with the threat at the hotel, as well as the unruly guests who soon discover the deadly truth. Saunders contacts President Palmer and gives him a series of assignments, one of which is the murder of Regional Division Director Ryan Chappelle. Jack and Chase try desperately to capture Saunders, but in the end, Jack is forced to kill Chappelle and hand over his body as proof. Once Saunders is captured, Jack uses all means possible to stop the threat posed by the remaining vials. This ends with Jack cutting off Chase's hand in order to access the viral delivery devices. Physicians attempt to reattach his hand as the season draws to a close. The final scene of season 3 shows Jack Bauer having an emotional breakdown as a result of the day's events until he is once again enlisted by CTU to interrogate one of the day's suspects. The day ends with Jack on his way back to work. Characters Starring Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer (24 episodes) Elisha Cuthbert as Kim Bauer (24 episodes) Carlos Bernard as Tony Almeida (24 episodes) Reiko Aylesworth as Michelle Dessler (24 episodes) James Badge Dale as Chase Edmunds (24 episodes) Dennis Haysbert as President David Palmer (24 episodes) Special guest star Penny Johnson Jerald as Sherry Palmer (10 episodes) Guest starring Episodes Production The third to last episode showed F18 fighters destroying a helicopter from the air. This scene was filmed on location and required extensive collaboration between the film crew, the United States Marine Corps and the Federal Aviation Administration. Efforts were made to show the response to a virus outbreak realistically. Anne Cofell, a researcher for 24, consulted with a virologist and the Centers for Disease Control. The writers originally planned to incorporate a real virus into the plot but ended up using a fictitious one when researchers doubted that any real virus would be that deadly. Trailer The initial trailer promoting season 3 was much longer than the trailer promoting season 2. It touches on many of the early plot points including the threat to release the virus, Jack's heroin addiction and the relationship between Kim Bauer and Chase Edmunds. Reception The third season of 24 received "generally favorable reviews", scoring a Metacritic rating of 72/100 based on 14 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 93% with an average score of 7.1 out of 10