Sherry Palmer

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24 character
Sherry Palmer
Gender	Female
Jobs held	Congressional Spouses Club, President USO World Board, Appointee Congressional Wives for Human Rights, Fundraising Chairwoman Maryland Hunger Fund, Chairman of the Board
Affiliation	David Palmer Roger Stanton Peter Kingsley
Family	Keith Palmer (Son) Nicole Palmer (Daughter) Wayne Palmer (Brother-In-Law) Sandra Palmer (Sister-In-Law)
Spouse	David Palmer (Ex-Husband) (Deceased)
Current status	Deceased
Portrayed by	Penny Johnson Jerald
Seasons	1, 2, 3

Sherry Palmer is a fictional character on the television series 24, played by Penny Johnson Jerald.

[edit] Day 1

Originally a recurring guest character, she was married to U.S. Senator David Palmer — the first African-American with a chance at the White House. Although it appears they have a loving relationship with her husband, he begins to doubt whether he can trust her after he learns that she covered up Keith's accidental killing of Nicole's rapist, and is willing to continue the cover-up in order to protect his chance of winning the election. His suspicions are confirmed when she opens a safe and destroys what she believes to be Keith's tape incriminating Carl Webb, which was actually a decoy planted by Palmer to test how far she would go. Over the course of the first season (taking place over one day, as each season of the show does), she revealed herself to be willing to do anything, including treason and murder, to secure her husband's presidency. Many of her actions showed little regard for the potential consequences to those besides her husband; she reports that he survived the Drazens' attempt to kill him with a bomb in a cell phone despite Jack wanting the terrorists to believe that Palmer was dead so that Kim would be spared (however, the terrorists had been informed of the deception by a mole inside CTU). She expressed no hesitation or regret for her actions, saying that she wished to protect her husband's candidacy, causing Palmer to realize that she had lost touch with what it meant to be part of a family. At the end of the day, Palmer told her he was going to file for divorce.

[edit] Day 2

Sherry Palmer was one of the most popular secondary characters and so was brought back in the second season as a main character, showing up unexpectedly at her ex-husband's Oregon bunker on the day of a nuclear threat to Los Angeles. At first, Palmer trusted her claims, which did help him unravel a conspiracy against him from within the government. However, her questionable actions led some — including Palmer's aide Lynne Kresge — to be suspicious of her. By the end of the day, she had proven that she still had feelings for her husband when she assisted CTU agent Jack Bauer in bringing down the terrorists. Although arrested for her acts of treason, Palmer would later assist her in discreetly being released.

[edit] Day 3

Season three began with President Palmer in Los Angeles for a debate against his political opponent, Senator John Keeler. Midway through the season, Sherry Palmer returned — this time at Palmer's bidding to help him shake off Alan Milliken, a key campaign contributor who was now threatening Palmer's health care bill. Her connections made her an asset to Palmer, so much so that after she was involved in Milliken's death, Palmer lied to the Chief of Police and gave her an alibi. He then told her to get out of his life forever.

Close to the end of the season, she went to Keeler and offered him proof that Palmer had sent her to Milliken, and was thus an accessory to murder. Keeler could then use this to blackmail Palmer into discreetly leaving the presidency, allowing Keeler an easy win in the upcoming election. Palmer and his Chief of Staff Wayne Palmer found out about this, and Wayne snuck into her home to try and steal the evidence while Palmer distracted her elsewhere. Sherry, however, grew suspicious and returned home. Wayne and his co-conspirator fled the house with the evidence, but Wayne's lover — Milliken's wife Julia — who had been left as the only suspect in the murder of her husband, arrived at the house, shooting Sherry dead and then shooting herself. Although Palmer now had the evidence, his potential implication in the deaths of Milliken, Julia and Sherry forced him to discreetly leave the presidency. Ironically, she achieved in death her ultimate goal to ruin her husband. In interviews with the show's producers, it was stated that the way she was shot was deliberate in case they wanted to bring her character back. Penny Johnson Jerald also stated in a separate interview that when she was shot, she purposefully continued to breathe, just in case the producers wanted to bring her back at some point, although she may have been joking.

[edit] The many returns

Sherry Palmer was one of the most popular characters from season one, so her return to 24 in seasons two and three were done to appeal to television critics and fans of the show who enjoyed the character and her manipulations. However, many of the writers disliked the notion of Sherry becoming a regular character on the show after season one and killed the character off towards the end of season three. However, the producers have stated that we haven't seen the last of Sherry. How this is possible, unless she is seen in a flashback or in a recent picture, is currently and very suspiciouly unknown.

[edit] Costumes

Given that each season of the show takes place over the course of one day, most characters on 24 are restricted to one or two outfits. Sherry, however, was a notable exception as she wore at least six different costumes in season one, two in season two, and three in season three. She always dressed in high heeled shoes.