Network television nowadays is in an era of remakes, reboots, and continuations. Fox embraced the trend in a big way in midseason 2016 when it brought classic sci fi series The X-Files back for six episode that scored fabulous ratings. Now, it looks like Fox is looking to repeat that midseason success with another continuation. We recently learned the highly-anticipated return of Prison Break will debut in midseason 2017 with ten episodes that are set to air on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.
News of the Prison Break revival’s midseason premiere came from a conference call related to Fox’s 2016 Programming Presentation. The Thursday night timeslot will be new for Prison Break. The show aired on Mondays for its first three seasons, then moved to the Friday night death slot for its fourth and final season in 2009. The Thursday night slot is proof enough that Fox has faith that the series will earn some solid numbers as part of the midseason schedule.
Prison Break centered on the relationship between brothers Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) and Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell). Michael used his engineering expertise to break the wrongfully-incarcerated Lincoln out of prison, and the action escalated from there. The show expanded to include a generally great ensemble, but it lasted for as long as it did thanks to the brotherly dynamic between Miller and Purcell as Michael and Lincoln.
Prison Break certainly isn’t the first retired series to be brought back for another go, but it is one of the more unlikely, considering how the series wrapped up. Michael was dead and buried by the finale and a TV movie looked into his death more. He sacrificed himself to free the woman who was carrying his unborn child. Michael had been dying of a brain tumor anyway, so even Prison Break pulling a faked death would require a big suspension of disbelief.
As it happens, Prison Break is just going to ignore the TV movie and Michael’s sacrifice and pick up with the brothers both very much alive. Hopefully, the explanation for how Michael is still alive and with Lincoln will make as much sense as Fox bigwigs are asserting.
Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell haven’t been entirely separated in the years since Prison Break. The actors joined forces as villainous partners Captain Cold and Heatwave who got up to no good on The Flash, then made the jump to Legends of Tomorrow to become heroes. Before the Prison Break continuation was confirmed with both actors back, plenty of us thought that Legends of Tomorrow was going to be the closest we’d get to more of Miller and Purcell as brothers.
The two leads aren’t the only major actors returning for the Prison Break revival. Sarah Wayne Callies will be back as Sara Tancredi, and Amaury Nolasco will return as Fernando Sucre. It should be fun to see old familiar faces back together again for new adventures when the show returns.
To see when the rest of Fox’s fall and midseason series will be hitting the airwaves, check out the schedule of what’s to come. Don’t forget to take a look at our list of summer TV premiere dates to see what you can watch the pass the time before Prison Break returns to the airwaves in midseason 2017.
