Just when the excitement should be building for the S7 Prequel TV Movie, some comments from actor Robert Carlyle have cast doubt on just how special an event it will be …

Is the movie sticking to the TV show’s real-time format?
It is. This two hours is two hours in real time and there’ll then be 22 episodes. I don’t know how they connect it to the first of those 22 episodes but it’s literally the third hour…

So it will lead straight into the new series?
Yeah.

Okay, so some odd wording in those quotes, so lets see if I can pick out the key points without assuming too much. Firstly, the prequel isn’t as we once thought two extra episodes of the season, it’s actually two episodes from the series proper. The prequel, will still be in real time, which i’d always assumed but there was some thought they might drop it for the prequel.

Possibly the most confusing and the most unclear part is Carlyle’s answer to the second question, his positive response would seem to indicate that there will be no time jump between the prequel and the series proper, atleast thats what many would assume. However his earlier comment saying “I don’t know how they (will) connect it to the first of those 22” suggests he’s not sure about that last part, and logically a time jump is the only way to get Jack back from Africa to start Day 7 in Washington.

Hope thats clear.

source : news.premiere.com

Update: As ever, it seems the internet news media are rushing to publish ’24’ stories before everything is known about the story. And today after the above story broke, TV Guide where apparently the only ones to do some double checking.

I caught wind of that Q&A via TVTattle.com and Carlyle’s take didn’t seem kosher, so I checked with Fox and confirmed that Day 7 indeed will be the usual 24 episodes/hours, wholly supplementary to the TV-movie …

The prequel itself picks up four years after the events of Day 6 — effectively planting Jack Bauer in the year 2017, if you have been keeping tabs — and then another few on-screen months will pass between the movie’s sure-to-be-thrilling climax and Jack’s appearance before Congress.

So ignore everything Carlyle said, except probably that the prequel will be in real time, I don’t think anyone has debunked that yet.

source : community.tvguide.com