TVSquad

During Friday's excellent Battlestar Galactica series finale, SciFi aired a preview for Stargate Universe, the new Stargate show starring Robert Carlyle and Lou Diamond Phillips.

SGU follows a group of scientists and civilians trapped on an Ancient ship, The Destiny, which forces them to travel throughout the far reaches of space. Along the way, the group struggles to survive and unlock the "secrets" of the ship's Stargate.

Robert Carlyle is a fine actor with an impressive resume (The Full Monty, 28 Weeks Later, 24: Redemption to name a few), but he'll always be the hard-drinking, C-word screaming, Ewan McGregor-slapping Begbie from Trainspotting to me. Which is why it comes as a surprise that he's been cast as the lead in the next Stargate series, Stargate Universe.

Carlyle will play Dr. David Rush, leader of a group of scientists and civilians trapped on a ship traveling through space. Word is that Dr. Rush, charged with finding a way to return his crew home, might not be the nice guy everyone thinks he is.

"They want me back in Washington, they can come and get me." - Jack

It's been a year and a half since we last saw Jack Bauer, staring out into the ocean and contemplating who knows what after saying good-bye to a comatose Audrey (Kim Raver). The time has gone by much faster for Jack though. In an attempt to find himself and figure out his true calling, Bauer has been wandering the world for three years. Wayne Palmer never re-gained the presidency following his memory lapse in season six and Noah Daniels (Powers Booth) finished out Palmer's first term only to lose a re-election bid to Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones). 24: Redemption (airs this Sunday, 11/23, on FOX at 8PM ET) finds Bauer in the fictional African country of Sangala on the day of Taylor's inauguration with everything to lose and nothing to gain.

There's been some scuttlebutt stirred up to suggest that next season's two-hour 24 prequel TV movie will be considered part of the 24 hours in Day 7, therefore leading some to think that there'll only be 22 episodes. But how could there only be 22 hours in a day, right? Well, TV being what it is, I'm sure they'd find a way to do two hours in one -- other shows do! -- but that won't be the case. There will be 24 hours, 24 episodes in the 2009 season of 24.

Part of the reason for all this confusion is an interview that actor Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty) gave to Premiere.com. Carlyle, who will be playing someone who'd been a mentor to Jack, said that the 24 TV movie, which is meant to cover what's happened since the end of Day 6 with the new Day 7, would apply to the Fox episode commitment. He told Premiere.com, "This is two hours in real time, and there'll then be 22 episodes."

TV Squad previously reported that production on the two-hour prequel to 24 season 7 was underway. Now, it's been learned that a few cast members have been added to that TV movie.

The movie has Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) battling terrorists in Africa while the new President of the United States Allison Taylor is sworn in. Already cast are Cherry Jones (as Allison Taylor), Robert Carlyle (as a mentor of Jack Bauer) and Carlos Bernard, who will be returning despite his apparent death in season five.

The new cast members are:

• Tony "Candyman" Todd (who also has a recurring role in NBC's Chuck) as cruel African dictator General Juma.
• Eric Lively (an alumni of the series The L Word and the brother of Gossip Girl star Blake Lively) as the president's son.
• Gil Bellows (best known for his role on Ally McBeal) as a State Department officer ordered to serve Bauer with a subpoena to appear before the Senate.

The project is scheduled to air on November 23rd on Fox.

If I didn't know better, I'd suspect that the constant rumours concerning the fate of actor David Tennant as the current incarnation of Doctor Who is nothing more than a ploy to keep news about the show constantly appearing in the UK newspaper headlines and sustain interest in the new series.

We now have another report, this time in The Guardian's Media Monkey column, which states that Tennant has indeed signed on for a third series, again, citing another "industry insider".