The teaser trailer for the new, and possibly final, season of FOX's 24 has surfaced online, and it kicks off with a clear period of time having passed since last season (remember, when Jack Bauer was dying?) and Jack wanting nothing more than to spend time with both his daughter and granddaughter. You can check out the teaser using the player below.

Funny how Jack never gets the quiet life he allegedly wants, isn't it? Before you know it, he's contacted by someone urgently pleading for his help (yep, yep) to stop an assassination plot at the UN which is going to take place that same day (of course, this is 24, after all).

It was an assassination plot that launched the series' inaugural season, and it seems the producers are going back to basics and coming full circle again this year.

While season seven was definitely an improvement on the previous two years, 24 is a victim of its own device: the adrenalin-fueled, ticking clock, terrorist plot line can only be played out a couple of times (three at most) before it turns into hackneyed self-parody. The show is running on vapors here, and even with this season's stellar cast additions — including Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire) as President Omar Hassan, Mykelti Williamson (CSI: NY) as CTU Director Brian Hastings and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) as Dana Walsh — along with a back-to-basics formula, like Jack Bauer one has to ask: Has this series run out of time?

24 returns to television January 17 on FOX.