Talk about upshot: The last female star on Prison Break got
beheaded; the next might get her own series.
Fox is reportedly plotting a Prison Break spinoff that
would take place at a women's penitentiary and follow a new
character who's expected to make her debut later this season on the
serialized thriller.
A source close to Prison Break tells E! Online that
producers have been trying to cast the role for several weeks but,
with shooting on her episodes rapidly approaching, an actress still
hasn't been found.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the network has
ordered a pilot for the spinoff, tentatively titled Prison
Break: Cherry Hill, revolving around a woman named Molly.
Described as an upper-middle-class wife, Molly will become an ally
of Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) as he attempts to escape
from Panama's deadly Sona prison.
She is an avowed enemy of the Company, the same shadowy
government organization that has been out to get Michael and his
brother, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), since Prison Break
debuted.
"There is an ironic similarity between Molly and Michael --
they're both emotionally banged up, both have lost loved ones, and
both want the people responsible to pay -- so they empathize with
each other," executive producer Matt Olmstead explains in the
Reporter.
Cherry Hill would then pick up with Molly serving her own life
sentence. She plans her own breakout after getting word some of her
loved ones might still be alive.
"In a moment's time, she is transformed from an unapologetic
murderer to a motivated woman who would do anything to get out of
prison and be with them," adds Olmstead, who's writing the script
with coexecutive producer Zack Estrin. The spinoff is the
brainchild of Olmstead, Estrin and fellow Prison Break
executive producer Dawn Parouse.
The challenge for producers is how to seamlessly integrate
Molly's storyline into Prison Break's increasingly intricate plot
while laying the foundation for a new, wholly separate prime-time
vehicle.
This season on Prison Break, the Company kidnaps
Lincoln's son, L.J., and Michael's love interest, Sara Tancredi, to
coerce the men into breaking out another inmate from the
maximum-security Latin American penal complex.
To speed up the work, a Company operative known only as Susan B.
Anthony had Tancredi killed and her head delivered in a box—a
gruesome and abrupt ending to a romantic plot that had dominated
Prison Break for much of the first two seasons.
While producers are attempting the offing as a key plot
point—i.e, giving the already intense Michael more motivation—the
death was forced by offscreen machinations. Sarah Wayne Callies,
the actress who played Sara, had been embroiled in a contract
dispute.
The beheading has already sparked a backlash among show
devotees, who have lambasted Sara's sudden departure on message
boards.
The producers also need to worry about the legs of Prison
Break. The serialized plot requires fan dedication, and the
show, originally intended as a limited series, often seems to be
recycling plots or, worse, treading water. Ratings in turn have
suffered, with the show tumbling from an average 9.3 million
viewers in its inaugural 2005-06 season to 7.9 million viewers for
this third season, per Nielsen Media Research stats.
(Agencies via China Daily October 25, 2007)