The Perfect Prison Break Reboot Would Still Need Michael Scofield To Make Up For The Show’s Biggest Missed Opportunity

Prison Break will be back soon with a series reboot, where a new set of prisoners look to free themselves from incarceration. In a departure from the show’s history, the reboot won’t feature Michael Scofield, played by Wentworth Miller, or his brother Lincoln Burrows. These two characters were a permanent fixture in the series up to and including its previous fifth-season revival in 2017. Three times across five seasons, Scofield got himself incarcerated only to lead a prison break, first from Fox River State Penitentiary, then from Panama’s Sona prison, and finally from the Ogygia prison in Yemen.

For his shocking return in the fifth season of Prison Break, Scofield was enlisted as an undercover operative to infiltrate Ogygia, where prominent ISIL members were being held. Yet it’s never made clear exactly what he was tasked with doing at the prison, and why. It’s only revealed that he’s working for a rogue agent known as Poseidon, in order to explain how he ended up there. The main focus is, as usual, on his subsequent escape from the prison, as well as his return to the United States. In this way, the series missed an opportunity to show viewers how Michael’s skills were being used for something other than a prison break.

The Ideal Prison Break Reboot Would Have Michael Infiltrating Another Prison With New Characters

Nobody Does It Better Than Michael Scofield

If there’s one thing to learn from the previous seasons of Prison Break, it’s that no one can infiltrate and break out of a prison like Michael Scofield. Although it’s confirmed that Wentworth Miller won’t be returning as Scofield, even in a cameo role, it’s hard to imagine a prison break occurring in the series without him, new characters or not. After all, even the likes of Lincoln, Sucre, Bagwell and Mahone needed Michael to execute their escape from prison.

There aren’t many characters in the entire pantheon of TV crime shows able to apply the same level of creative ingenuity to a potentially deadly situation as Michael Scofield, with White Collar’s Neal McCafferty being a possible exception. Scofield’s knowledge of architecture and structural engineering allows him to plan and execute complex and multi-faceted prison breaks using tunnels, electricity cables and his expert understanding of floor plans. These skills must have been put to good use when Michael infiltrated Ogygia, and they’d certainly come in handy if he returned for the Prison Break reboot.

Prison Break Season 5 Revealed Michael’s Skills Were Being Used (But It Never Showed Us How)

His Mission In Yemen For Poseidon Was Never Explained

Prison Break’s season 5 began with everyone assuming Michael Scofield was dead, from the show’s audience to his own brother, wife and son. As it turned out, though, he’d actually faked his own death to work as an undercover operative in Yemen for a CIA agent gone rogue – a spectacular shark-jump that pointed towards the revival of Prison Break being a huge mistake. As utterly maddening as it might have been, however, this storyline did demonstrate that Michael Scofield’s rare skills could be used for something other than prison-breaking on his own terms.

The truth about Scofield’s mission for Poseidon is never revealed, as the story only concerns itself with Michael’s flight to safety, and his personal victory over Poseidon.

Scofield was there in Yemen at a prison inhabited by local ISIL leader Abu Ramal. He must have been working on a secret mission related to the terrorist organization somehow. Given that his boss, Poseidon, was ultimately working against the CIA, the true motives behind the mission could even have been favorable to ISIL in one form or another. Unfortunately, the truth about Scofield’s mission for Poseidon is never revealed, as the story only concerns itself with Michael’s flight to safety, and his personal victory over Poseidon, who turns out to be the new husband of his ex-wife.

The Problem With Bringing Michael Scofield Back In A Prison Break Reboot

His Season 5 Ending Sets Him Up For A Quiet Retirement

Wentworth Miller as Michael Scofield and Sarah Wayne Callies as Sara Tancredi in Prison Break.

Given Prison Break season 5’s triumphant ending for Michael Scofield, in which he’s reunited with his wife and son at the start of a happy life with them, it’d be hard for the show to return to the character for its reboot. All the loose ends around Scofield have been tied up, and it appears that he’s finally able to live the happy and peaceful life all heroes deserve at the end of their journey. His final line as a character in Prison Break sums things up nicely, as he tells his wife Sara simply, “I love you.”

The Prison Break reboot would end up tying itself in knots trying to undo the threads that season 5 seemed to tie up for good. As Wentworth Miller himself looks to have realized, it’s best that Michael Scofield is left alone, to enjoy a life free from prison infiltrations and escapes. Otherwise, the show would be right back where it started.