After “dying” in his pal Jack Bauer’s arms at the end of Day 5, Tony resurfaced this year as a despicable Jack-stabber. Now the old CTU-mates will smack it out in 24’s two-hour season finale.

First you were dead. Now you’re alive. You were a good guy, but now you’re bad. Has Tony Almeida been skipping his meds or something?
It’s been a roller coaster for him, definitely. But we always knew he could come back after Day Five [the show never ran the silent clock that signifies death]. I think it’s too simplistic to say he’s a bad guy or a good guy. With a character like Tony, you have to look at the emotional circumstances he’s in. There are reasons for these big dramatic turnarounds.

It’s not all just a ploy to draw viewers after seven long seasons of 24?
I understand why audiences might think that, because I wasn’t convinced bringing him back made sense. They talked about bringing Tony back last season but none of the ideas really worked. What’s so great about 24 is that nothing is what it appears to be, and once we worked out a believable storyline for Tony, and gave him some bad-guy facial hair (laughs), the changes made sense. Fans watch this show too closely for us to do something half-assed.

What’s coming up for the finale?
Some very physical stuff. It’s pretty fantastic. I’ve always been a very physical actor and was into martial arts before. But we have some hardcore fight scenes coming up that were really pretty brutal. It’s tough work. That fight on the dock between Tony and Jack earlier this season took us about three hours to shoot but they ended up cutting it down to a few minutes.

What’s it like getting to play with weapons of mass destruction?
I’ve gotten so desensitized to certain things we do on the show. The guys who designed the bio-canisters this season did such a great job. But I’m looking at them and going, “Oh, yeah, I forgot. This stuff could blow up the world. Cool.”

If the earth was destroyed and only one episode of 24 remained, which episode would you like it to be?
I guess I’d pick a good Tony episode and I’d have to point to the interrogation this season where Jack Bauer’s strangling me to the point where we find out I’m working undercover with Bill Buchanan. It’s that idea of never being sure who you can trust that always keeps the show so fresh.

You 24 people are so serious on the show. Tell us about one scene where you were laughing hysterically behind-the-scenes.
There was a scene in season four when Kiefer and I had to do a simple walk and talk through CTU. We always have so much technical jargon coming out of our mouths but sometimes it’s the simplest thing that messes us up. In this case, Kiefer was having trouble pronouncing the name of our villain that year—Marwon. He kept calling him “Mair-won” and “Mar-wan.” After a few missed takes, I see Kiefer’s getting annoyed with himself. So I joke with him and say, “Whatever you do, don’t say ‘Mair-wan’” and we both just lose it! We were like two schoolgirls. It took us about ten more takes to get it right.

What’s the coolest piece of 24 swag you’ve gotten?
I’ve got the 24 Playstation game. But I only played it for about seven minutes. I plugged it in and tried it but all I couldn’t get Tony to do anything but jump. This year, they sent me a 24 Pachisuro machine from Japan. It’s a slot machine with animated scenes from the show on it. So cool! My five-year-old daughters love it.

Will we know Tony’s fate once and for all by the end of this season?
We...will.

You’re hesitating.
Well, is anything ever truly final on 24?