Back in 2010 - a year after Prison Break originally wrapped - series lead Wentworth Miller implied that the show was unlikely to return:

"I feel as though we told the story we intended to tell. That's something that's very rare in television - that you're allowed closure - and we were."

You can understand the sentiment, since series finale The Final Break had left Miller's character - aesthetically pleasing, plentifully tattooed architect Michael Scofield - dead and buried.

Five years on and Miller was re-teamed with his former co-star and screen sibling Dominic Purcell on The Flash - Purcell was Heatwave, fiery familiar of Miller's Captain Cold on the superhero series, and their reunion sparked (no pun intended) new interest in Prison Break.

"I think the studio always wanted to at some point revisit Prison Break, but at some point Wentworth kind of semi-retired from the business," Purcell explained.

"He's jumped back into the fray now - and as soon as Wentworth was on board, that's when the dominos started to fall."

With buzz at a high, Fox didn't wait long to make an official announcement. In August, the network broke the news that 10 new episodes of the cult series had been ordered - later cut to nine.

Related: Prison Break creator reveals what happened to the revival's missing 10th episode: "It was a massive headache"

"I had written a long-winded road map for 10 episodes," original series creator Paul Scheuring said. "But at the end of the day, we just didn't have enough time for 10 episodes, so we conflated two of those episodes into one."

It was actor availability that led to the tight schedule, with many of the show's returning stars now working on new gigs.

Scheuring was originally announced as penning the first episode of the revival, now known as Prison Break: Resurrection - and was said to be crafting a 'series bible' for the remainder of the season.

Sarah Wayne Callies (giving us another update on the revival in February 2016) later suggested that Scheuring would be writing all nine episodes - but in fact, he's joined by Dominion creator Vaun Wilmott and Mike Horowitz of Burn Notice.

Prison Break air dates: When will it air?

Filming on the new episodes was scheduled for the spring of 2016 once Purcell and Miller had wrapped on the first season of Legends of Tomorrow - a new spin-off from The Flash in which the pair were also series regulars (busy boys!).

Prison Break season 5 will launch on Fox in the US. The premiere date? Tuesday, April 4, 2017, as part of the network's midseason schedule.

It'll land in the UK on Monday, April 10 at 9pm on Fox UK, just six days after its US premiere.

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Prison Break cast: Who's coming back?

Miller and Purcell - Michael and his burly brother Lincoln Burrows - were the first to be 100% confirmed by Fox to be taking part in the Prison Break revival.

Purcell suffered a serious on-set injury in May 2016 - but will not miss any of the new season, with his injury being written into the script.

Digital Spy broke our own Prison Break exclusive back in July 2015, when Sarah Wayne Callies - Michael's beloved Sara Tancredi - told us that she had also been contacted about reprising her role.

Six months on, Callies assured DS that she was still in talks, but that her ongoing commitment to USA series Colony required "a bit of Tetris with everyone's schedules".

After much speculation, she finally signed on officially in March 2016 - confirming the Michael / Sara reunion we've all been pining for.

The return of Amaury Nolasco - a fan favourite as Michael's kind-hearted cellmate Fernando Sucre - was first teased when Purcell posted an Instagram image - since deleted - of his old co-star with the hashtag #soon.

Mathieu Young Fox

Nolasco eventually responded with a post of his own, confirming that he'll be "back with the gang" for the new episodes - along with Rockmond Dunbar as Benjamin 'C-Note' Franklin.

And of course, Prison Break wouldn't be Prison Break without Theodore Bagwell - so it was no surprise when Robert Knepper's return as the villainous T-Bag was confirmed shortly afterward.

No word yet if T-Bag's appearance in Prison Break's long-forgotten spinoff Breakout Kings will be addressed(!) but fans can expect a "fresh" take on the notorious miscreant, who'll be "fighting his demons" in the new episodes.

Fox

"I said to Paul Scheuring, 'Please, can we keep it fresh? Can we do something that's different than what we did before?

"What has happened to Teddy in the last six years, while he was in prison? Could this person change? How could he change, and how deeply could he change, and would he stay that way?

"I came up with a lot of ideas, that Paul and I talked about - and I think he utilised them a lot."

Fox

Paul Adelstein - a memorable antagonist as ruthless Kellerman, till he switched sides to help our heroes - also signed up for more in March 2016... though who knows which side he'll be on this time?

One character not returning for the new episodes is Alexander Mahone (William Fichtner), with Robert Knepper revealing to Digital Spy that writer Scheuring didn't know where else to take the troubled character.

Everett / REX 20th Century Fox

"He didn't want to just bring everybody back, so that the audience go, 'Oh, look, it's Bill Fichtner again!' – he honestly thought, 'I'm not sure where to do that in the plot'.

"So if someday there's another chapter of this, maybe then Bill will be back. But I think the characters that are there, each of our moments that we have, are key to the storytelling, which is how it should be."

A few new faces have also been announced for the new season - and the casting of Royal Pains actor Mark Feuerstein is bad news for Sara and Michael shippers.

His character Scott Ness is reportedly married to Dr Tancredi in the new Prison Break - so even if Michael's alive, his romance with Sara might well have expired. *sob*

Fox

Lincoln's also getting a little 'lovin - activist Sheba (Inbar Lavi) will follow in the ill-fated footsteps of Veronica Donovan and Sofia Lugo as his latest romantic interest.

Firing up even more '00s nostalgia is the casting of The Fast and the Furious baddie Rick Yune as Ja - a genius identity thief. Will he help Michael to return to the land of the living?

Kick-Ass 2 actor Augustus Prew - playing a character called Whip - and newcomer Amin El Gamal - cast as 'Cyclops' - are also on board.

Rounding off the cast of newbies are Torchwood actress Marina Benedict - cast as oddly-monikered villainess 'A&W' - and Kunal Sharma - playing Sid, an "artsy" prison inmate jailed for his sexuality.

Prison Break season 5 plot: What happened in episode one?

The first chapter of Resurrection saw T-Bag released from Fox River – and gifted a new prosthetic hand – by a mysterious benefactor. He was also given one more gift - snaps of Michael Scofield, alive and well seven years after his supposed demise.

FOX Broadcasting Co.

T-Bag took the news to Michael's brother Lincoln Burrows, who – along with old ally C-Note – travelled to Yemen, where Michael is being held prisoner within the walls of Ogygia, the country's most notorious jail.

But when the siblings are finally reunited, Michael – now sporting a new set of tattoos – pretends not to know Linc. What is he up to?

Prison Break season 5 plot: What happened in episode two?

While Linc and C-Note faced off with Isil, Michael plotted to escape Ogygia with his new sidekick Whip. But he also appears to be in league with a nefarious terrorist - has Scofield gone to the dark side?

Ed Araquel / FOX

Looking for answers about her estranged husband's fate, Sara was forced to turn to an unlikely ally - Kellerman. Now heading up the US state department (because of course he is), the former hitman revealed that Michael's been implicated in the execution of a high-ranking CIA official... yikes!

Prison Break season 5 plot: What happened in episode three?

2017 FOX Broadcasting Co.

'The Liar' revealed that - of course - Michael hadn't really gone rogue. He's in Ogygia on a mission for the CIA, who want terrorist Abu Ramal broken out for their own political reasons.

Michael's latest escape attempt went awry though, leaving him right back where he started. Meanwhile, Sara continued to be pursued by shady goons - and had her phone hacked, apparently by Kellerman. Is he breaking bad again?

Prison Break season 5 plot: What happened in episode four?

Fox

'The Prisoner's Dilemma' seriously upped the stakes. Michael and his crew were able to escape Ogygia and reunite with Lincoln, but after killing Ramal, our heroes now have the whole of Isil on hot on their heels.

The episode also delivered two enormous twists - first, long-serving character Kellerman was brutally killed by terrorists. Second, the "murderous CIA rogue" behind both his murder and Michael's imprisonment was revealed to be... Jacob Ness, Sara's new husband!

Prison Break season 5 plot: What happened in episode five?

2017 FOX Broadcasting Co.

'Contingency' finally revealed why Michael faked his death, rewriting the end of the original series in the process.

Mere weeks before his wedding to Sara, Michael was approached by the rogue CIA operative Poseidon and warned that everyone he loves would be thrown back behind bars unless he did exactly what he was told. Michael refused, which led to Sara being incarcerated – as seen in 'The Final Break' TV movie – and this was enough to convince him to submit.

In the present day, Michael and his crew missed a flight which would've provided their one viable means of escape, with C-Note being forced to abandon his friends in Yemen.

Meanwhile, back in the US, Sara confronted Jacob - who was able to provide a solid explanation for his apparently treacherous behaviour. But if he's not Poseidon... who is?

Prison Break season 5 plot: What happened in episode six?

FOX

Set almost entirely in Yemen, 'Phaecia' followed Michael and the gang's efforts to reach the titular town - a safe haven from Isil, as well as the CIA and NSA (who'd pooled resources to hunt the fugitives down).

Along the way, Michael was split up from his friends and ended up in a brutal scuffle with the villain Cyclops. While the terrorist ended up losing his one remaining eye, Michael was also seriously wounded and was on the brink of death when he reunited with his friends.

Before sustaining his injury, Michael had been communicating with a mysterious figure in the US - revealed to be an Elvis impersonator (yes, really) when located by Poseidon's goons. What's going on there?

Prison Break season 5 plot: What happened in episode seven?

FOX

With Michael in need of a blood transfusion after being poisoned by Cyclops, Sara raced to Greece - where our heroes were now hiding out - to be at his bedside.

But their happy reunion was cut short when Michael revealed some devastating news: Jacob Ness is Poseidon after all. Sara returned to the US hoping to secure her and Michael's son - Mike Jr - but he was already in Poseidon's clutches.

Meanwhile, Lincoln called on old friend Sucre - now working on a cargo ship - to secure safe passage back to the US. But when Michael's fugitive status is exposed, the Navy descends on the ship - our heroes leaping into the sea just moments before the craft is sunk by missile!

Prison Break season 5 plot: What happened in episode eight?

Ed Araquel / FOX

Having survived the explosion, Michael and the gang arrive in Marseilles, France - where Scofield twigs that Sara and his son are in danger.

Luca Abruzzi - mobster son of John Abruzzi - aids them in their return to the US, believing that Lincoln will repay a debt he owes, but the brothers betray him.

Michael is able to track his wife and Mike Jr. to a lake house in Michigan, but realises too late that Jacob / Poseidon has led him into a trap. Lincoln's fate is also left up in the air after Luca catches up with him and apparently guns him down.

Whip's true identity - and Michael's reason for recruiting him in the first place - is also revealed. Believe it or not, the snarky crook is T-Bag's son. Blimey.

Prison Break season 5 plot: What happened in episode nine, the finale?

FOX

Michael is finally able to bring Poseidon down - leading the villain into a recreation of the murder of CIA deputy director Harlan Gaines. Ness had previously framed Michael for the crime, but now Scofield has photographic evidence of Jacob (apparently) killing Gaines.

He's "re-framed" Ness for the crime he actually committed in the first place - following?

This, plus a sample of Gaines's blood planted in Poseidon's office, is enough to secure his arrest, with the CIA exonerating Michael for all previous crimes.

He and Lincoln - who'd survived the shooting - retire to play happy families with their lady loves, Sara and Sheba. But a much less pleasant fate awaits Jacob Ness.

He's sent to Michael's old stomping grounds of Fox River, with T-Bag as his cellmate - and Teddy's out for revenge after Whip was killed by one of Poseidon's goons...

Prison Break season 5 spoilers: What happens next?

In January 2015, Fox Television Group chairman Gary Newman stressed that while there were no immediate plans to bring Prison Break back, he would revive the hit series "in a heartbeat."

"There is some speculation in the press about Prison Break, which honestly was news to us," Newman told the press, before warming to the idea of a comeback - seemingly mid-speech.

"It's probably the perfect event series," he acknowledged. "If our old partners in that show are interested, that would be great."

Fox

Five months later, reports emerged that Fox was now seriously eyeing a potential limited series revival, "with a self-contained storyline".

"I would describe it as a bit of a sequel," Fox Television Group co-chair Dana Walden said. "It picks up with the characters several years after we left them in the show. The brothers will be back."

Yes, both brothers - the late Mr Scofield will feature in the revival: "The [concept] that I've heard [for his resurrection] is completely brilliant, so people will be fine," Purcell insisted.

Walden reiterated that the revival will provide "a logical and believable explanation to why the characters are alive and still moving around the world".

Fox

Our most concrete plot synopsis arrived along with Callies' casting in March 2016: "When clues surface suggesting that Michael may be alive, Sara teams with Lincoln to engineer the series' biggest escape ever."

The first official teaser for the new episodes gives away a little more: it's T-Bag of all people who brings shocking intel to Lincoln, suggesting that Michael "might just be alive".

Scofield is indeed holed up in a grim-looking foreign prison - and of course he's plotting an escape, sending cryptic messages to Lincoln and C-Note to secure his exit, post-haste.

A second trailer - released in January 2017 - reveals a few extra snippets, confirming that Michael was keeping tabs on Sara and his son during his 'absence' and that Sucre and C-Note volunteer to join the mission to get him back.

(Plus: T-Bag gets a new prosthetic hand... and there's a whole heap of ass-kicking)

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Fox aired one more promo during the 2017 Super-Bowl, with hundreds of millions of viewers glimpsing a newly-resurrected Michael, fighting tooth and nail to stay alive:

So how did Michael end up behind bars... again? "Obviously we left off [the original series] with Michael presumably dead - he wasn't, he ended up working for this organisation," Purcell revealed in June 2016.

Said organisation is (twist!) a terrorist group - with the new season "dealing with ISIS" and "what's going on in the world today with terrorism."

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"This version [of the series] is more worldly, it's heavy shit," Purcell warned. "The first season was heavy, but this is real heavy shit, because we're dealing with ISIS, we're dealing with ISIL.

"And on top of that as the background, I'm trying to get my brother out of a Yemen prison - one of the worst prisons in the world. So you have all that going on - it's on another level."

As for Michael's state of mind, after years of working for a terrorist cell? "It's been seven years and he's walked a dark road," hinted Miller.

"He's been up to some not so nice things and there's a question as to whether or not he's even qualified to be considered a good man.

"Has he crossed the line in a way that he can never come back? That's at the heart of the story we're currently telling."

Purcell also dropped a big spoiler about the brother's latest escape attempt...

"Basically, the regime in Yemen had collapsed, it was in complete chaos and turmoil, and the gates were open so all the prisoners were released. And I'm running in trying to get through and find Michael, and I can't..."

Fox

If you don't mind spoilers, the first 5 minutes of Prison Break: Resurrection are here for your enjoyment:

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Related: Prison Break stars are open to season 6 – but will the show's creator stop it from happening?

Prison Break season 6: Will it be back... again?

One last hurrah? In July 2016, Scheuring confirmed that Prison Break would not return a second time, following the events of the new mini-series.

"Nobody wants to revive this thing for multiple seasons," he said in July 2016, insisting that the revival will "tell a concise, closed-ended story in nine episodes".

He later clarified his position, adding: "Part of the problem with the original show was that we had to keep flapping our wings and keep extending.

"I feel like the fans suffered for that, because as some point, you run out of narrative and you start making up stuff that's lesser quality."

Related:Prison Break boss says he'd "bet against" season 6, because he's run out of ideas

But Scheuring later relaxed a little, implying that he might still be open to more Prison Break, if he can come up with the right story.

Fox

"We as a group have to arrive at a story that we feel is worth telling. Creative integrity is really important and if we could arrive at a story that we felt was worthwhile… then it's possible."

"It all comes from Fox ultimately. Another season wouldn't happen unless they felt it was within their interest."

Lead actor Miller has also suggested that fans shouldn't give up all hope of further adventures, telling Digital Spy: "There's always room for more, in my mind. As long as it's a story that's worth telling, as long as it feels justified and cool and edgy.

"It has to be something that's not going to let the fans down, that's going to satisfy and surprise. I'm open to the conversation."

"I've thought that the door for Prison Break has closed for me personally so many times," Sarah Wayne Callies said in May 2017. "I'm not even going to think about whether or not it's open or closed now because I keep being wrong."

Speaking at Fox's Upfront presentation that same month, CEO Dana Walden said the network "would definitely consider doing more episodes" and confirmed that the production team "are thinking about it".

But don't expect a new season in 2018: Fox is keen to have Prison Break remain a "special" event, with the possibility of another mini-series in a few years' time.

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