Prison Break

Prison Break's Wentworth Miller: "Michael Is Twisting in the Wind"

TV Guide: What's it like being back in jail after a season on the run?
Wentworth Miller: I think it adds something to the show. The first season had a claustrophobic feel, an intimacy — like a space you wanted to break out of. The second season, you never knew what you were going to get, which served the series.

TV Guide: Is it hard being on a show that reinvents itself each season?
Miller: That's the good news. I love shows like Law&Order and The Closer, procedural dramas where the only thing that changes week to week is how the victim dies. They're self-contained and there is justice meted out in the end. But if I were on one, I might get burned out after a few seasons. We pride ourselves on taking risks, but they are risks — you might turn your show into something no one wants to watch.

TV Guide: How does this instability affect Michael?
Miller: Michael has come a long way. He's lost a lot of his bravado, his arrogance. He's more suspicious, less trusting. He's twisting in the wind, but up to more tricks and likely to make more enemies.

TV Guide: And that gives you a lot of fun bad guys to play against, right?
Miller: That's the danger of working with these veteran character actors — they really know what they're doing. It's a battle not to get blown off the screen. Our show does villains really well, and I get stuck with the exposition. To be the one who's always earnest, always sincere, is not glamorous, but it is absolutely necessary.

TV Guide: There's an adage that you can never step in the same river twice. Does Michael's life seem that way — like he'll never be able to undo what he's done?
Miller: His journey is very much about how many times a good guy can cross the line before he can no longer call himself good. He's taken responsibility for letting people like T-Bag free, and being in prison again is helping him atone for his sins. He isn't about self-preservation so much as self-sacrifice. He is self-destructive. As much as he planned all this, he's never been very good at it. He did it to save his brother. It's always about love and loyalty. At its core, this is a show about brothers.

TV Guide: Do you think there's a happy ending for the brothers?
Miller: I'm not sure. Prison Break is inherently a tragic story. Every murder T-Bag committed in the second season is on Michael's conscience. I think if both brothers get out of this alive, we'd call it a happy ending. But living happily ever after? I don't know. I can see them opening a scuba shop on the beach or embracing and then parting ways. It's a toss-up.