It took four episodes, but Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows are finally on the same side of the prison bars once again.
In Tuesday’s episode of “Prison Break,” brothers Michael (Wentworth Miller) successfully broke out of Ogygia prison and joined his brother (Dominic Purcell) in the increasingly dangerous streets of Yemen.
In a long-awaited moment, Michael, who’d started the season pretending not to remember his brother for safety reasons, finally acknowledged and embraced his older brother.
Their reunion came after a tense moment that left ISIL leader Abu Ramal dead and Michael and Co. labeled as enemy No. 1 by ISIL loyalists who watched Ramal’s murder at the hand’s of the team broadcast on TV.
Trouble has found the brothers once again, but at least they’re together again, much to fans’ delight.
The decision to put the brothers’ reunion off until episode 4 was motivated by a desire to earn the moment, according to executive producer Paul Scheuring.
“I think we left Season 4 with such a shock — Michael’s death — that we couldn’t just bring him back in episode 1 and say, ‘Hey, everything’s fine!’ I think the audience would be upset with that,” he told CNN at a recent Paley Center for Media event in Los Angeles. “And so we felt like the mystery of what happened in those seven years and how this guy could be Michael Scofield and still be alive deserved a lot more story.”
“Prison Break” aired on FOX for four seasons from 2005-09. Fox announced its return in early 2016.
In the 8-plus years since “Prison Break” went off the air, Miller and Purcell appeared on screen together in the CW’s superhero jaunt “Legends of Tomorrow.” (It was on that set that the two actors had the idea to bring the “Prison Break” gang together again for another adventure.) And off screen, the two maintained a friendship — both actors say they’re more like brothers in real life — that Miller said fueled the scene.
“There was a lot of work that went into executing this show. It’s very physical, it’s very demanding…but there was not a lot of work I had to do [in that scene],” Miller said. “It was just there in our history.”
Purcell agreed.
“Wentworth’s reaction was enough. He turned around and said, ‘My brother’ and boom. That was it,” he said. “It was a very real moment. That was a genuine moment.”
Knowing that fans would be looking forward to the brothers’ reteaming, however, came with pressure.
“I remember that moment specifically because I was thinking, ‘F–k, this is the moment everyone’s been waiting for; don’t f–k this up,'” Purcell said. “It was a beautiful moment and thankfully it worked.”
Tuesday’s episode also saw the demise of original character Paul Kellerman (Paul Adelstein) and more clues were given as to the identity of Poseidon, a mysterious character who is fueling much of the action this season.
Still outstanding, however, is another much-anticipated reunion — the one between Michael and now-remarried wife Sara (Sarah Wayne Callies).
The two characters couldn’t seem further apart (in proximity, at least) at this point in the season’s run, and that’s intentional. Miller said his character will have to “earn that reunion.”
“Yes, there’s a potential reunion, but will she even recognize him and is he even worthy of that relationship still?” he said. “Those are things that take time to explore and we didn’t want to rush.”
“Prison Break” airs Tuesdays on FOX.
