The Truth Behind Michael Scofield’s Death and Return
Michael Scofield returned in Prison Break season 5 after dying in season 4, leading many to question Michael’s death in Prison Break and how he came back. Season 5 saw Michael (Wentworth Miller) reunite with Lincoln (Dominic Purcell), Sara (Sarah Wayne Callies), T-Bag (Robert Knepper), C-Note (Rockmond Dunbar), and Sucre (Amaury Nolasco) for another breakout scheme.
The premiere of Prison Break season 5 started with Wentworth Miller’s distinctive voice, saying, “I died seven years ago,” with it transpiring that he’s still alive and stuck in a Yemen prison. Prison Break is grounded in reality, so the question of how Michael returned from the dead in a Middle Eastern jail after seven years created questions.
Prison Break features plenty of daring escapes, many orchestrated by Scofield himself. As fans of the show know, if anyone were to make a miraculous comeback after a carefully planned fake death, it would be Michael Scofield. However, the fact his death seemed so definite before season 5 means there’s still confusion about whether Michael Scofield died in Prison Break.
Michael Was Dying From A Brain Tumor In Prison Break Season 4
Michael Scofield spent Prison Break seasons 1-3 in seemingly perfect health. It was even a plot point in Prison Break season 1 when he had to trick Sara into believing that he was diabetic to gain regular access to the infirmary. However, Prison Break season 4 threw Michael Scofield a nasty twist, as it was discovered that Michael was dying.
Michael’s health is first called into question in the second episode of the season, “Breaking & Entering”. The episode ends with Michael, much to his surprise, getting a nosebleed. These nosebleeds become more regular and are soon accompanied by severe headaches, even passing out from the pain. At first, Michael hid his deteriorating health from Lincoln and Sara, but eventually, they found out.
Lincoln was appalled by Michael’s deceit. In episode 7, “Find The Hard Way”, he discusses Michael’s health with Trancredi, likening it to their teen years and their mother’s health issues. Lincoln reveals that their mother had similar problems before dying at 31 from an aneurysm – roughly the same age that Michael first started showing symptoms.
Michael is taken a hospital after collapsing Prison Break season 4, episode 10, “The Legend”. He is diagnosed with hypothalamic hamartoma; a brain tumor requiring immediate surgery. However, he refuses to get the surgery, as he is too busy dealing with the Prison Break antagonist, The Company, and the conspiracy that he, Lincoln, and Sara are attempting to uncover.
Michael Goes Into Remission In Prison Break Season 4
For a while during Prison Break season 4, Michael gets Sara to treat him to ensure he’s able to continue their work. However, he collapses while attempting to take Scylla (the information that everyone wants), and The Company kidnaps him and takes him to their facility. They explain they can treat him thanks to their advanced medical research.
The Company promises to operate and save Michael, but only if Lincoln retrieves Scylla for them. The Company operates on Michael in episode 14 of Preason Break season 4, “Going Under”, using an experimental procedure that has worked in the past, but that is still largely untested. As Sara watches, Michael starts to flatline.
However, all is not lost. The Company inject a mysterious serum is injected into his brain, allowing him to recover. What’s more, the procedure helps him to understand elements of Prison Break‘s original central conspiracy that he didn’t before. Michael Scofield’s death in Prison Break appeared to be averted, and he seems cured when he and Sara escape.
Michael’s Sacrifice In Prison Break: The Final Break Explained
It is only in The Final Break, a TV movie special that wrapped up seasons 1-4, that the long-teased Michael Scofield death in Prison Break happened. In The Final Break, it is Sara who ends up in prison, arrested on her wedding day for a murder she committed to save Michael in the first half of the two-part special.
Once again, Michael Scofield has to come up with a plan to break someone he loves out of prison. The plan involved Michael first sneaking into the prison and then leading Sara out through underground tunnels to freedom. At the end of the tunnel, however, there is a locked door, trapping them both inside.
This is what ultimately kills Michael and ends his Prison Break odyssey. Michael reveals that he knew this was a possibility, and that he could open the door by creating a power surge to override the mechanism. It’s not a perfect solution though, as the surge will electrocute and kill Michael.
In an emotional goodbye, Michael brings two wires together, opens the door and goes down in a shower of sparks. However, his sacrifice isn’t as spontaneous as it seems. During Prison Break: The FInal Break, Sara learns Michael would have died anyway. The Company didn’t actually cure him, just delayed his death. He said that he has no regrets and that now they are all, finally, “free.”
Why Prison Break Killed Off Michael In Prison Break: The Final Break
Michael Scofield’s tragic death in Prison Break: The Final Break was a blow to the show’s characters and viewers alike, but it wasn’t without reason. Although 2017 saw Prison Break‘s revival series come to fruition, and Miller returned for season 5, this possibility wasn’t a foregone conclusion back in 2009.
Prison Break‘s writers would naturally have been looking for a way to give the show a fitting conclusion and finally end the cycle of imprisonment and prison-breaking that Michael had fallen into. While Michael Scofield’s death in Prison Break was a brutal means of offering closure, it does feel like a natural conclusion to Michael’s story.
Having been through so much, offering Michael the opportunity to make a grand gesture of love for his family is a cathartic release. Likewise, while Michael Scofield himself rarely pulled the trigger in Prison Break seasons 1-4, he did commit crimes and indirectly led to others getting hurt, thus making his death an atonement of sorts, too.
How Michael Survived In Prison Break’s Sequel Series
Naturally, the mystery of how Michael Scofield was still alive in Prison Break season 5 arose as soon as the revival series announced Wentworth Miller would return. Likewise, Prison Break season 5’s opening narration and the revelation that Michael was stuck in a Yemen prison prompted the question of how he survived.
In true Prison Break fashion, the answer comes back to conspiracy and espionage. It’s revealed in season 5, episode 5, “Contingency”, that Michael Scofield’s death in Prison Break: The Final Break was staged. Shortly before his and Sara’s wedding, Michael is approached by a rogue CIA agent, Poseidon, who asks Michael to fake his death and come work for him in exchange for his family’s freedom.
Michael’s initial refusal is what led to Sara being arrested in The Final Break, which motivated him to accept Poseidon’s offer and go off the grid. This explanation for Michael Scofield’s death-defying return in Prison Break season 5 thus neatly supplies the reasoning for both his death being faked and his seven-year absence.
How Prison Break Fans Took Michael’s Return
Given that audiences knew that Prison Break season 4 was the series’ final, viewers were prepared for some major character deaths. The show didn’t disappoint, as even the antagonist Brad Bellick (Wade Williams) had a redemption arc when he sacrificed himself for Michael and the rest of the crew.
However, nobody expected Michael to die, especially given that Michael and Sara’s ending where they live happily ever after was totally in sight. Every viewer wanted to see the happy ending that had been teased for four years, and Michael’s death was something of an upset.
As a result, Michael’s return in Prison Break season 5 was seen as a positive one. The way Michael’s death was retconned might not have been the most plausible, but Prison Break was never very realistic in the first place, especially as Sara already returned from the dead in Prison Break.
In that respect, Michael’s return was more than welcome. Michael is such a beloved character that it would have been impossible to bring back the spirit of the show without him. Additionally, as Michael returned, the genius architect was finally able to get the ending audiences wanted for him, and he, Sara, and their son lived happily ever after.
Prison Break Is Returning, But Michael Scofield Won’t (Dead Or Alive)
A Prison Break reboot is in the works, and a key question for many fans is if Wentworth Miller will resprise his role in the franchise. However, while Michael Scofield’s death in turned out to be faked, there isn’t a chance he will return. Wentworth Miller has confirmed that he wants to play a different kind of character from now on.
Back in 2020, Fox Entertainment president Michael Thorn said there was a chance for a revival (via Deadline) after Prison Break was canceled. However, while fans might want to see Miller return as Michael Scofield again, that won’t happen.
Miller heard about the rumors and let the fans know that he wouldn’t be back, writing, “I’m out. Of PB. Officially.” The reason that Miller is finished with Prison Break is because criminals like Michael Scofield aren’t a character type he’s interested in playing anymore.
He was clear that realizes this is disappointing for the fans he gained from Prison Break, but was also clear what he sees for his future – Miller no longer wants to play straight characters in movies or on TV, writing:
“If you’re hot and bothered you fell in love with a fictional straight man played by a real gay one… That’s your work”
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