Just when you thought it was safe to believe in your president…he returns to the spotlight.

No, I’m not talking about French politics, I’m talking about the dastardly U.S. president, Charles Logan, from Fox’s real-time action hit 24.

Gregory Itzin played the nefarious head of state in 24 and was nominated for an Emmy award for his initial performance. He recently signed on for a multi-episode arc on the upcoming eighth season. Logan was last seen during Season 6 when the former president was flatlining en route to a hospital after being stabbed by his emotionally unstable wife, Martha Logan (played brilliantly by Jean Smart). During the opening of Season 7, Agent Renee Walker (Annie Wersching) told Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) that Logan was alive and still serving under house arrest in Colorado. He was never seen nor heard from again.

Killing off Logan was never the plan for the show as the character possesses rich background and interest. Former executive producer Jon Cassar stated after Logan’s ambulance ride, “I did everything I could not to kill him. I wanted to give us the [option] to potentially bring him back.”

Logan will be enlisted by still-President Taylor (Emmy winning Cherry Jones) who “reluctantly enlists Logan to assist with an escalating international diplomatic crisis.” “The opportunity for these two remarkable actors to share the stage was simply too compelling to pass up,” said executive producer Howard Gordon.

The eighth season of 24 debuts with the typical two-night, four-hour premiere beginning on January 17th. The upcoming season will feature a now-retired Jack Bauer who is pulled back into action after learning that a Middle East peacekeeper (Anil Kapoor) may be assassinated.

Wersching, along with 24 alum Mary Lynn Rajskub, will be joining Sutherland this season. Joining the cast and who will probably be killed off pretty quickly are Katee Sackhoff, Mykelti Williamson and Freddie Prinze Jr.

Itzin was last seen in the feature film Law Abiding Citizen as the warden of the prison holding Gerard Butler’s deranged Clyde Shelton. Despite poor reviews, the film has amassed over $50 million and remains strong in the U.S. box office.