In the age of nostalgia, a former successful crime drama from the 2000s has found new life on Hulu. Deadline reports it has picked up a pilot order for a reboot of the 2005 drama Prison Break. The series originally aired on FOX from 2005 to 2009. The new series will be helmed by FX's Mayans M.C. co-creator Elgin James.
According to Deadline, Prison Break will be James' first major project since FX's Sons of Anarchy spinoff, Mayans M.C., ended last year after five seasons. He was also the steerer of The Outlaws, a three-season series from BBC and Prime Video.
The original series followed a twisted tale of injustice as two brothers fought law and order to clear their names. Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell, later stars of The CW's DC's Legends of Tomorrow, played brothers Micahel Scofield and Lincoln Burrows, respectively. When Lincoln is convicted on death row for a crime he didn't commit, Michael goes to desperate measures to prove his innocence. The younger brother commits robbery to be placed in the same penitentiary. For the next five seasons, viewers witnessed the duo attempt to escape imprisonment and remain free long enough to find the actual criminal. The series also starred Robert Knepper as Theodore 'T-Bag' Bawell, Wade Williams as Brad Bellick, Amaury Nolasco as Fernando Sucre, and Sarah Wayne Callies as Dr. Sarah Tancredi. The series was created by Paul Scheuring, whose other works include A Man Part and Den of Thieves.
Deadline reports the official pilot order comes nearly a year after first reports of the series being optioned for a revisit. While the reboot's plot details remain unknown, the new take will exist in the same universe with new characters as leads.
Similar to how NBCUniversal's Suits: L.A. came to fruition, a stronger interest in a continuation of the Prison Break franchise resulted from the original show's strong performance on streaming. According to Deadline, the show's limited return to Netflix this summer found it atop the Nielsen ratings in August, leading each week that month. The series' combined streams on Netflix and Hulu totaled 200 million hours over 10 months in 2024.
James will executive produce the reboot with four other creatives from the original series via Deadline. Scheruing, Neal Mortiz, Marty Adelstien, and Dawn Olmstead join James under his production outfit, Sierra Drive.
Despite the series ending in 2009, this reboot will be the second attempt at a revival. In 2017, a limited revival aired during the spring, with the intentions to develop a sixth season. However, FOX abandoned that project in 2020.
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