September 4, 2007
Annie Wersching, who can currently be seen as Amelia Joffe on General Hospital, will join the cast of FOX's 24 for its seventh season. Wersching will apparently play the lead female role, an FBI Agent and antagonist to Jack Bauer. Wersching's previous credits include Supernatural, Boston Legal, Company Men, and Star Trek: Enterprise. In more 24 casting news, it looks like Bob Gunton is in final negotiations to reprise his role of Ethan Kanin. The character was Wayne Palmer's Secretary of Defense last season and will act as Secretary of State for new President Cherry Jones.
Most of the new cast members who have signed for 24's seventh go around will be playing FBI Agents, which leads me to believe a couple of things. First off, my earlier hypothesis that much of the upcoming season will involve a manhunt for Jack Bauer, led by the FBI, appears to be true. Also, I'd be willing to bet that with the disintegration of CTU, there will likely be an FBI headquarters where a significant amount of action will take place. While this is a bit of a cop-out by the 24 producers, considering that with the demolition of CTU fans believed that we would see the end of time-wasting office politics, it may end up as a pretty cool idea. We'll get to see the inner workings of an office solely dedicated to tracking down Jack who, as we know, is the baddest of bad asses. Could be good times.
Wersching isn't the typical 24 cast hire. They normally go for established actors who are known for character work, not soap stars. I'm not demeaning Annie Wersching, who very well might be on her way to stardom. If she truly will be portraying the female lead next season, that's going to be a lot of weight on her shoulders. I hope she can carry it.
