Ryan Chappelle

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24 character

Ryan Chappelle
Gender:	Male
Jobs held:	Los Angeles Regional Division Director of CTU
Affiliation:	CTU
Family:	Unnamed brother
Spouse:
Current status:	Deceased
Portrayed by:	Paul Schulze
Seasons:	1, 2, 3

Ryan Chappelle was a fictional character played by Paul Schulze as part of the television series, 24. On the show, Chappelle was the Los Angeles Regional Division Director of the fictional government agency Counter Terrorist Unit. He is above George Mason and Alberta Green in the chain of command. As a regional representative, he directly answered to the President of the United States.

[edit] Bio

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

He was brought to CTU on Day 1 when (then Senator) David Palmer attempted to visit Jack Bauer to confront him about the failed assassination attempt. Chappelle, however, had Bauer isolated after being asked to do so by the Secret Service, plus he had to go under investigation. After trying to get Bauer jailed, Chappelle received direct orders from Washington D.C. (via Palmer's acquaintance Alan Optican from The Pentagon), and then accepted the reinstatement of Bauer until the end of the day. Chappelle was known because of his harsh determination to "follow the book", thus gaining him enemies at CTU when Jack was detained and then the agents (particularly Tony Almeida) had to break protocol to allow Jack to move on and foil the assassination attempt. After that, Chappelle left CTU just a few hours before the day's end.

In Day 2, Chappelle again came from Division to CTU when the current Director, George Mason, died in the line of duty, leaving the command of the Los Angeles unit to Tony Almeida. Bauer had gone rogue after finding out the possibility that a recorded audio incriminating three Middle East countries in the nuclear explosion in American soil was faked. Chappelle had orders to direct all of CTU's resources to plan the military response against the three countries, thus leaving Bauer alone. Trying to get help for Bauer, Almeida had no choice other than to disable Chappelle by having Michelle Dessler meet him at a holding room, claiming there was something wrong with Rudin. Rudin was not in the room and Tony drugged him. However, Michelle's rival, Carrie Turner, caught on that something out of the ordinary was going on and eventually reported her suspicions to Deputy Director Brad Hammond. Hammond realized something was wrong when he was unable to contact Chappelle.

After asking Tony Almeida about Chappelle's whereabouts several times, Hammond came to CTU with his own officers and took over operations. Hammond had Chappelle rescued and both Almeida and Dessler arrested. Eventually, Chappelle received orders to recover Jack Bauer as it was discovered that his lead was for real. Thus, he had to trust Almeida, who traded the information about Jack's whereabouts for a written pardon for both himself and Michelle Dessler.

In Day 3, Chappelle is again called to CTU when Tony Almeida was shot in his neck and unable to run CTU. Chappelle attempted to capture Jack Bauer before he could deliver escapee Ramon Salazar to northern Mexico. It was later revealed to be part of a plan to recover a deadly virus.

Chappelle was put in this operation as supervisor and removed Chloe O'Brian, but had to reinstate her temporarily when a computer virus activated by Nina Myers threatened to shut down CTU's firewalls. After that, Chappelle followed the lead of a bank transaction to reach a bio-terrorist attack mastermind Stephen Saunders, who was holding the US government hostage with the threat of releasing a deadly virus into the general population. Saunders discovered Chappelle's investigation and ordered the President of the United States, David Palmer, to arrange for his execution. Palmer had Jack take the task of executing Chappelle.

At 06:59 that day, Chappelle and Bauer witnessed Saunder's terrorist cronies observing them in a black van in a downtown train yard. After Chase Edmunds, Jack's partner, failed to catch Saunders, Bauer had no choice but to execute Chappelle and leave his body to them. Chappelle asked to take his own life, but was unable to do so. Before killing Chappelle, Jack asked if there was anyone he wanted to call. Ryan replied by saying he had no friends, and his only brother didn't speak to him. Jack then said simply "I'm sorry we let you down, Ryan. God forgive me." Bauer then shot him point blank in the head just a few seconds before 07:00.

Chappelle's death was of enormous significance, as this was the event that gave Palmer the courage to face Saunders' demands and confront his menace, no longer complying to his demands (the next one was to publish the identities of every US agent working as civilians in foreign countries, thus sacrificing them). Palmer addressed the Cabinet and informed them about the execution of Ryan Chappelle. They did not believe Palmer was to risk such a valuable agent until Palmer himself confessed to agreeing with the (two) previous terrorist demands.

Also, Chappelle's death was not in vain. His work on following a money trail instantly delivered a lead to Jane Saunders, Stephen Saunders's daughter, who then become the only leverage that CTU had against the terrorist (at the point CTU had to put Jack's daughter Kim Bauer in the field to grab her).

Chappelle's death was honored by a Silent Clock at the end of the episode. He is the third character to be honored in this fashion (the first two being following Teri Bauer's death on Day 1 and George Mason's departure from CTU on Day 2, and the fourth being Edgar Stiles' death on Day 5. What was widely believed to be a silent clock after Mandy's attack on President Palmer at the end of Day 2, was in fact an amplification of Palmer's heavy breathing, leaving his fate unknown until the following season.

His body still appeared for a few seconds in the next episode (about 07:00:20), and his death was reported to CTU staff by Tony Almeida about half an hour later, when Chloe asked him about Chappelle's meeting with Division staff.

Ryan Chappelle appeared in at least 24 episodes of the series. He acted in 23 of them; in his last episode (third season, 07:00 to 08:00), only his body was shown, but he was still credited.

There is some confusion over Ryan Chappelle's job title with various sources citing different titles. However, in the show he is only ever referred to as working for Division. In Season 1 he is referred to as the Division Director, superseding the District Director's (then George Mason) authority. In 2 he is referred to as the Division Chief but it appears that he answers to the District Director. In 3 he is identified as the Regional Director, working for Division.