Renee Walker is a fictional character in the TV series 24, portrayed by Annie Wersching. She is an FBI special agent appearing in seasons 7 and 8.
Concept and creation
Wersching previously had worked together with 24 crew members on a failed television pilot titled Company Man.
She was cast for the part of Renee Walker a week before filming began, saying that "they spent a long time trying to figure this role out. They toyed with the coldness of her and went back and forward a lot."
"The story is being told from her point of view," reveals the show's executive producer, Howard Gordon. "She is somebody who has probably pressed up against the limitations of what's been allowed [according to the law]. Her soul is in balance in the question. Is it worth doing whatever's necessary at the personal price it extracts?"
Characterization Throughout the series, Renee is portrayed as tough and strong-willed and has been shown to disobey orders or push the limits of the law when she believes such actions are necessary. Throughout Day 7, she takes in what Jack Bauer does and gradually becomes more rogue and puts justice before the job. When first meeting Jack, Renee is reluctant to do things that Jack Bauer would do in order to get what they need (such as torture), but by the end of Day 7, she resorts to torture in order to get the answers that she needs.
Appearances
Season 7 In the series, Renee is introduced when she pulls Jack Bauer out of a Senate hearing so he can advise and aid the FBI in tracking down Tony Almeida, who has been involved in terrorist activities. Over time, she gives him more power, allowing him to interrogate Almeida. After Jack subdues her and escapes with Almeida, her anger and guilt over his betrayal lead her to torture a prisoner for information and attempt to track Jack and Tony down personally. While observing them assisting Emerson in the kidnapping of Ule Matobo, she is captured. Jack convinces Emerson to keep her alive temporarily, but is later ordered to shoot her. Jack deliberately shoots off-center, only grazing her neck, but is forced to bury her alive as she plays dead.
She temporarily dies, only to be resuscitated by Bill and Chloe, who explain the situation and the need for her to remain "dark" from the FBI and bring her into their operation.
She aids their operation by using her FBI credentials to bypass security at the building where Dubaku is operating and participates in the assault on Dubaku's control center, resulting in the destruction of the CIP device and the Matobos rescue.
A meeting between the Matobos and the President is arranged, where they explain the situation to her and Ethan Kanin. Renee convinces Jack to trust Larry Moss for help tracking Edward Vossler. To coerce him into talking, Renee goes to Vossler's house and takes his wife and child hostage. With his family in danger, Vossler gives Jack the location of Dubaku's hideout, where Henry Taylor is being held captive, but then attempts to overpower Jack and is killed. Renee is shaken up when Jack informs her of Vossler's death but resolves to continue on. Renee and Jack meet at Dubaku's hideout but are unable to prevent Taylor from being shot and seriously wounded during the rescue attempt.
Larry Moss scolds Renee for her actions involving Vossler's family, but Renee defends her actions as necessary, even though she may not be comfortable with them. Jack and Renee then travel to the residence of Marika Donoso, whom Dubaku has developed a relationship with under an assumed identity and who is preparing to leave the country with Dubaku, along with her sister Rosa. After learning of Dubaku's true identity, Marika agrees to help them by keeping her meeting with Dubaku and allowing Jack and Renee to track them. Rosa objects, but Renee promises to keep Marika safe. While trailing Dubaku and Marika, Jack and Renee run into a police roadblock and are arrested.
With their arrest sorted out and overturned, Jack and Renee resume tracking Dubaku, chasing him until Marika causes Dubaku's car to crash, killing her and seriously injuring Dubaku. Renee is visibly shaken up and after being confronted by Rosa, gets into an argument with Jack in which she slaps him. A kiss was originally scripted into the scene but was written out. Wersching commented that a kiss for that moment would be too much of a cliché.
At the hospital, Dubaku is killed by an assassin sent by Juma. Renee tracks the assassin, which leads her to the Potomac, where Juma is assembling his forces. When Juma and his men leave, Renee jumps to their boat, where she discovers their target to be the White House.
During Juma's siege of the White House, Renee and Larry helped coordinate rescue operations and counterattacks. Later, Jack relays intelligence from Bill on another pending threat, but when he and Renee bring this information to Larry, Larry has Jack arrested, stating he'll "look into it". Renee approaches Ethan Kanin, who orders Larry to allow Jack to proceed with the investigation. Larry suspends Renee indefinitely, saying he can no longer trust her.
During her suspension, Jack is framed for the murders of Ryan Burnett and Senator Mayer. Jack contacts Renee secretly, so she helps him identify and track the killer. She is discovered, though, when a message is intercepted and is arrested. She returns to active duty once Jack is cleared of the murders. She is visibly upset when she discovers that Jack has been fatally exposed to the bioweapon during his attempt to secure it. Afterward, she debriefs Jack back at FBI headquarters, and both of them help coordinate the subsequent raid on the Starkwood compound and Almeida's search for the bioweapon, eventually resulting in its successful destruction.
Renee also encourages Jack to try the experimental procedure suggested by his doctors; using a sample of genetically compatible stem cells from a close relative may cure him of the pathogen's effects and save his life. Jack refuses treatment, and Renee looks into his file. When Kim calls looking for her father, Renee explains the situation to her without Jack's knowledge, upsetting him and causing an emotional clash.
After Larry Moss is killed by Almeida and Galvez in their successful theft of the last canister of the bioweapon, she is visibly upset and personally leads the search for Galvez, Almeida not having been discovered yet. Renee is inside the abandoned building wired with explosives by Galvez when it explodes, but a warning from Jack saves her. After Jack tells her the truth about Almeida, she puts on an APB alert to capture him, though he manages to escape. Renee and Jack later follow up a lead on Jibraan Al-Zarian, who they believe may be involved with the terrorists. Eventually, they locate and raid Jibraan's house, freeing his brother, but are one step behind Almeida and his team, who have already left, having managed to coerce Jibraan into helping them, and are preparing to launch their attack.
At one point in the series, Renee and Jack manage to recapture Almeida, only to have Jack commandeer the vehicle and help Tony escape. As he is doing so, Jack explains that Tony's accomplices have operatives in place, placing his daughter's life in danger, and asks Renee to save her. Renee calls Kim at the airport and warns her about the operatives, but the call is cut off. As security closes in, a firefight breaks out. Renee arrives to find Kim safe after chasing a surviving operative into a parking garage. With Kim's help, she is able to locate Jack and goes with a team to rescue him. Renee is able to disarm an explosive device that Tony has attached to Jack, and the two are able to apprehend Tony just as he is about to exact his revenge for his wife's death on Alan Wilson, the head of the conspiracy. Wilson calmly denies all involvement and refuses to cooperate, so Renee seeks out Jack for advice. She tells him that she knows they do not have a case against Wilson, so he has no reason to cooperate. She also knows that if the rest of his organization is not brought to justice, they will strike again, and she does not know if she will be able to live with herself knowing she could have stopped it. He tells her that he cannot tell her what to do because he has been wrestling with those kinds of problems all his life. For him, when he sees innocent lives in danger, everything else becomes less important, and he will do whatever it takes to save those lives. He denies regretting anything that he has done today but reminds her that she works for the FBI. As such, she has to uphold the law, a law that Jack knows (in his mind) has to be more important than innocent lives; but he does not think his heart could bear to see the lives lost. He tells her the only advice he can give is that she try to make the decisions she can live with. An emotional Renee tells him she does not know what to say, and Jack gently caresses her face and tells her not to say anything. Jack is then taken to the hospital, and Renee takes Wilson to FBI headquarters. Renee enters Wilson's holding room and shuts down all the monitoring equipment. When Janis interrupts with a form for Renee to sign and refuses to leave when she realizes what Renee intends to do, Renee subdues her, forcing her to handcuff herself. Despite Janis' pleas, she puts down her FBI badge, enters the holding room, and closes the door.
Season 8
In Season 8 of the series, Renee Walker returns in episode 4 of the 8th season and is now a former FBI special agent after an incident with Alan Wilson in season 7 (it is implied that she tortured him to near death). She is summoned to CTU because of her unique knowledge of the Russian Syndicate in New York after having worked as an undercover agent in their ranks six years prior. Brian Hastings, the current director of CTU, requests that she resume her undercover identity to set up a competing buy for the nuclear fuel rods President Hassan's brother is attempting to procure. Unhappy with her decision to go back undercover, Jack attempts to convince her that she is too mentally fragile to handle the operation.
Despite her inability to return to a normal life, and recent suicide attempt, Renee decides that she will indeed agree to go back undercover. After Jack fails to dissuade Brian Hastings from allowing Renee to go back undercover, he volunteers his field experience as her partner in the operation. The initial stage of the operation involves locating the head of the Russian Syndicate in New York, a man named Vladimir Laitanin. Renee visits an old accomplice in the mob, who is presently on parole, to convince him to take her and Jack to Vladimir.
After a brief conversation with her contact, he declines to help her because of the monitoring device attached to his arm, which is part of the conditions of his parole. She convinces the contact that she is able to remove the device without alerting the authorities. She then proceeds to place her contact's arm in a vise and without warning removes his thumb and the device with a nearby power saw. Upon hearing the contact's screams, Jack rushes into the contacts shop to see what Renee has done and says that she has gone too far.
Jack is persuaded by Renee to continue the mission, and the contact drives Renee to Vladimir as Jack follows. Renee is put through a "test" of sorts by Vladimir, to make sure she is legit. He believes her cover and she is in. She tells Vladimir that she has a buyer for him (Ernst Meier, who is Jack undercover), someone who is interested in fuel rods. He has connections, and she wants him to call them. Laitanin agrees with a steep price of five million to make the calls alone.