His fate was never confirmed, so did President Wayne Palmer survive 24 season 6? 24 debuted in 2001 and sold itself on its real-time format, with each episode representing an hour in one day. The show was a comeback vehicle for Kiefer Sutherland, who played CTU agent Jack Bauer. Each season saw Jack tasked with taking down various terrorist threats, which often takes a toll on his personal life. The show was one of the most intense thrillers of its era and featured a line-up of great supporting players, including President David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) and Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub).
The first season of 24 was relatively grounded, but later series became more and more outlandish, with Jack surviving inhuman amounts of punishment. 24 called it a day with season 8, which was supposed to lead to a movie. After some false starts - including a proposed Die Hard crossover with Bruce Willis’ John McClane called Die Hard/24 - Sutherland returned one last time for miniseries 24: Live Another Day. It seems the actor may be done with Jack Bauer now, and an attempt to relaunch the series with a new hero in 24: Legacy only lasted one season.
Given the real-time nature of the 24, it often burned through story and characters. This led to some prosperous subplots, with Kim Bauer (Elisha Cuthbert) being menaced by a cougar during season 2 often cited as a low point, and some character fates were left unresolved. One of the most glaring examples of this came with 24 season 6, which saw the late David Palmer’s brother Wayne - played by D.B. Woodside - as the new President, which opened up some interesting storytelling avenues.
Sadly, the writing of 24 season 6 let it down, with the show recycling plotlines it had used in the past to lesser effect. Wayne himself faltered in comparison to David, and during the season he’s caught up in an explosion when a corrupt member of his staff attempts to assassinate him. This leaves him in a coma, but he awakens hours later and against doctor’s advice, continues to carry out his duties. He eventually suffers a brain hemorrhage during a press conference, at which point Vice President Daniels (Powers Boothe, Tombstone) takes over.
Wayne ended 24 season 6 in a coma, and his status within the show is never addressed again. That said, TV movie 24: Redemption - which acts as a prequel to season 7 - contains a prop newspaper which states Palmer died following the events of season 6, and Daniels served out the rest of the term. The canonicity of this is questionable since this information is never actually shown onscreen.
On the flipside, the fate of season 4 President John Keeler - who was also caught in an assassination attempt - was never confirmed either. This is apparently due to a Fox mandate forbidding the series from killing a serving President, which likely applied to Wayne’s fate too. D.B. Woodside has since stated his disappointment with how Wayne’s story played out in 24 season 6, but while the newspaper may have “confirmed” his fate, unless it was directly stated in dialogue his fate is still ambiguous.
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