Kiefer Sutherland coming back for 8th season of ’24′

Kiefer Sutherland will be back as Jack Bauer for an eighth season of the hit counterterrorism drama “24,” the actor said Tuesday.

While doing the interview circuit in Hong Kong to promote the new 3-D animated movie “Monsters vs. Aliens,” in which he voices the character of General W.R. Monger, the 42-year-old said “24,” currently in its seventh season, will start shooting its eighth in May.

Sutherland, who  portrays iconic counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer, tells the AP he’s committed to the show that’s revived his career, but that the show’s future also hinges on its writers’ ability to shape its story.

“The real pressure is placed on the writers. It’s a real question about how much they feel they can give and what they can do,” he said.

Sutherland said working as a voice actor on “Monsters vs. Aliens” was a “fantastic counterbalance” to playing Bauer.

“The relief was unbelievable. For five days a week, 14 hours a day, I’m doing Jack Bauer on ’24′ and then for five hours on the weekend, I got to kind of proverbially let my hair down and play this character and talk like that and be a kid. I felt like a 5-year-old,” said Sutherland, simulating the deep, raspy voice of his character.

“Monsters vs. Aliens,” which is about a jailed group of monsters who are freed to help battle an alien robot, opens in U.S. theaters Friday.