The eighth season of the American drama television series 24, also known as Day 8, premiered in the United States on Fox on January 17, 2010. The eighth season was announced as the final season of 24 and its series finale aired on May 24, 2010. However, the series returned with a ninth season as 24: Live Another Day, which aired in 2014. The season's storyline begins and ends at 4:00 p.m.
Season overview
Set 18 months after season 7, the story arc involves Jack Bauer contending with assassination threats made during a peace conference between President of the United States Allison Taylor and President Omar Hassan of the fictional Islamic Republic of Kamistan (IRK). The season is set in New York City, with CTU's New York City Office having been re-activated, but while there were originally no plans for filming in New York due to budget constraints, some scenes were shot on-location.
The three main acts of season eight are: CTU pursues Hassan's brother who is working with the Russian mafia to have nuclear rods transported to his home country. Multiple government agencies pursue Kamistani terrorists who kill Farhad Hassan and attempt to strike at America directly. Jack wages a one-man war against the members of the Russian government who are responsible for the conspiracy after Allison Taylor refuses to do anything that could jeopardize the treaty.
Major subplots
Jack worries that Renee Walker has become a danger to herself and others. A relatively inexperienced CTU team is limited in its ability to help Jack. Dana Walsh fears that she will lose her job when a stalker threatens to reveal that she has a criminal record. A mole at CTU helps the terrorists evade authorities. Extremists in the Taylor administration believe that the safest option is to give in to the terrorist demands. Charles Logan makes a return and wishes to exact revenge on Jack Bauer. Chloe O'Brian attempts to rein Jack in before his rampage either gets him killed or cause an international crisis.
Summary
The signing of an important treaty between the US and the IRK (Islamic Republic of Kamistan) is about to take place at the UN. Kamistani terrorists, resentful of America and disappointed at Hassan's willingness to concede their attempts at developing nuclear weapons, choose this day to attempt to assassinate the Kamistani president, Omar Hassan. The assassination attempt is initially led by Hassan's brother Farhad.
CTU learns from the rescue of Hassan that terrorists have a plan to acquire nuclear rods from the Russian mob. With the help of Renee Walker, who is struggling to keep her life together, Jack goes undercover and forces the cooperation of Sergei Bazhaev's mob family. The nuclear rods are given to Samir Mehran, when Bazhaev's older son Josef betrays him for killing his younger brother Oleg who was exposed to the rods and was suffering from radiation poisoning who plans to make a dirty bomb on American soil. Hassan's head of security, Tarin Faroush is revealed to be a part of Mehran's group and they present an ultimatum to Taylor's government — she must hand over Hassan for execution or the bomb will be detonated.
When Taylor orders that Hassan still be protected at all costs, a US black-ops team attempts to kidnap him. Jack Bauer and the rest of Hassan's protective detail kill all but one member of the team but upon learning of the ultimatum, Hassan turns himself into Mehran. With the nuclear crisis averted, CTU agents attempt to save Hassan and close in on Mehran. However, they arrive to see that Hassan has already been assassinated. Taylor is able to resurrect the treaty by convincing Hassan's wife Dalia to assume her husband's position as interim President and to sign the treaty on her country's behalf.