According to The Hollywood Reporter, production of the next season of the show had to come to a halt while producers tried to fill this new role. Currently ‘Prison Break’ is shooting on location in Texas, and the deal with Fitchner was just finalized at the last minute.
William Fitchner is a great character actor who just has that kind of face and demeanor that should suit him very well on a show about escaped cons. ‘Invasion’, despite having a killer lead-in with ‘Lost’, never really got clicking with fans. I thought it was better than NBC’s sci-fi offering ‘Surface’, mainly because of Fitchner’s work. He has appeared in Crash, Black Hawk Down, and The Perfect Storm.
Many people probably don’t remember him in a little movie called Drowning Mona, a black comedy that came out in 2000. It was about a woman (Bette Midler) that no one liked and was killed when the brakes on her Yugo failed, sending her off a cliff. He played her husband, and I thought he was a really funny in the role. Just the scene of him playing Jamie Lee Curtis’ breasts as bongos was worth the price of admission. While I’d like to see him do more comedic roles, I look forward to the next season of ‘Prison Break’ even more now that he’s on board.
