Prison Break

Sarah Wayne Callies Interview

If Paul Scheuring’s statements aren’t an elaborate publicity stunt and no one double-crosses Lincoln Burrows and Michael Scofield, well, doesn’t that spell the end of Prison Break? Viewers who worried about the future of TV’s most hunky escaped convicts aren’t fretting alone. Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell are thinking about it too.

“Paul [Scheuring] never saw the show as being a seven-year thing,” Purcell says, comfortably ensconced in a Beverly Hills hotel room on a recent break from shooting in Dallas. “That was actually one of my concerns. You’ve done two great seasons and you have all these fascinating arcs within the storyline. [But] how can you maintain that spontaneity and originality?

“And they have. Season 3 is fascinating and amazing.”

Miller is equally sanguine. “I think it’s such a bold and ambitious move to take what works and throw it out the window, but we seem to be doing it each and every season.”

As Season 2 winds down, there will be a reversal of fortune for some of the main players. The challenge, Miller says, is to take as many beloved characters as possible and place them in “a new, compelling, frightening playground."

Does that mean Linc and Michael are going back into the slammer? Or should viewers expect a new prison system with a new gang of inmates? Yes, the prison factor will return, Miller says, but it doesn’t necessarily mean a one-way ticket to Fox River.

He teases, “The show is called Prison Break, so it will come full circle, but perhaps with different people on the inside and outside.”

Pressed for details, Miller looks anxious and pulls a baseball cap down on his forehead. His deep blue eyes scan the room and it’s apparent that, like Michael, he doesn’t want or need to be recognized.

I change the subject and steer the conversation to romance. Purcell says Linc will eventually have a love interest, although the part hasn’t been cast yet.

Dr. Sara Tancredi and Michael shared an intimate moment on a train early in the season, when Tancredi confessed her love and he responded, lamely, “Me too.” Are they doomed as lovers?

Not exactly, says Sarah Wayne Callies, who is pregnant (although her character isn’t). “They’re doing the best they can under the circumstances. And they’re both broken people. [In Season 3] I think they’ll have an opportunity to try and take care of one another,” she says.

Callies will be on maternity leave at the outset of Season 3, and producers have told her that Sara will return but won’t be pregnant. After a beat, Callies adds, “But this is Prison Break, and our world is nothing but lies and deceit, so you never know!”

Prison Break, Mondays, 8 p.m. ET/PT, Global/Fox