Julian Sands, Peter Weller and JoBeth Williams Clock in for Season 5 of "24"  11/18/05

Four-Hour, Two-Night Premiere Event Sunday, January 15, and Monday, January 16, ON FOX

As 24’s highly-anticipated premiere approaches, the cast is growing, with Julian Sands (“A Room with a View”), Peter Weller (“Robo Cop”) and Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated actress JoBeth Williams (“Poltergeist” and “The Big Chill”) join the series for it’s fifth heart-stopping season. 24 premieres with a four-hour, two-night event Sunday, Jan. 15 and Monday, Jan. 16 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. Additionally, the second hour on Monday, Jan. 16 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) will mark the series’ 100th episode.

British born actor Julian Sands will play billionaire bad guy “Vladamir Bierko” while Peter Weller portrays “Christopher Henderson,” the federal agent who recruited Jack to counter terrorist work more than a decade ago. JoBeth Williams is Henderson’s wife, Miriam. All three characters will come face-to-face with Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) as he desperately attempts to prevent the series’ most lethal terror threat yet on US soil.

Season five picks up 18 months after the exciting conclusion of season four, as national security is brutally breached. A presumed dead Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is actually living a new life with Diane (Connie Britton) and her son Derek (Brady Corbet). A shaky President Logan (Gregory Itzin) is running the nation, while composed Bill Buchanan (James Morrison) commands CTU alongside key operatives Curtis Manning (Roger Cross), Edgar Stiles (Louis Lombardi) and Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub). Also featured in season five will be Emmy Award-winning actress Jean Smart as First Lady Martha Logan. In addition, Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) and Audrey Raines (Kim Raver) return, while Lynn McGill (Sean Astin) joins CTU.

24, created by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, is a production of Real Time Productions and Imagine Television in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Brian Grazer, Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran, Howard Gordon and Evan Katz are the executive producers. Kiefer Sutherland is a co-executive producer.

-FOX-