FOX hasn’t closed the door on its hit series Prison Break yet as fans clamor for a sixth season. After the 2017 revival series came back with nine episodes, viewers have been demanding more episodes after being teased with the possibility of another Michael Scofield story arc.
The series, which originally premiered about 15 years ago, has become a classic with a new generation of viewers bingeing the series on Netflix and television reruns. Will there be another season, or a Prison Break movie? Here is everything we know about the binge-worthy drama series.
Wentworth Miller has no idea when there will be another season of Prison Break
Wentworth Miller hasn’t closed the door on returning as Michael Scofield. However, he threw cold water on the idea that Season 6 of Prison Break would return in 2020 and this was before the COVID-19 pandemic effectively shut down television and film production.
In January, Miller responded to a fan on Instagram requesting a release date for Season 6. The Legends of Tomorrow actor said on Instagram: “1. Your enthusiasm is appreciated. 2. I have no idea when (or if) there will be a new season. I’m not involved in that conversation. 3. TV shows take time. To produce, edit, air. For that reason… 4. It seems unlikely (to me) we’ll get a season 6 in 2020. 5. I could be wrong.”
What is the latest status on Prison Break Season 6?
Several cast members have expressed their willingness to return for a sixth season. Dominic Purcell, who portrays Michael Scofield’s brother Lincoln Burrows, has hinted at a possible Prison Break season 6 return as fans flooded his Instagram comments with demands for a new season.
FOX studios have also confirmed their interest in reviving the series but have continued to give mixed signals about the future of the series. In 2018, FOX stated that the sixth season of Prison Break would be a lot different but it was only in the very early stages of development telling Entertainment Weekly:
“It’s very early at this stage. Paul Scheuring had an idea for another season, and he came and pitched it to Michael and the team. They were excited about it, but it’s super early. We haven’t seen any written materials at all.”
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However, in 2019, FOX indicated that there were no current plans to bring back Prison Break. Then fast forward to 2020, Fox Entertainment president Michael Thorn told Deadline that there are ongoing talks for a Prison Break spinoff but there are no announcements.
Will Prison Break goes with another movie?
Season 4 of Prison Break featured a standalone movie, The Final Break, which led to speculation that the Prison Break revival will be a movie rather than a sixth season.
According to a Deadline report, Michael Thorn hinted at making a Prison Break movie during a FOX TCA. He revealed that he wants it “to feel special and worthy of doing as opposed to just another season,” adding that he wanted to make a prospective return to Prison Break feel like an “event.”
While a potential Prison Break movie was not explicitly discussed at the TCA, it seems very likely that the popular series may return as a television movie.
What happened in Season 5 of Prison Break?
In the finale of Prison Break Season 5, Michael Scofield has it out with his nemesis Jacob Ness, who has been revealed to be Poseidon. Ness stole Michael’s identity and married Sara Tancredi while he was in prison for a crime he did not commit. He proves that it was Jacob and not him who shot the CIA’s deputy director Harlan Gaines and Michael gets his freedom back.
Michael and Lincoln get to live happily ever after and the ending sets up Prison Break for a sixth season as the CIA offers Scofield a job, which he turns down. As we know with previous seasons of Prison Break, Scofield will end up breaking someone out of prison in an action-packed series full of unexpected plot twists.
What to expect when Prison Break returns
With the upcoming season being in the early stages of development, it is difficult to predict what the future holds for the cast or the direction of the series. Alexander Mahone’s return has been teased but it is unclear whether William Fichtner will return. Last time we saw Mahone in The Final Break, he gave up getting his FBI job in favor of assisting Michael Scofield in breaking Sara out of prison.
Some fans have speculated that Mahone may return to assist Michael in his eventual co-operation with the FBI.
New photo of Dominic Purcell with William Fichtner #prisonbreak pic.twitter.com/ayZIgtZEPg
— Prison Break Returns (@pbreakreturns) January 19, 2020
Prison Break creator Paul Scheuring has at times hinted at a prequel and a new beginning with a different cast. Wentworth Miller also pitched his ideas for the sixth season, although he later admitted the plot, which you can view here, was rejected.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Miller got to the main issue delaying the sixth season:
“There’s a zero percent chance of the show coming back if we don’t have a top-notch story. Right now, we don’t have that story. That’s not to say we can’t find it. But we’re not going to make the show in perpetuity because we want to.
“We want it to be of very high value and high quality. Right now, the creative powers that be don’t have that answer. So it may never come back. I’m not being coy. I hold the quality standard very high. If we can’t get something that doesn’t in some way feel new and different, then we’re not doing it.”
The Prison Break revival took eight years to return, so the Prison Break team isn’t against playing the long game. Fans may be in for a long wait as the series will certainly not return in 2020 — and 2021 at this point seems unlikely too.