Alan Wilson

Alan Wilson was the most influential member of the prion variant cabal and co-conspirator in the development of the prion variant, a lethal pathogen outlawed by the United Nations. He was a silent partner of Starkwood executive Jonas Hodges in the harvesting of the pathogen and was responsible for the prion variant attacks toward the end of Day 7. He also masterminded the Sentox nerve gas conspiracy and was responsible for the deaths of David Palmer and Michelle Dessler. He was taken into FBI custody for his complicity in the events of Day 7.

Before Day 7
Wilson colluded with Charles Logan, Graem Bauer, Phillip Bauer, Christopher Henderson and others to mastermind the Sentox nerve gas conspiracy and order the assassination of former President David Palmer, the murder of Michelle Dessler and the attempted murders of Tony Almeida and Chloe O'Brian. Wilson and a group of twelve other influential executives in the US military-industrial complex became disillusioned with the state of American national security.

Later, Wilson, Jonas Hodges, and the other conspirators were brought together anonymously and plotted in secret to engineer the prion variant. They planned to carry out a series of terrorist attacks in 18 months, all attributed to terrorist organizations they'd use as patsies, in order to push the United States to the breaking point through fear and panic. Wilson used an operative of his, Cara Bowden, as an intermediary between himself and Jonas Hodges in the engineering of the pathogen in Sangala with the help of the dictator Benjamin Juma.

Day 7
Because of the arrest and imprisonment of Jonas Hodges, who was trying to blackmail President Allison Taylor, he and his associates felt that their greater operation had been compromised. Feeling Hodges would hemorrhage information about them, he sent an operative, Cara Bowden, to impersonate Hodges' attorney and gain access to him in order to leverage him into committing suicide.

At 2:23am, he was contacted by Cara as he was in his office, who told him that Hodges guaranteed he'd take his own life. Wilson asked if Tony Almeida had secured their canister of prion variant. He warned that Tony was her agent and she was responsible for his performance. She called Tony "a bright-spot in an otherwise dreary day."

An emergency meeting between Wilson and the co-conspirators was held after 3:00am. The group spoke anonymously through an online chat room, assessing how badly their plot had been compromised. Cara, who was moderating the meeting, sent Wilson and the other members a dossier with information about their attack and a timetable. As the group disagreed with the updated timetable, Cara asked Alan through a private message window to trust her and weigh in. Alan then presented his opinion stating that they had a better chance of succeeding today, since the country was still reeling from all the attacks of the day. After this, Cara decided to take a vote, and they all agreed to carry out the attack on this updated timeline.

Shortly after 5:00am, Cara contacted Wilson and informed him that the canister containing the pathogen was being modified for maximum dispersal. She informed him of the plan on attacking the subway station and the casualty estimates. Wilson inquired about Jibraan Al-Zarian, Almeida and Cara's scapegoat, and his knowledge of the plan. Cara assured him that Al-Zarian knew nothing about the canister or their plans and he would follow their every order for fear of the safety of his brother. Wilson was satisfied and told her they would talk again after the attack had been carried out.

When Tony Almeida was captured, Cara called Wilson and informed of the failure of the operation. Alan expressed his ire and instructed Bowden to kill Tony, as the operative possessed too much damaging information. Cara, however, informed him that she had the situation under control.

After Jack Bauer had sprung Tony out of FBI custody, Cara and Almeida brought Jack to a secluded warehouse and began harvesting the biological pathogen from his spinal fluid. Cara called Wilson and informed him of the plan to acquire the pathogen from Bauer's body and use it for their original plan. She also asked her boss to consider allowing Tony to have a larger role in their organization. He commented that it was too soon to think about that, but she pointed out that without Tony, they would be nowhere. Wilson finally relented, and agreed to meet Tony and watch over the harvesting of the pathogen from Jack Bauer.

Unknown to Wilson, Tony had planned on getting close to the mastermind for years and had entrenched himself in the organization so that he could one day kill Alan. Wilson had been the one to order the death of Almeida's wife, Michelle Dessler, and as Wilson approached the warehouse, Tony was getting ready to finish his revenge. He strapped Jack Bauer with a remote-controlled bomb and waited for his target to come to him.

When Wilson arrived, his men searched Tony and Cara for weapons and then allowed them to meet with the private military executive. Tony thanked Wilson for meeting with him and expressed his desire to have a larger part in their organization. Wilson acknowledged this and asked for his men to acquire Bauer in the warehouse and bring him outside. Just as Wilson's men brought the bomb-strapped Jack within distance of their boss, the FBI, led by Special Agent Renee Walker, arrived at the warehouse and ordered everyone to stand down. Wilson's men engaged the FBI strike team and Wilson was able to escape with Cara into another building during the firefight.



Inside the abandoned warehouse, Wilson contacted someone to breach the FBI perimeter and create an extraction point for himself and Cara. As they ventured deeper into the building, the two ran into Tony who had also survived the FBI attack. The three conspirators were about to escape when Tony double-crossed his old partner and shot Cara in the stomach. He then trained his gun on an unarmed Wilson. Tony threw Alan up against a wall and vowed to kill him for his complicity in the murder of his wife. Almeida struck the private military executive in the face with his gun, forcing Wilson to the floor and told him that he hadn't just killed Michelle; he had also killed the child she was carrying – Tony's son. Just as Tony was about to kill Wilson, Jack and Renee arrived and disabled him before he could enact his revenge.

Wilson was taken outside and into FBI custody where Renee attempted to ascertain the identities of his co-conspirators and a confession in his part of all the terrorist attacks that had occurred earlier that day. Wilson remained calm and confessed he had no idea what she was talking about and even if her accusations were true, she had no tangible evidence to prove them. He was taken back to the FBI field office and placed in an interrogation room. Renee disconnected the video and audio surveillance in the room, deactivated the door's keypad and handcuffed Janis Gold to the wall. She then entered the interrogation room and faced a smug Wilson, with the intent on getting the information she needed from the man who had masterminded everything.

After Day 7
Alan Wilson was "almost killed" by Renee Walker during her illegal interrogation of him, which destroyed her career and reputation.

Background information and notes

 * Alan Wilson appears in one and is discussed with some detail in two other of the deleted scenes from the season finale. In the first, he speaks to the prion variant cabal, and again he demonstrates that he has the most influential voice of the group by quickly silencing possible dissent. In another scene, after his arrest, an FBI agent tells Renee Walker that Wilson owns a "controlling interest in a dozen private military firms, but, he's gone from low profile to no profile. No recorded address, hasn't been seen in public for years." The agent then confirms that Wilson's electronics deleted their own contents, making his data irretrievable. In the final deleted scene, Tim Woods informs President Taylor that most of Wilson's business was conducted by overseas shell companies, and notes that there is little hope of securing evidence against him swiftly.


 * When asked about Alan Wilson's fate in a post series finale interview, Howard Gordon stated "I think you got a sense that Renee broke him and broke the back of the conspiracy at a tremendous personal and professional price".