Prison Break, a show about hot tattooed men learning how far they will go for the people they love as they writhe inside cages, is coming back for another escape. Deadline reports that the series, which limped off the air in 2009 after two incredible seasons and two mediocre ones, will return for 10 episodes.
The first one is now being written by creator Paul Scheuring, with stars Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell returning as brothers who perpetually find themselves caught up in shadowy conspiracies. They will probably have to break out of something again. It could be fun!
Prison Break, a show about hot tattooed men learning how far they will go for the people they love as they writhe inside cages, is coming back for another escape. Deadline reports that the series, which limped off the air in 2009 after two incredible seasons and two mediocre ones, will return for 10 episodes.
The first one is now being written by creator Paul Scheuring, with stars Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell returning as brothers who perpetually find themselves caught up in shadowy conspiracies. They will probably have to break out of something again. It could be fun!
Prison Break’s return to the air is made possible by its popularity on streaming video services, particularly Netflix, where it has been one of the most-binged shows, according to the NPD Group. Fox executives have said Netflix reintroduced the show to a younger audience, resulting in several adoring Tumblrs devoted to retelling its story, largely through GIFs. It’s the latest Fox show to get rebooted, following 24 and the upcoming renewal of The X-Files.
When it debuted in 2005, Prison Break was notable for its combination of absurd premise and tight plotting. When Lincoln Burrows (Purcell) is wrongfully convicted of murdering the brother of the vice president, his brother Michael commits an armed robbery so that he can be imprisoned alongside him and break him out. To aid in his plan, he tattoos the escape plan on his body, disguising it as art. It got pretty outlandish from there!
But each episode moved the brothers closer to their escape, and the show expertly ratcheted up the suspense as the big day drew closer. The second season, which forced the brothers to reckon with the death and destruction resulting from the escape, added a surprising moral dimension to what had previously been hot pulpy trash. That said, the show was narratively exhausted by the end of its run, and most of its beloved characters had died onscreen. Bringing everyone magically back to life and contriving to put them behind bars once again will be absurd — though perhaps not any more absurd than the original.