening and that "they're going crazy. I'm excited because ? they're really having to dig in there and come up with new stuff." She added that it was only last week that she was notified that her character, being a fan favorite, was to appear in the next season. Every character's status, including Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer, remains a mystery for now.

The African setting was a new idea which came about when the producers thought of moving away from LA and the show's home base at CTU. The writers took on this idea as they also wanted to do a total makeover on the show after critics and fans largely panned its sixth season.

24's fifth season won the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series as Sutherland won in the Lead Actor category. Since then, the sixth season of the show garnered harsh criticism, with some calling it the worst season yet. Season seven is set to premiere in January 2008, thus the writers still have time to get things on the right track.

Rumors have it that season seven will take place in London or Washinton D.C., and in late June, reports came up about someone posting all the details of the first episode onto the Internet. Whether or not those pages were authentic would not matter, as serious overhauling will take place for the 24's seventh season.