Accidental exclusive: 24’s Renee Walker speaks after death! [MP3]

If you're a fan of 24 (Mondays at 9 pm on FOX), you don't have to be told what needs to be done to save America from a terrorist attack. So in this season's hour 4, when FBI agent Renee Walker (Annie Wersching) needed information from a former undercover contact in the Russian mob, she did what any red-blooded American would do: she put the guy's hand in a vise and cut his thumb off.

Okay, it was more complicated than that (how else was she going to get the parole bracelet off!), but you know what we're talking about. A few episodes later, Walker stabbed a sexual assailant in the eye (well, actually, she had to sleep with him, it was undercover, but you know!). In last week's episode (April 12, hour 17), a looming nuclear threat resolved, Walker and series hero Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) finally consummated a supposed long-simmering romantic tension (huh?) - only for Walker to be felled moments later by an assassin's bullet (pull the drapes, Jack, it's "between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m."!).

Thus dispatched, Walker/Wersching took part in a special press conference call. Due to a glitch in the cuing system, I did not get to ask my two questions. But FOX was kind enough to set up a separate (exclusive!) short interview with Wersching. The show concludes its eighth and final season with  two-hour special on May 24.

Werschng talked with me about the thumb scene, about working with writer/producer and show-runner Howard Gordon, and about her upcoming plans.

--Jon Garelick 

DOWNLOAD: Annie Wersching, on her role as Renee Walker in 24 [MP3]