Brace yourselves for another heart-stopping escape, Prison Break fans. Fox’s hit drama is officially back with nine new episodes this week, and we’ve got the inside scoop as to what you can expect from the upcoming revival!
When Fox pulled the plug on Prison Break nearly 10 years ago, it did so with little fanfare. The ratings for the series had plummeted. In fact, according to Nielsen, the final season of the action drama drew in a mere 4.28 million viewers — over 2 million less than tuned in for the premiere of season 3.
Even so, fans who stuck around to the bitter end to consume the final chapter of a tale of two brothers were left mourning the loss of the man with the plan himself. Viewers may have thought Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) could survive anything, but it turns out that his final break was the one that ultimately did him in.
In the end, fans could take comfort in the fact that at least Michael died breaking Sara out of prison for a crime she didn’t commit. Even so, his death was quite the bitter pill to swallow.
In the highly anticipated Prison Break revival, the series has another shot at giving Michael an ending that fans might finally feel satisfied with — especially if you’re still a bit upset about showrunners killing him off the first time around. In fact, the teaser trailers let us in on the fact that Scofield’s far from six feet under.
This new crop of Prison Break episodes picks the story back up almost 10 years later, and it’s safe to say everyone’s moved on as best they could after Michael’s sudden passing. Linc’s (Dominic Purcell) fallen back into his old ways, and Sara’s (Sarah Wayne Callies) found love again. Michael’s former flame is married to another man and living in Upstate New York with her new husband and Michael’s young son. And Michael? Well, let’s just say he’s gotten himself into yet another sticky situation.
Interestingly, it’s none other than Theodore “T-Bag” Bagwell (Robert Knepper) who gets the ball rolling after receiving a mysterious envelope on his way out of Fox River. Everyone’s favorite slippery criminal is finally out (legally this time) for his good behavior, but clearly fate’s got its heart set on linking him up with his old cell mates once more.
When T-Bag discovers the envelope contains a photo of none other than Scofield himself behind a different set of bars, he makes it a point to track down Linc and show him. It’s clear from the get-go that Linc doesn’t want to get his hopes up about his brother, but after some careful investigation, he’s all but convinced it is indeed Michael — even if Sara herself can’t fathom how he could possibly be alive.
From there, Linc’s determination to break Michael out of his new prison cell finds Burrows journeying all the way to Yemen, but not without the help of a very familiar face. Breaking Michael out, however, won’t be easy — especially given the fact that things aren’t exactly what they appear to be on the surface.
The infamous prison Ogygia is as far from Fox River as you could possibly imagine. In a way, we’re betting it’ll undoubtedly remind diehard Prison Break fans of Panama’s Sona. Additionally, whatever Michael’s got himself mixed up in this time around, there’s no denying that danger will be lurking around every corner.
Linc may be having a hard time trying to figure out how to break Michael out of Yemen’s most notorious prison, but Sara’s not faring much better state side.
Whatever Michael’s mixed up in seems to have set something off back home that’s got Sara fearing for the safety of herself, and her family. Interestingly, her determination to get to the bottom of who’s out to get them this time finds Sara teaming up with an unlikely ally that’s bound to make for some great moments as we move forward in the series.
When we caught up with Prison Break showrunner Michael Horowitz at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Horowitz made an interesting comment with regards to how jam-packed this new season is.
“It’s kind of all killer, no filler,” Horowitz told Hypable of the revival, while also explaining that the length of this coming season really forced everyone involved to focus on trimming the fat instead of dragging the story out.
At the time, it was hard to imagine exactly what Horowitz meant by this, but now that we’ve seen a few episodes of the revival, we totally get it.
Related: Prison Break at SDCC: Michael is up to his same old tricks
Here at Hypable, we’ve been lucky enough to take in the first five episodes of the upcoming revival, and if you feel as though we’ve given away too much already? Well, let’s just say you haven’t seen anything yet. In fact, we’ve barely scratched the surface with regard to the wild ride Prison Break fans are in store for.
Believe it or not, almost everything we’ve teased above happens before the first episode of the revival has even reached the halfway mark, meaning there’s still plenty of action and mystery left to unfold as this season continues.
As a long time fan of Prison Break myself, one of the things that really stood out to me with regards to this new crop of episodes is how seamlessly the actors were able to get back into their roles. When it comes to some of our favorite characters, everything from the dialogue, to the mannerisms, to the chemistry between the characters is present. I’d even go as far as to say that it feels as though no time has passed at all.
It truly feels as though this revival was made with Prison Break fans in mind, but if you’re new to the series, that shouldn’t discourage you from tuning in. The first episode of the revival does a pretty good job of getting you up to speed, so newbies should have no trouble following along with how the story unfolds.
At the end of the day, it feels as though what this revival does best is give fans one last heart-stopping adventure with the likes of Michael, Linc, and the rest of the gang, and we’re hoping you enjoy coming along for the ride as much as I already have.