Howard Gordon has been a busy guy in the TV world for many years now, going back to his days on The X-Files, followed by his time on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and more. But his longest-running job was with 24, a show he was with from the very beginning, eventually rising to showrunner. Since then, Gordon has become incredibly prolific and seemingly has a new show announced every few months. He’s an executive producer on Showtime's Homeland, and this year will see the launches of two new series he’s executive producing - FX’s Tyrant and TNT’s Legends.

But of course, in the middle of all that, Gordon is guiding the return of Jack Bauer. Joined by other key members of the old 24 team, including writer/producers like Manny Coto, Evan Katz and David Fury, Gordon is back for 24: Live Another Day, a 12-episode limited series debuting in May on FOX. Last month, shortly before production was to begin on Live Another Day, I spoke to Gordon about what drew him back for 24: Live Another Day and what to expect for Jack Bauer this time. We also touched upon Legends, which stars Sean Bean as a deep cover FBI agent who discovers his own identity and memories may have been tampered with.

IGN TV: Obviously, at this point, you have so much on your plate. What was it about this show that made you say, "I need to make time for this. I want to go back to this" and return for 24: Live Another Day?

Howard Gordon: Honestly, it was almost like a bad joke -- or a good joke. I had dinner with [Fox Networks Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer] Peter Rice, who mentioned very off-hand, "Are you doing the [24] movie?" He's the boss, so he would know! I said, "You know, probably not…” It didn’t look like it was going to happen. He said, "Would you ever think of doing it as a limited series?" I said, "That's a really interesting idea. I'm coincidentally having dinner with Kiefer on Wednesday" -- it was, like, a Saturday night. I go, "I'll talk about it with Kiefer." Over dinner, we both said, "Nah, nah." Then both of us, the next day, called each other. We just riffed like, "If we both did it, it would be this. What if it's that?" Then I went to [20th Century Fox Television CEOs] Dana Walden and Gary Newman, and Dana and Gary said, "Let's go over to [FOX Chairman of Entertainment] Kevin Reilly.” I just mulled on the idea for a little bit. Literally, she called Kevin, and Kevin said, "Come over!" And they said yes! But I said, "I'll only do it if Evan and Manny [are involved] -- and I can assemble the team." We're friends, so I knew their deals were coming up.

24: Live Another Day's Mary Lynn Rajskub, Kiefer Sutherland and Howard Gordon.

It was one of those things where, coming back to your question, everyone missed Jack and this show so much, even though four years ago, I would have bet the house that there was no way this moment would ever come. I was so happy, and we were all happy that we got out with our integrity. We were all very, very proud of the show. We had our bumps, we had our good seasons and our less good seasons, but by and large I think it was a very successful run creatively and one that ended fulfilling the promise that the show had in the beginning. We know we're tempting fate at some level, but f**k it!

Kiefer Sutherland Talks 24: Live Another Day

IGN: In the midst of all this, when was it that the story inspiration hit you?

Gordon: Well, there were a couple of ideas running around. It's always about finding Jack Bauer's emotional center. Look, the guy has a lot of scorched earth behind him as a character. It becomes increasingly hard to write for a character whose connection to the world and to other people is as spartan as his is. The people he's loved, his family, his wives and lovers are either dead or really messed up. But we sort of embraced the mythic aspect of Jack's character. The idea of him being a fugitive and also being somewhere else and wanting to come home felt like an emotional framework that we could work inside.

Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer in 24.

IGN: How did you decide upon London? Were there any other ideas you talked about?

Gordon: Yeah, we talked about Prague. But then it was like, duh, England. They speak English!

IGN: [Laughs] Right, right. That would help! When it comes to the Jack and Chloe dynamic, the final scene of the show was very tragic, but also touching and Jack was open with her in a way he usually isn't. But it sounds like when we meet them again, it's going to be very much the opposite of when we last saw them.

Gordon: It's the first time between seasons that four years have elapsed. That's a long time. Even between seasons [with the time jumps] -- if you did the math, it's probably 2027 or something like that! [Laughs] But all the characters have to progress along their own continuum, and Chloe's had the kind of tragic upshot. Current events kind of gave us inspiration there too. We liked the idea of Chloe being a cross between Lisbeth Salander and Edward Snowden. That idea really got us psyched.