Is Prison Break the new Suits? Not quite.
It’s true that 2023 gave us the Summer of Suits, which led to NBC putting the Suits: LA spin off into rapid development with a first season coming soon. Will Prison Break receive the same treatment or another season, even? One of those will come true.
First, it’s worth remembering that Prison Break debuted in 2005 and ended with a fifth season in 2017. The series returned to Netflix earlier this month, and the first three seasons are now occupying three separate slots on Netflix’s current Top 10 English-Speaking TV Shows list. Let’s just say that interest in the Fox series has been reignited, and it’s fair to assume that — out of the around 120 million hours viewed during the week of Sept. 16-22 — plenty of eyeballs are on this show for the first time.
Those are more than respectable numbers, although not full-on Suits numbers, for a concluded series.
However, there’s no chance for a sixth season starring Wentworth Miller, who declared in 2020 in a now-deleted Instagram post (via Entertainment Weekly) that he would not portray Michael Scofield again, or any straight character for that matter: “I’m out. Of PB. Officially. Not [because] of static on social media (although that has centered the issue). I just don’t want to play straight characters. Their stories have been told (and told).”
To hammer that point home, he followed up with this definitive statement: “No more Michael. If you were a fan of the show, hoping for additional seasons… I understand this is disappointing. I’m sorry.”
However, some good news does exist. In November 2023, Deadline revealed that Hulu has a reboot in the works. The show will be written by Mayans M.C. co-creator and showrunner Elgin James. Here’s a tiny bit more from Deadline:
Described as a new chapter, the new installment is set in the world of Prison Break, sources tell Deadline. Details are being kept under wraps but it is not expected to involve the characters who were at the center of the original series and its followups on Fox, Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) and Lincoln Burrows’ (Dominic Purcell), we hear.
This reboot will arrive as part of James’ overall 20th Television deal following the conclusion of Kurt Sutter’s biker-drama saga. Meanwhile, Sutter is hard at work on Netflix’s The Abandons, and between the two of them, there will be plenty of violently soapy TV coming soon.
