Characters / 24 - Saunders

BEWARE OF SPOILERS. Due to the nature of the show, with its many Walking Spoiler characters, twists, and turns, the only spoilers whited out are those for the current season "24: Live Another Day". Proceed with caution!

Saunders Family

Stephen Saunders

Stephen Saunders

"I was abandoned by the people I worked for...as you will be someday."

Played By: Paul Blackthorne

"I like to do things in phases. You should know that by now."

A former British agent who took part in a mission with Jack Bauer to assassinate Victor Drazen and was presumed to have been killed-in-action. During the events of Day 3, he is revealed to be alive and hell-bent on unleashing a deadly virus throughout the United States.

• Alliterative Name: Stephen Saunders.
• Bad Boss: He executes his underling Osterlind just for trying to leave when the tide turned against them.
• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Justified. He blames America for his torture, feeling that they abandoned him; and his torture led to his disillusionment.
• Big Bad: Of Day 3.

• Deadpan Snarker: He's wonderfully sarcastic and witty.
  Palmer: I don't negotiate with terrorists.
  Saunders: That's right. You don't. Well, I don't negotiate with heads of state, so just do as you're told.
• Disc-One Final Boss: He's notably the only Big Bad of a 24 season to be taken down before the finale. The final antagonist Jack confronts is one of his couriers for the Cordilla virus, while Saunders remains in captivity for the remainder of the season. Doesn't stop him from still getting killed in the season finale though.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: A villainous example. For someone with a pretty complex backstory and motives he ends up being killed off very unceremoniously, getting abruptly shot dead early in the season finale by a character who had only appeared in a single scene prior to that.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He has a daughter, who is used as leverage against him. It is his only redeemable quality. When Jack threatens her, Stephen relents, and gives up on his plans, proving that, despite everything, he still has some humanity left.
• Evil Brit: Saunders was a legendary British agent, and now he's a terrorist willing to kill millions. He's essentially the answer to the question, "What if James Bond went absolutely insane?"
• Evil Counterpart: Saunders is a former MI6 agent who served with Jack in Operation Nightfall, the mission to assassinate Victor Drazen, which occurred before Season 1. After the mission, Saunders was assumed dead when he had actually been captured and tortured by the Bosnian secret police, before returning to America looking for revenge on the US and Jack for leaving him behind. Like Jack, Saunders is a ruthless agent and brilliant tactician, his motive is almost exactly what David Palmer incorrectly assumed Jack's motive was when he believed Jack was trying to assassinate him in Season 1, and, like Jack, Saunders has a daughter, Jane, for whom he would do anything, and who Jack ultimately threatens to force Saunders to give up his terrorist plot much like terrorists have often threatened Kim to force Jack to help them.
• Fallen Hero: Once a celebrated British Army soldier and MI6 agent, now a genocidal terrorist.
• Freudian Excuse: He was left behind enemy lines by Jack and his fellow troops and tortured, causing him to become resentful towards the US and Jack.
• I Have Your Wife: He pulls this on Tony, capturing Michelle to force Tony to help him escape CTU.
• Karmic Death: The wife of one of his victims (Gael Ortega) shoots him.
• Kick the Dog: His demand for Chappelle's execution comes across as this. Tragic as it is, Chappelle's death didn't come close to stopping CTU's investigation and there was really no other reason for Saunders to demand it then to continue to prove he had power over the President of the United States, something that was already proven.
• Knight of Cerebus: All the plot threads become connected to him once he showed up. He even got Palmer involved again. Not to mention, the episodes following the release of the virus in the hotel were some of the darkest in the shows run

• The Man Behind the Man: To Michael Amador.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: While he may claim noble goals, it is clear he is out for revenge against the US.
• Papa Wolf: Saunders loves his daughter and is willing to completely throw away all his plans to save her life.
• Stupid Evil: His demand that Ryan Chappelle be executed is what clues CTU into the fact that Chappelle's otherwise innocuous investigation was actually something very important. It eventually leads them to Saunders' daughter and then Saunders himself. If he'd left well enough alone, he might have been able to elude CTU for longer.
• Villain Has a Point: Take a look at the quote under his picture. That's exactly what happens to Jack following the events of Day 4. Even after the U.S. government learned Jack had been captured by the Chinese nobody, not even powerful people like James Heller, bothered trying to rescue him until they needed him for a specific purpose. Said purpose being to be offered up as a sacrifice to another terrorist.
  • He also has a point saying the US should stop meddling around the world.

Jane Saunders

Jane Saunders

Played By: Alexandra Lydon

The daughter of former MI6 agent-turned-terrorist Stephen Saunders.

• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Jane was the one thing that Stephen was unwilling to lose to complete his plan, and he submits to Jack's demands when the latter threatens to infect Jane with the toxic gas that Stephen had infected the hotel with.
• Morality Pet: Tries to invoke this with her father. It doesn't take, but he stops his plans when Jane's life is endangered.

Associates & Allies

Michael Amador

Michael Amador

Played By: Greg Ellis

The seller of the Cordilla virus during Day 3, which he acquired from rogue Ukrainian scientists. He had arranged to sell the virus directly to Stephen Saunders, but took an unauthorized sojourn into Mexico, where he staged an auction between Ramon Salazar and a different bidder represented by Nina Myers.

• Arms Dealer: In particular, he's selling the Cordilla virus.
• Asshole Victim: Saunders has him blown up, but it's hard to mourn such a greedy asshole.
• Character Death: Amador's 'payment' was actually a bomb planted by Stephen Saunders. He dies in the explosion.

• Greed: The entire reason he went down to Mexico was so he could pretend to sell the virus to the Salazars. He was already being paid outrageous amounts of money by Stephen Saunders, but he wanted even more and risked the entire operation to line his own pockets.
• Only in It for the Money: Which bites him in the ass.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Always seen in a sharp suit.
• Smug Snake: Amador is extremely confident for a glorified salesman.
• Spanner in the Works: For Saunders; Amador's trip down to Mexico was certainly not on the agenda.
• Unwitting Pawn: Of Stephen Saunders.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Stephen Saunders sends him a suitcase supposedly filled with money and papers to get out of the country, but it actually had a bomb.

Marcus Alvers

Marcus Alvers

Played By: Lothaire Bluteau

A biological weapons expert and the first of twelve virus couriers deployed by Stephen Saunders during Day 3. Unlike the rest of Saunders' couriers—who were allegedly "true believers" in the cause for dismantling America's foreign intelligence apparatus—Alvers worked solely for profit.

• Hoist by His Own Petard: He winds up infected by the very virus he was going to expose on a civilian populace.
• Mercy Kill: Begs for one from Michelle, but it's unclear if she did it or not.
• Only in It for the Money: Alvers is solely motivated by profit, unlike the other couriers.
• Uncertain Doom: While he's certainly dead after being infected by the Cordilla Virus, it's unclear whether Michelle gave him the Mercy Kill she promised or let him die agonizingly from the virus itself.

Osterlind

Osterlind

Played By: Joe D'Angerio

The right-hand man and coordinator for the terrorist Stephen Saunders during Day 3.

• The Dragon: For Saunders.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Attempted but failed.
• You Have Failed Me: Killed by Saunders when he tries to leave.

Arthur Rabens

Arthur Rabens

Played By: Salvator Xuereb

One of Stephen Saunders' subordinates serving as a courier for the Cordilla virus.

• Dragon Their Feet: Due to seeking out a place to unleash the virus, he's not with Saunders and his team when they're successfully brought down a few hours before the finale, with the rest of the season spent on bringing him and the other couriers down.
• Final Boss: Despite Saunders being the Big Bad he's actually the final villain Jack confronts in the third season.