Say it ain’t so!
This was just posted in the “News” section of CarlosBernard.com, Carlos Bernard’s official website.
Carlos Answers the Question that Everyone’s Been Asking
I’m asked this question on a daily basis, so I might as well answer it. I’ll never say never when it comes to 24. It’s been such a special part of my life and an honor working with all of the incredibly talented people that have helped make the show the success that it’s been. That being said, I have not been contacted by the studio or producers of 24 about season 8. They’re already well into filming next season and I’m about to start work on a film in South Carolina. So, at this point, I highly doubt that I’d be able to be involved in the next season of 24 even if I wanted to be.
This is a fucking DISASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m pretty pissed, considering how much work I have put into the new site concept I’ve just launched. Seriously, I don’t really understand this at all. Surely this will prove to be a huge mistake, particularly if this is the last season of the show. I need to go and smoke and cry now.
Oh Almeida…
That hits me in my ample gut.
The irrational part of my brain still wants to believe that this is all part of some elaborate ploy to mindfuck us, so we will be truly and sincerely shocked when Tony does show up in Season 8.
You know how I feel about this, and I’ll leave it at that, because there are really no words. I was CONVINCED he’d be back, and this is just a punch to the gut. I’m clinging to the little things – better to find out now than later, there’s still a tiny chance for the last couple of episodes, maybe it’s a bad dream – but really, I’m just floored.
Time for some letters to go out, people. Let’s tell ‘em how we really feel.
Is it possible to raise enough of a ruckus that the show would change their minds and write Tony into the final 5 or 6 episodes?
I don’t doubt that we could raise hell – we made them bring the man back from the dead, for crying out loud – my concern is whether or not it would make a difference at this point in production. Presumably they have the rest of the season pretty fully mapped out and as we talked about, I’m not sure I’d like a totally gratuitous appearance if it’s a disservice to the character. It’s definitely worth a shot, though.
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Ok… annoying optimist tendencies kicking in…
Season 7 was a helluva run for the character if it’s the last we ever see of him. Tony was multi faceted, Carlos got to play him as both good and bad, and it’s hard to imagine a Season 8 appearance topping that. Plus his send-off in the finale works as a bleak con… a… it…
Ah, not even I can do it. Season 8 just got a bit less interesting.
A bit???
That’s an understatement.
I think the new cast is strong. Katee Sackhoff and Mykelti Williamson will no doubt be great.
The audience responded well to Taylor and Renee last season, and Chloe has certainly come to be an important anchor.
But will all that be enough to carry a 24 with no brotherhood? With no brooding “yeah”s and moody “alright”s? With no soul patch, aviator sunglasses or badass black leather? With no Krav-maga kung fu fighting? I think not!
Given everything we know so far about s8, I think it’s safe to suggest that it will definitely be solid. We have some potential for an intriguing plot with the diplomatic assassination angle and the new characters, and Logan has already been confirmed as returning.
But none of that could possibly beat watching Jack and Tony work through their issues in the midst of all hell breaking loose. Working Tony into the plot in a meaningful way would elevate things from solid to brilliant.
I don’t think we’ll have another s6 on our hands but at the same time, my level of anticipation has suddenly plummeted.
Bring on Shephard!
I’m just so angry!
I would like to yell at the producers and writers like Tony yelled at Jack at the end of season 7!
I’m so sad! This SUCKS!
Regarding Tony and S8, I have been mildly optimistic that we’ll see him, but never convinced we would. So even though Carlos’s statement does come with a surprise, I can’t say it’s a huge shocker. Disappointment, yes. But at the very least, if he’s not in it, they can’t kill him.
As Johanley said, S7 was a hell of a season for Almeida, and if it’s his last, it’s certainly worthy of being it. I’d rather have him absent from the season than have him be put in irrelevantly, and I, too, highly doubt they could top his S7 storyline and performance.
That being said, due to Tony’s absence, my interest in season 6 was mild at best and I had thought they knew by now that 24 just doesn’t work as well without The Brotherhood. I don’t know if S8 will prove to be another S6, probably not quite, since they have indeed managed to return to the quality of S1 in the last year (but then again, they DID have a whole extra year to do so). However, S8 certainly doesn’t sound as interesting to me as it would if I knew that Tony was coming back, cause there was everywhere to go with the character after S7’s open “conclusion”. I think I’m gonna be more than able to wait for the season to air here on TV (about a whole year after it airs in the US), which I know I wouldn’t have been able to do if Almeida was in it.
Still, I don’t want him back in s8 if they haven’t planned him in, cause if they did something unplanned, they’d yet again write themselves into a corner (ref. S5) and possibly fuck him up, but that doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed.
Now, here’s hoping that Carlos won’t disappear from TV / big screen for good now. And maybe, just maybe, they’re saving him for the 24 movie… Who knows.
Keep the faith.
There’s the rub, right there. “…if they haven’t planned him in.” No one wants a repeat of s5, but at the same time, clearly they hadn’t planned him in, and that’s what makes no sense to me. They had to know that the fans wouldn’t react well to such a play, and if they think that the show won’t suffer without Tony’s character, either they’re so confident in the quality of the writing and the story that they don’t think they need him to retain our loyalty, or else they’ve gotten arrogant after how well s7 was received and have forgotten the lesson of s6.
i think that might be it. that they think jack’s emotional anchor for s8 is kim and his family, and they don’t need tony to anchor him anymore. I know it makes no sense. they did leave us believing that tony was back to stay… apparently not.