“The Pitt ”star says he replaced 2 actors on “24” who were ‘intimidated’ by Kiefer Sutherland

Emlyn TravisThu, August 20, 2026 at 3:50 PM UTC

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Jeff Kober; Kiefer Sutherland on ‘24’Credit: Araya Doheny/Getty; ShutterstockKey Points -

Jeff Kober played Conrad Haas in a 2006 episode of 24.

He said he was the third person to take on the role, after two previous actors dropped out because they were “intimidated’ by series star Kiefer Sutherland.

“His character was so intense that apparently the other guys just weren’t able to hang with it,” he said.

Jeff Kober isn’t afraid of Kiefer Sutherland.

The Pitt star, 72, revealed in a recent AV Club interview that he was actually the third person to take on the role of Conrad Haas in a 2006 episode of Fox’s thriller 24 because the previous unnamed actors were all too “intimidated” to work with Sutherland.

“I got called in to go do this role — I’m going to assassinate the president — and there were these scenes that we were only shooting from one angle. And I was, like, ‘What’s going on?’” he recalled. “And they said, ‘Well, we already shot everything from behind your character and all the long shots of your character, but… those actors didn’t work out. [Laughs.] So we’re just gonna do your close-ups and your dialogue with you.’”

Jeff KoberCredit: Paul Archuleta/Getty

That wasn’t the only strange thing that began to unfold on set. Kober soon noticed that “people kept coming up to me” to ask if he was okay, too.

“What they were all worried about was that apparently they were afraid that I wouldn’t be able to hang in with Kiefer,” he said. “Because that’s what happened with these other actors, apparently: They were intimidated by him. And I’d learned how to just work with whoever you work with.”

As Kober tells it, the episode ends with his character offering Sutherland’s Jack Bauer information in exchange for him to be taken to a hospital to treat a gnarly gunshot wound. Naturally, Bauer takes the information and leaves Conrad to die.

“And when we finished that scene, I’m laying there just covered with blood and guts, and I’ve got to wait for them to get me out of the mess, and Kiefer is walking across the lot, back to this trailer…and then I see him go like this…,” Kober said, before acting startled.

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“And he jumps up, as if remembering something, and he turns and runs back and shakes my hand and says, ‘Thanks so much for coming in! Great job!’” he recalled.

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It was then that Kober, who’s currently nominated for an Emmy for his guest turn on The Pitt, understood that his predecessors had totally misunderstood Sutherland.

“It was just that he was in character the whole time,” he said, “and his character was so intense that apparently the other guys just weren’t able to hang with it.”

Kiefer Sutherland in ‘24’Credit: Kelsey McNeal/FOX

Sutherland starred as Bauer in all eight seasons of 24, which ran from 2001 until 2010. He later reprised his role for the limited series revival, titled 24: Live Another Day, which aired in 2014.

Last September, Sutherland teased a potential revival of the series, telling the Montreal Now With Aaron Randpodcast at the time that “[showrunner] Howard Gordon has come up with an idea that I like.”

He added, “Before, the material had not been written, so I would have to say, ‘I’m not the one that’s in the way.’ Something has been written. I think it’s really good. I think it’s really strong. And it’s in the process.”

on Entertainment Weekly

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