JAMES CROMWELL AND EDDIE IZZARD CLOCK-IN ON "24"

Oscar- and Emmy-nominated actor James Cromwell ("Babe," "Six Feet Under") and Emmy Award-winning actor Eddie Izzard ("Dress to Kill," "My Super Ex-Girlfriend") join the season six cast of 24, this year's most Emmy Award-winning television series, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Kiefer Sutherland) and Outstanding Drama Series. The clock for "Day Six" will begin to tick in January, Mondays (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

The highly respected Cromwell will recur this season as PHILLIP BAUER, the estranged father of JACK BAUER (Sutherland), while British actor/comedian Izzard will portray a villainous accomplice, DARREN McCARTHY. In addition to Cromwell and Izzard, newcomers joining the pulse-pounding thriller include Kal Penn ("Harold & Kumar"), Marisol Nichols ("In Justice"), Alexander Siddig ("Syriana") and Harry Lennix ("Commander in Chief"). Eric Balfour and Carlo Rota will reprise their respective roles as CTU contractors MILO PRESSMAN and MORRIS O'BRIAN.

Season five concluded with a battered and bloodied Bauer captured by Chinese government agents and headed for points unknown. Season six picks up 20 months later. WAYNE PALMER (DB Woodside), the strong-minded brother of the late President David Palmer, is now himself the President of the United States, while his sister, SANDRA PALMER (Regina King), is a determined and powerful advocacy lawyer. After a series of horrific terrorist attacks, Palmer and his team of advisors, KAREN HAYES (Jayne Atkinson) and THOMAS LENNOX (Peter MacNicol) � as well as CTU colleagues CHLOE O'BRIAN (Mary Lynn Rajskub), CURTIS MANNING (Roger Cross) and BILL BUCHANAN (James Morrison) � begin an unthinkable, nail-biting day.

24, created by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, is a production of Real Time Productions and Imagine Television in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran, Howard Gordon, Evan Katz, Jon Cassar, Kiefer Sutherland and Brian Grazer are the executive producers.