Starbuck is coming to CTU! EW.com’s Michael Ausiello broke the news that Battlestar Galactica‘s Katee Sackhoff is joining 24 for season eight, where she’ll play a new member of the revamped CTU. And Fox just issued an official press release about season eight, with casting news and a few details on storyline. Put it all together, and here’s a round-up of 10 things we know about next season, which premieres on Jan. 17, 2010, so far …

1 – Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) lives! How do we know Jack survives that deadly bioweapon from season seven? Because, duh, he’s Jack Bauer. And because the Fox press release confirms Kiefer’s return. And because The Insider has these photos of Kiefer filming.

2 – Grandpa Bauer? Take a look at those Insider pics again. Kiefer’s carrying a little girl – an adorable little girl, who looks a lot like Jack and his daughter Kim, who we know has a kid. Add it all up, and methinks you can go ahead and buy that “World’s Greatest Grampy” mug for Mr. Bauer.

3 – Kim’s (Elisha Cuthbert) back, as are Agent Renee Walker (Annie Wersching), President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones), Paul Wesley as Kim’s hubby Stephen and geek goddess Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub, who’s been posting on Twitter about the new season).

4 – Freddie Prinze Jr. has been tapped to play Davis Cole, the new head of field ops for CTU and a character described as a wannabe Jack Bauer.

5 – Oh yeah, CTU lives! A new “upgraded” CTU, according to Fox, will be run by Brian Hastings (Forrest Gump star Mykelti Williamson), an “MBA-schooled and razor-sharp head honcho.”
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There’s that phrase again: “game-changing.” It’s the way almost every producer has described his or her finales this TV season, and it sounds like Monday’s seventh season finale of 24 (8PM ET, Fox) will be no different.

From star Kiefer Sutherland: “You see a real, monumental shift in (Jack Bauer)” in the season finale. Considering that Jack , who, as of this week’s penultimate episode, is dying, has been betrayed by best pal Tony (Carlos Bernard) and now has to betray new pal and co-worker Renee, a.k.a. Girl Jack (Annie Wersching) to save his daughter Kim (Elisha Cuthbert), it’s not tough to see how this could end up being Jack’s most emotional finale since he sat in his car crying after being blackmailed into killing his co-worker Ryan Chappelle (Paul Schulze) and having to chop his partner’s hand off in season three.

Kiefer, who was on the red carpet in Los Angeles Tuesday night for a screening of the finale, also gave this hint about season eight, which begins filming at the end of May and will be set in New York City (yay!): “I think, maybe, five scripts (have been finished), so I can’t tell you too much. But where it’s starting right now is probably the most believable scenario that I feel we’ve ever done before.”

And about those recent legal woes, a.k.a. Headbuttgate, Sutherland was mum, but real-life pal and co-star Bernard told reporters, “Kiefer is one of my best friends, and he’s a great guy. I’ve been around the world with him in bars and social situations, and I’ve never seen anything close to this happening. He always bends over backwards to be courteous with people and to be generous with his time.”

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• Tags: 24, Annie Wersching, Carlos Bernard, Elisha Cuthbert, Jack Bauer, Kiefer Sutherland, Paul Schulze, Ryan Chappelle, Tony Almeida