Though some major characters from “Prison Break” have already “perished” onscreen, the hit series would still return for another dangerous and deadly escape.
During the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour in Beverly Hills on Thursday, FOX’s co-chairmen and CEOs Dana Walden and Gary Newman officially announced that “Prison Break” will return as a 10-episode event series, with creator Paul Scheuring returning to run the show.
The announcement confirmed TVLine’s earlier reports about the possible series revival.
According to Newman, it will see the reunion between Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell, who starred respectively as Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows. He also said that Scheuring, who “came in and pitched a great story to bring the show back”, has already started “writing the first episode and a (series) bible”.
He added, “Once we have those written materials, we feel confident we’re going to be going straight to series with that one.”
In the original series, Burrows is an innocent man who was sentenced to jail for a crime he did not commit while Scofield is a genius who comes up with an idea to break his brother out of prison, but one which requires him to goes into prison as well. The show, which ran for 4 seasons, began airing in August 2005 and came to an end in May 2009.
When asked to describe the revival series, Newman said:
I would describe it as a bit of a sequel. It picks up the characters several years after we left them in the last season of the show. The bothers will be back. Some of the iconic characters from the show will be back. I don’t think Paul knows exactly where he’s going over the 10-episode arc yet, but it will definitely address some questions that were set up at the end of the series for a new audience.
He also added, “This is the pure vision of the creator of the show. It’s going to take a little bit of a detour from where we left off (with the straight-to-DVD coda), but it should feel very satisfying and event-ized. Fans will be excited about seeing these characters back together again.”
Walden cited the show’s popularity on a certain streaming site as the reason for the return of “Prison Break”.
He said:
“Prison Break” has had this great opportunity to be viewed by a whole new audience on Netflix. It was part of our output deal with Netflix, and I happen to know from executives at that company that it was one of the most successful library shows that they have platformed. So it gave us a lot of enthusiasm moving forward that people were still really interested in these characters and that there’s a whole new generation that have caught up. So it will start with where we left the Scofields in the final season.
However, the revival also begs the question: Will it ignore the death of a certain character in 2009’s “Prison Break: The Final Break”?
With that particular plot point came into question, Newman responded by saying, “Yes, (Paul) is going to be ignoring the straight to video show.”
He added:
It is past Season 4. As Dana said, it’s several years past when the series ended. I wouldn’t want to give away too much of what Paul has planned, but he had a very detailed, incredible story for why these characters become relevant again and why to bring them back. I think it’s going to be very exciting. As Dana said, this is just one of those shows that notwithstanding it being off the air for five, six years, or however long it’s been, it still generates buzz and enthusiasm, especially online. So we think it’s going to be a great treat for the audience.
Walden, however, made things a bit murkier by saying:
I don’t think he’s going to completely ignore what happened in that episode, but what he pitched to us was a very logical and believable — in the world of Prison Break — explanation for why our characters are alive and still moving around the world.
So, do you think the 10-episode series will be a hit with the fans again? How do you think the producers will expand the storyline? Let us know what you think in the comments box below.
