Carlos Bernard Interview for '24'

Carlos Bernard Q&A

Whose death on '24' have we been most broken up over? Teri Bauer's? Edgar Stiles'? Sure, those were heartbreaking, but we've most missed Jack Bauer's CTU pal Tony Almeida, who was murdered by a baddie in season 5. Or so we thought.

In a fan-pleasing twist, Tony's alive and kicking in season 7, even if he's now aligned with domestic terrorists. Carlos Bernard, the actor who plays Almeida, talked to AOL TV about his character's return from the dead, why Tony's turned to the dark side and why he may be trading in 24-hour-long days with Jack Bauer to work with the Mexican mafia. -- By Kimberly Potts

Fox

1. It's been confirmed that Tony is alive and will be a part of season 7. Is it a relief to finally be able to talk about it?

You know, after seven years, I'm pretty used to it with this show. There's never really too much you can talk about.

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2. During season 5, when it appeared Tony had been killed, did you know then that the producers were toying with the idea that he would be brought back eventually?

Well, I knew they left a little wiggle room on purpose. That much I knew, but at the same time, I had moved on, just because that's what I do. I've done this show from the very beginning, and each year I sort of decide to move on and if it works out for the next year, if it's a cool story, that's great. But, especially in that circumstance, I had already moved on, and I've gotten into producing a couple of projects that I had written, and I was obsessed with that.

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3. You knew it was a possibility, but didn't think it would actually happen?

Yeah, I just didn't think that they were going to bring the character back. I knew they could, I knew they left it open for a reason, but no, I didn't think they would. And actually what happened is that they called during season 6, towards the end of the season, pitched an idea to bring the character back, and I think after we talked about it none of us was crazy about that particular idea. But that sort of got the ball rolling for season 7.

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4. Any truth to the rumor that a scene had been filmed for the season 6 finale in which Tony revealed to Jack that he was still alive?

No, we never shot anything. We talked about it a lot. Even while they were writing it, it just didn't seem right. It felt a little manipulative to bring him back that way, and I don't think any of us wanted to do that.

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5. The producers of '24' welcome input from the actors about their characters, no? Are you happy with the storyline they came up with for Tony's resurrection?

I'm really happy with it. It's turned out great. There's a cigar room upstairs where the writers hang out, and people who've been around for a while hang out there. I'll go up there and smoke a cigar every once in a while, and really, throughout filming this season, we've had a lot of hashing over story ideas in the cigar room. I'm really happy with the way it's gone down, and this season has gone even better than I'd hoped as far as where the story went for the character. I think it's going to be a cool year for the fans to watch.

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6. We know from the season 7 trailer that, at least initially, Tony is up to some pretty bad stuff. Were you hesitant about taking this fan favorite and making him a bad guy? Or was it fun to make that change?

It was really fun. I've always said that one of the great things about working on this show as opposed to other TV shows is that the characters keep evolving; it keeps changing across the years as they go through all these traumatic events that shape them for the next season. And one of the great things about coming back and playing Tony as a villain, or, let's say, that he's sort of gone over to the dark side, is that it takes into account everything that's happened in his life in the prior seasons. So it felt, in a strange way, very organic to take the character where he's at right now.

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Jeffrey Mayer, WireImage

7. It does make sense ... Tony's always been as brave and willing to sacrifice himself as Jack is, but Tony tends to let his emotions rule his decisions. Does that factor into where the character is now?

That's exactly right, and I think that's a huge difference between Jack and Tony. Tony lets his emotions get in the way, and because of that, he's not as good, I think, he was never as good at his job as Jack was. He let the emotions get in the way, and it's cost him.

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8. There have been some crazy rumors about the way Tony's non-death is explained, but there's no evil twin of Tony, no Tony stepping out of the shower after a dream season or anything like that?

[Laughing] No, no, there's no evil twin, it's not a dream, there's no 'Dallas' plot. I mean, look, ['24'] is one of those shows that if you suspend disbelief a bit, then you can really go for the ride and enjoy it. From the first season, we stretched a bit, but at the same time, we work out the logic. We pay a lot of attention to making sure we work out the logic and that everything tracks. And, through the years, both Jack and Tony have dodged death a couple of times, so that's part of the show.

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9. Can you reveal whether or not you're a part of the show for the whole season?

Ah ... no, I shouldn't tell. But, I'll say I'm pretty deep into it.

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