Featured Image Credit: FOX Image Collection via Getty Images
Topics: Film and TV, Hulu, LGBTQ, Twitter, Instagram, Social Media, US News
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Film and TV, Hulu, LGBTQ, Twitter, Instagram, Social Media, US News
Attention, Prison Break fans!
Reports emerged this week claiming that the widely-adored and hotly-discussed jailbird drama series is being rebooted.
Despite having bagged multiple awards during its TV stint - including the People's Choice - as well as two Golden Globe nominations, not everyone is overjoyed by the news of the show's return.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, producers at Hulu - the channel behind the likes of The Kardashians and The Handmaid's Tale - are looking to lock down a new take on the behind-bars series.
The publication reports that Hulu bosses are working with producer Elgin James - the mastermind behind the likes of Mayans MC for the new series.
And despite the original show - which ran between 2005 and 2017 - famously being fronted by Wentworth Miller, who plays lead character Michael Schofield, the actor has reportedly shut down rumours he'd ever return to the fictional Fox River State Penitentiary.
The critically-acclaimed actor appearing in all five seasons of the show as Michael - deliberately gets himself sent to prison to break his elder brother - Lincoln Burrows, played by Dominic Purcell - out.
But many fans of the show have been disappointed to learn of the reboot, after Wentworth confirmed in 2020 that he has no plans to come back.
In a lengthy post on Instagram, he responded to homophobic comments made by trolls, by simultaneously insisting he'd never return to the show.
"On a related note… I’m out. Of PB. Officially," he wrote at the time. "Not bec of static on social media (although that has centered the issue). I just don’t want to play straight characters. Their stories have been told (and told).
"So. No more Michael. If you were a fan of the show, hoping for additional seasons… I understand this is disappointing. I’m sorry. If you’re hot and bothered bec you fell in love with a fictional straight man played by a real gay one…That’s your work. – W.M.”
And it is Wentworth's absence from the upcoming series that appears to have left a multitude of Prison Break fans sceptical.
"Who wants a Prison Break reboot? Who wants a Prison Break reboot without the old characters?" one fan wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Another hit out: "Why is it so hard for studios to try to create something original? Does everything have to be either a reboot or a story 'in the same universe' but with new characters? As a big Prison Break stan i hope this flops cause the characters were the main reason people tuned in".
"If you are a fan of the show (first two seasons were great, by the way) it will be good news, but was it really necessary to reboot a tv show that has been ‘dead’ for quite some time now?" a third asked.