After five successful seasons, Prison Break left fans wondering whether a Season 6 of new episodes will ever happen.
The show's first season premiered in 2005, with the following three years each seeing a new season. Then, just under a decade after the end of Season 4, Prison Break returned with a fifth season in 2017.
In its first form, the series followed brothers Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) and Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) as they attempted to escape prison. Lincoln, who was arrested first, was framed for the crime he was placed on death row for allegedly committing. So, Michael deliberately got arrested to help his brother get out.
Season 5 was a nine-episode event taking place years in the future that aired on Fox in 2017.
Could Prison Break Season 6 Happen?
At the time of writing, there is no plan for Prison Break Season 6 actively in the works, but some kind of new iteration is, as of November 2023, in early stages of development.
This new version has cropped up in various conversations for several years now.
After the 2017 revival of the show, there were plans for what Fox Entertainment President Michael Thorn called "a new iteration of Prison Break."
According to a report from JOE, Thorn said the team was "really excited about it," though did not "even have an outline for the pilot yet:"
"We are developing a new iteration of 'Prison Break.' It’s very early stages of development, but we’re really excited about it. We just heard the pitch…a couple of weeks ago, an approach to the next chapter. But we don’t even have an outline for the pilot yet."
Thorn said he "fully expect[ed]" to see the returns of both Dominic Purcell's Lincoln Burrows and Wentworth Miller's Michael Scofield in the new episodes, "assuming that they’re all available:"
"I fully expect both brothers will be involved in the series, assuming that they’re all available. There’s a lot to figure out when you’re bringing back the cast of a show where they all have busy careers."
In 2019, however, it appeared as though these plans were cancelled. According to SlashFilm, Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier reported at that point, that there was "no plan right now to revive Prison Break."
He said he is not averse to the idea but would need "the creators [to] come with a story that they think is the right time to tell:"
"There's no plan right now to revive 'Prison Break' or any of the other franchises, but when the creators come with a story that they think is the right time to tell, we are so ready to listen because those are some franchises of which I'm so proud and feel so fortunate that they're in our stable."
The Prison Break pendulum swung again in 2020, though, when, as reported by Radio Times, Purcell posted that Season six would happen on Instagram:
"Will Season 'PB' 6 happen. Yes."
Purcell's co-star Miller disagreed, though. Later in 2020, Miller told Radio Times that he was "officially" done with the series, for a single specific reason. He fekt that the stories of straight characters "have been told (and told)," and so he "just [doesn't] want to play straight characters:"
"On a related note... I'm out. Of 'PB' ['Prison Break']. Officially. Not bec of static on social media (although that has centred the issue). I just don't want to play straight characters. Their stories have been told (and told)."
He acknowledged that Prison Break fans "hoping for additional seasons" might be disappointed. But, he said, for those who are "hot and bothered" after they "fell in love" with Miller's character, "that's your work:"
"So. No more Michael. If you were a fan of the show, hoping for additional seasons... I understand this is disappointing. I'm sorry. If you're hot and bothered bec you fell in love with a fictional straight man played by a real gay one... That's your work."
With this in mind, it makes sense that with the announcement last November of a new iteration of Prison Break came confirmation that both Purcell and Miller would not return. Still, whatever this new iteration ends up being, it will take place within the universe of Prison Break.
Plus, fans looking to see more of them in action can find that in the newly announced series Switchback, starring them both.
What Could Have Happened In Prison Break Season 6?
Prison Break executive producer Paul Scheuring told The Hollywood Reporter back in 2017 that if there were to be a Season 6, it would require "a top-notch story:"
"There’s a zero percent chance of the show coming back if we don’t have a top-notch story."
He sees any potential future season as being like Season 5 as "its own self-contained thing," rather than a larger plot continuation:
"Like any great feature film — like an 'Indiana Jones' or something — the movie itself is self-contained, but if there’s going to be a sequel, that can be its own self-contained thing afterwards. The intention for this season [Season 5' was to just really kill it for nine episodes, walk away and then should conversations ever develop again about doing another season, we would consider that, and then in turn create another self-standing season."
Scheuring also spoke to Entertainment Weekly about how after Prison Break popularized the idea, "other shows have used encoded plans or information in tattoos."
So, the team needed to implement the classic Prison Break strategy in a new way for Season 5 — "you couldn't just play it straight forward:"
"'Prison Break' has a history of a man with his plans and his tattoos, and subsequently other shows have used encoded plans or information in tattoos. So it's kind of an old idea, and so I felt like you couldn't just play it straight forward. It has to be, 'Oh no, the entire thing was a lie to manipulate an antagonist who thought he was smarter and Michael knew was very shrewd,' so I like the idea that the tattoos are supposed to be legit, but the very end you realize it's a misdirection, because I felt like that was new."
A Season 6 would likely also require another new way to utilize tattoos, beyond the original idea and the misdirection method of Season 5, another element of the "top-notch story" necessary for another season.
Meanwhile, Miller joked with Entertainment Weekly about his own idea for the plot of a hypothetical Season 6:
EW: "You’ve gone from 33 to 43, maybe you wait until 53 and see Michael trying to…"
Miller: "[Laughs] Break my grandkid out of prison. 'One last break!'"
Prison Break is available to stream on Hulu.
Gillian Blum has been a writer at The Direct since 2022, reporting primarily from New York City. Though she covers news from across the entertainment industry, Gillian has a particular focus on Marvel and DC, including comics, movies, and television shows. She also commonly reports on Percy Jackson, Invincible, and other similar franchises.
