Almost 12 years ago, Michael Scofield went to prison to save his brother, Lincoln, from execution. PRISON BREAK originally ran four seasons on Fox before an ending which found Michael dead and Lincoln, Sara (Michael’s girlfriend and the mother of his child), and their various friends freed from prison.
But now Michael isn’t as dead as everyone thought he was and when Lincoln learns that his brother might be alive and trapped in a prison in Yemen, he races to the Middle East to try and save him. Fox is reuniting most of the original PRISON BREAK cast for season 5 (a.k.a. PRISON BREAK: The Event Series). But what have the characters been up to since the show went off the air? We’ve got the scoop for you below, along with teasers about what’s to come in the new season.
Michael Scofield. As you can probably guess, Michael isn’t dead and when we see him again he’s inside Ogygia prison in Yemen. How did he end up there? That’s a big part of the new season’s mystery. What we do know is that right now he’s not known as Michael Scofield — he’s being called by another name and he’s suspected of doing very bad things, including having known ties to ISIL. Whether Michael is guilty of the crimes he’s accused of or not, whatever has happened to him in the last five years has changed him. He has a new and deadly set of skills. He also has a new set of tattoos that are pivotal to the story this year.
T-Bag. When we last everyone’s favorite psychopath, he was back in Fox River Prison where he belonged. But he gets out of prison in season 5 and he receives the first clue that shows that Michael is alive. T-Bag goes straight to Lincoln and then finds himself embroiled in the situation, despite thinking he was done with Scofield/Burrows drama.
Lincoln Burrows. Linc has, unfortunately, gone back to his less-than-legal ways since his brother died and he’s running from some bad guys when we first see him again in season 5. He gets information from T-Bag that Michael may be alive and he races to Sara to tell her the news. But she’s not as hopeful as Linc is and she has a son to worry about, so Linc recruits C-Note to head to Yemen. This time it’s up to Lincoln to help Michael break out of prison.
C-Note. The former criminal has gone on a journey to “figure out a way to make himself happy” and that journey has led to him converting to Islam. When Lincoln realizes that he has to head to Ogygia prison in Yemen, he teams up with C-Note, who speaks Arabic and has contacts in the country. It’s C-Note that puts Linc in contact with a woman named Sheba who will be instrumental in helping the brothers and C-Note in Yemen.
Sara Tancredi. Sara and Michael fell in love in the original series and she had a son that she named Michael (a.k.a. “Mike”) after his father’s “death”. Star Sarah Wayne Callies believes that her character has survived the hardship of losing Michael because of her love for their son. Along the way she met and married Jacob Ness, a professor of Game Theory. He’s stepped in to raise a child that isn’t his own, but the possibility that Michael is alive starts to tear apart Sara and Jacob’s relationship. Originally Sara doesn’t believe the man in the photo that Linc brings her is actually Michael. After all, she knew that Michael was terminally ill, but soon she can’t ignore the truth of the situation and she becomes conflicted. But is he still the man that she remembers? Is he deserving of her love and their child?
The Rest of the Original Gang. Sadly, characters like Sucre don’t go to Yemen with Lincoln and C-Note, but you will see Michael’s old BFF in the show. Paul Kellerman also plays a big role back in the United States, particularly crossing paths with both Sara and T-Bag.
The Newbies. A lot of the prominent new characters are Michael’s fellow prisoners — men he has befriended in prison to help him get out, much like he befriended the other prisoners in Fox River. Whip is Michael’s new right-hand man and he’s very loyal. Ja has some tools that Michael needs to get out and Sid is somewhat suspicious of who Michael really is. Sheba, meanwhile, is trying to help Yemen as it falls prey to ISIL forces and at first she’s a reluctant ally of C-Note and Lincoln, but she’s soon drawn deeply into the situation.
The biggest mystery throughout the new season is what has Michael been up to since he disappeared? Why hasn’t he contacted Lincoln and Sara? Is he the same man he used to be? Is he a good guy or a bad guy?
PRISON BREAK returns on April 4 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
