Ryan Chappelle


 * "Come on, George. Think it through. Drazen wasn't officially a prisoner, right? So he couldn't officially escape. It wouldn't have embarrassed anyone."
 * &mdash; Ryan Chappelle,

Ryan Chappelle was the Regional Division Director of CTU. At various points in Days 1, 2, and 3, he assumed control and often bogged down operations with a heavily bureaucratic and inflexible style of management. He was shot and killed by Jack Bauer during the events of Day 3, under the request of Stephen Saunders and order of President David Palmer. His high-ranking position was eventually filled by Bill Buchanan.

Before Day 1

 * Main article: Ryan Chappelle before Day 1

Ryan Chappelle attended New York University and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Government, and later a Master of Business Administration from Wharton. He served as Assistant to the Deputy Director of Administration at the Central Intelligence Agency, and later as Director himself, before becoming a Regional Division Director for CTU in the Los Angeles County area. Prior to Day 1, he oversaw CTU Los Angeles operations on several occasions, including but not limited to Operation Farmhouse in 1997 and the Hotel Los Angeles attack in 1998.

Chappelle was married to Victoria Chappelle and had three children: a son, Ryan Jr., and two daughters, Caitlin and Christine.

In addition, during Day 3, Ryan claimed to have a brother whom he had not spoken to in several years.


 * Chappelle's immediate family, as established in Findings at CTU, apparently contradicts his claim in "Day 3: 6:00am-7:00am" that he has nobody to contact before Jack must kill him. However, Chappelle does appear to be wearing a wedding ring during the scene.

Day 1


During the events of Day 1, there was an assassination plot against Senator David Palmer, the first African-American with a decent shot at the US presidency. CTU Los Angeles was put in charge of the investigation. Over the course of the day, Ira Gaines kidnapped Teri and Kim Bauer. He used this as leverage against Jack Bauer, the Special Agent in Charge of CTU, in order to have Jack be implicated in the assassination plot. After Jack escaped from the Secret Service's custody, Alberta Green took over command of CTU. Eventually Alberta was informed about the situation and Jack and his family were successfully rescued.

Approximately at 1:18pm, Chappelle arrived at CTU, from District Command. Chappelle greeted Tony Almeida and quickly progressed over to Jack's holding cell. Chappelle and Jack greet each other through a handshake, but Chappelle quickly has them sit down. Jack wanted to speak with Chappelle over everything which happened over the course of the day, but Chappelle immediately stopped him. He then turned on a recording device and asked for Jack to continue. As Chappelle continues with the debrief, he asks Jack why he didn't inform Division about the situation with his family. Jack told him it was because his family was in danger and the fact Jamey Farrell was revealed to be a mole, with a possibility of their being more dirty agents. Though Chappelle was sympathetic towards Jack, Bauer had broken several protocols and Chappelle could not reinstate him. Jack pleaded to be reinstated, as there was a second hit and Palmer's life was in danger. Chappelle told Jack he would reinstate him if Alberta needed his help.

Chappelle's cell phone rang and Nina Myers was on the line. She requested to speak with Jack and Chappelle handed over his phone to him. He then left the room and had one of the security guards keep on eye on Jack. Around 20 minutes later, Chappelle asked to speak with Tony. Chappelle asked for Tony's opinion and assessment on the actions Jack made over the past several hours. Tony admitted he wasn't the biggest fan of Jack and he didn't like the way Jack operates and breaks protocol. However, Tony admitted he agreed with every move Jack had made since midnight. Chappelle thought Tony would side against Jack, as he called George Mason into CTU earlier in the morning, in order to initiate a lockdown. Tony told Chappelle he didn't have all of the details at that time.



When Senator Palmer arrived at CTU to speak with Jack, Chappelle refused to grant him access. Palmer called in a friend from Washington, who called up Chappelle. Chappelle was given a direct order to give Palmer everything he needed. When Mike Novick called, Palmer had to leave CTU and he asked Chappelle to reinstate Jack on a provisional basis. Though Chappelle was hesitant, he reluctantly agreed and made a few calls. He then left CTU for Division, where Alberta Green was transferred to.

At around 8pm, Victor and Andre Drazen took Jack hostage and offered to give him up in exchange for Alexis Drazen. George tried to get a hold of Chappelle, in order to get permission for the exchange. At approximately 8:43pm, Chappelle called Mason and told him that he should have kept Jack on a tighter leash. Mason reminded Chappelle that Victor Drazen wouldn't have escaped if it wasn't for Jack, but Chappelle wasn't ecstatic, as Victor wasn't an official DOD prisoner. Chappelle didn't authorize the exchange, but Mason went forward with it when Palmer convinced him.

Day 2
President David Palmer arrived at District Headquarters after the detonation of a nuclear weapon in the Mojave Desert, where he was briefed by Chappelle.

Chappelle later came into CTU Los Angeles and officially named Tony Almeida the new Acting Special Agent in Charge of CTU. Chappelle's orders were to direct CTU's resources to plan a military assault on three nations who were believed to have funded a nuclear weapon to explode in Los Angeles. Jack believed the evidence which supported this was fake and went rogue to try and prove it. Chappelle, believing the evidence to be genuine, ignored Jack's investigation and ordered all CTU personnel to focus on the impending war between the United States and the nations which had allegedly funded the nuclear bomb's dispersal.

Tony decided Jack may be right and decided to help him. To do this, however, he had to get Michelle Dessler to drug Chappelle and hide him. When the Deputy Director, Brad Hammond, could not contact Chappelle, he and his officers came to CTU looking for him.

Tony and Michelle were arrested and held for questioning. Chappelle received orders to help Jack because it was believed his lead was for real. Chappelle had to trust Tony and Michelle, and was forced to release them in return for information on Jack's location.

At the end of the day, Chappelle decided to give Tony permanent command of CTU Los Angeles.

The Game
Chappelle showed up during 24: The Game in order to help CTU with the terrorist threat. He inadvertently triggered an EMP while he was interrogating Joseph Sin-Chung, which allowed Peter Madsen and Sid Wilson to attack CTU. Later, he wanted to reprimand Jack Bauer, but Jack talked him out of it. He also attempted to send Chase Edmunds back to CTU Washington but Jack convinced him to let him help with the pursuit of the terrorists.

Day 3


After Tony Almeida was shot in the neck during Day 3, Chappelle was called in to take command of CTU. Chappelle decided to try and capture Jack Bauer before he could deliver Ramon Salazar to terrorists in Las Nieves, a town in Northern Mexico. He planned to shoot down Jack and Ramon's chopper, but Chase told him that he should get permission from David Palmer first, a close personal friend of Jack. Chappelle did this, but by the time Palmer made his choice it was too late; Jack had flown over downtown LA and he could not be shot down as it would cause massive collateral damage. After Michelle discovered Tony was out of surgery and would be alright, Chappelle gave her an awkward hug, suggesting a friendship between the two. She toyed with the idea of asking him to go and see Tony at the hospital, but he sent her some busywork and she initially missed her opportunity.

Later in Day 3, Chappelle decided to relieve Chloe O'Brian of duty because she broke procedure by bringing a baby into CTU. He was forced to reinstate her temporarily though, when a computer virus activated by Nina Myers threatened to shut down CTU's firewalls. When Chloe revealed Chase was the father of the baby, he allowed her to stay on. When Michelle requested suicide capsules for the people at the Chandler Plaza Hotel to stop their suffering, Tony began to ready them. Chappelle caught him, but allowed him to continue.

After that, Chappelle followed the lead of a bank transaction in hopes of locating Stephen Saunders, the mastermind behind the bio-terrorist attack. Saunders was holding the US government hostage with the threat of releasing vials of the deadly Cordilla virus into the general population. Saunders discovered Chappelle's investigation and ordered President Palmer to have Chappelle executed.

When a plan to capture Saunders failed, the President was forced to order Jack Bauer to kill Chappelle. At the trainyard, Chappelle asked Jack if he would allow him the dignity of letting him shoot himself, but when Jack handed over the gun Chappelle was unable to go through with it. He handed the gun back to Jack, who apologized for letting him down. Chappelle shook his head, but did not say a thing. Jack paused for a moment, seeming unable to do it himself, but eventually shot him once through the back of the head. Chappelle's dead body fell to the ground as the sound of a train passing echoed around the yard.

Background information and notes

 * Although he did not appear until "Day 1: 1:00pm-2:00pm", Chappelle was first mentioned in the pilot episode.
 * Chappelle's e-mail address was seen on screen as chappelle@hq.cal.gov.
 * Chappelle's voice was heard over the phone in "Day 2: 12:00pm-1:00pm," but it was not Paul Schulze who spoke those lines.
 * Paul Schulze appeared as a corpse in "Day 3: 7:00am-8:00am" and was credited for the appearance. This brings his episode count to 24 episodes.
 * Chappelle's death was marked by the use of a silent clock at the end of the episode. This was the fourth appearance of the silent clock. Additionally, there was no split screen preceding the end of the episode, and Chappelle is the only character not in the main cast to be so honored.
 * Just before his death when Jack asked him if there was anyone he wished to say goodbye to, the only family Ryan could think of was his brother, with whom he was out of touch for years. In the continuity of the book 24: The House Special Subcommittee's Findings at CTU, which was published before the season aired, novelist Marc Cerasini wrote that Chappelle actually had a wife and three children.
 * In Season 7, Larry Moss lists Chappelle along with Curtis Manning and Teri Bauer as people who didn't survive being around Jack.
 * There were plans to fake Chappelle's death, but this was changed when it was revealed on a spoiler site called "Ryan's Report." (Ryan was the webmaster. It was merely a coincidence he shared the same first name as Ryan Chappelle.)
 * Ryan Chappelle is one of eight major characters to appear in the three first seasons with Jack Bauer; the other seven are Tony Almeida, Kim Bauer, Nina Myers, David Palmer, Sherry Palmer, and Aaron Pierce.