After what seems a lifetime, the much awaited return of the Scofield brothers has arrived. The limited series Prison Break: Resurrection (also known as Prison Break Season 5) premiered this weekend in Austin (with no connection to the SXSW festival occurring there this week). Prison Break originally aired on Fox from 2005 to 2009, with the last episode airing in May 2009, so it has been nearly eight years since fans have had a new Prison Break.
According to Variety, Wentworth Miller says that the whole thing started while he and Dominic Purcell (who are the Prison Break leads, playing brothers) were working on CW’s The Flash, and its spin-off Legends of Tomorrow, where Miller was playing Captain Cold and Purcell was playing Heatwave. They began to discuss the continuation of their Prison Break characters, and went to Fox proposing a fifth season.
This new season picks up a few years after Michael’s apparent ‘death’, when clues surface suggesting that Michael may be alive. Allegedly, Michael’s tattoos will be different this season, and will be central to the plot of the series. As Sarah searches for him, she will be joined by Lincoln, T-Bag, and C-Note, among other returning and new characters.
But this time around, the story is not just breaking out of the psychical prison structure, but rather escaping the entire Middle Eastern country of Yemen (which is where Michael is found to be). While the cast and crew were shooting in Morocco for the Yemen scenes, they were dealing with very high temperatures as well as limited infrastructure and resources, but made it clear that it was well worth the effort. The show gained an international following over the years, and they felt that they should expand the locations to match the expectations of those audiences.
Given the new TV landscape, which is more accepting of limited series and shorter seasons, Prison Break felt they could lower their episode count from the regular 22 episodes to nine episodes, allowing creator Paul Scheuring to really focus on making the best nine episodes he could create.
Lead actors Dominic Purcell (Lincoln Burrows), Wentworth Miller (Michael Scofield), and Sarah Waynes Callies (Sara Tancredi-Scofield) will be returning for the season. Robert Knepper (T-Bag), Rockmond Dunbar (C-Note), and Amaury Nolasco (Sucre) will also be returning.
According to Variety, Purcell made the following comments at a press conference on Sunday:
It brings back that family and friendship that we all experienced doing the original series. The choices that we were making as actors have changed, the intensity and the gravitas of the show has dramatically increased. I think that’s about us getting older and making more informed decisions.
Callies said the following regarding the difference between this series and past seasons:
In a way this is a season about not being able to escape. We try, we fuss, we fight, and wrestle with that soul, but at the end of the day there is something in you that is essential… I think that’s important, too, because they’re all trying to find a way to a better version of themselves…There’s this soul underneath this series.
Season 5 of Prison Break is set to premiere on April 4, and continue on Tuesdays.
Check out a featurette about this new season below.