Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Four years after disappearing, Jack Bauer resurfaces in London to stop an attack on President James Heller. CIA agent Kate Morgan discovers Jack is trying to reach Chloe O’Brian, now part of hacker collective Open Cell. Former member Derrick Yates has developed a device that controls military drones. Margot Al-Harazi takes it to avenge her husband and threatens London unless Heller surrenders. A hijacked drone strikes allied troops, and its pilot Chris Tanner is blamed; Jack works to prove he was framed. Heller’s memory problems add strain to the crisis.
Jack and Kate pursue Margot’s daughter Simone, whose husband Navid tries to sabotage the attacks. Margot kills Navid and sends Simone after his family; Simone is injured but helps locate her mother. Heller agrees to surrender, but Chloe loops the stadium video so Margot believes he remains at Wembley. Margot and her son Ian attack the stadium, then target Waterloo with the last drone. Jack and a CIA team kill them. Meanwhile, analyst Jordan Reed finds evidence Kate’s husband was framed. Station chief Steve Navarro orders Jordan’s assassination to hide his sale of intelligence to China, and Jordan is killed.
Navarro steals the drone override and gives it to Adrian Cross, whose dealings with China bring Cheng Zhi into the conflict. Cheng kills Open Cell members, takes Chloe and uses the device to make an American submarine fire on a Chinese carrier. Russian official Anatol Stolnavich exploits Mark Boudreau’s forged extradition order to ambush Jack, but Jack and Kate continue after Cheng. Kate reports that Audrey has been killed. Jack then captures Cheng, provides proof of his identity to avert war, and executes him. After a twelve-hour jump, Jack surrenders to the Russians in exchange for Chloe’s release.