Allison Taylor - Concept and Creation

Concept and Creation

Cherry Jones was the first major casting addition to the seventh season. Jones was cast as Taylor when the program's producers contacted her agent; she had no prior experience of 24, as she said in an interview, "It was the last thing in the world saw coming".

"It’s time to go back to an idealized president—a well-articulated and idealized president," said Howard Gordon. " greatest flaw is her idealism. And I think that's a fun part to play. What happens when somebody's idealism butts up against the realpolitik of the world? But she's a very human character, and I think a very strong president and aspirational in the kind of way David Palmer was." "It is an heroic administration. Cherry Jones plays the president brilliantly," he continued.

Cherry Jones described her character as nothing like Hillary Clinton, and instead described her as a combination of Lyndon Johnson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Golda Meir, and John Wayne, however she would have similar opinions to Barack Obama. Jones said of her portrayal of Taylor as making her look exhausted, commenting that the job of President has a way of sucking the life out of people. She hopes that her portrayal of Taylor might convince the American public that a woman can be president, similar to the way that Dennis Haysbert's portrayal of David Palmer apparently helped Obama's election.

Jones has said that Taylor is "an honorable, courageous, upright kind of gal very much her own person. The president makes a very bold move, which then sets off the cataclysmic events" that the US has yet to experience.