For many people, Prison Break was one of the best TV shows of the 2000s. The gritty Fox drama, which started with two brothers attempting to escape a ruthless and heavily fortified penitentiary, checked a lot of boxes and was a lot of fun to watch. Over time, however, I fell off the chain gang and lost track of Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) and Michael Scofield’s (Wentworth Miller) journey for redemption as it grew more complex.
But now there’s news of a spinoff spearheaded by Mayans M.C. writer Elgin James that has my attention. Based on everything that I’ve read about Elgin’s new spinoff, which will be streaming with a Hulu subscription once it drops, I’m starting to think that it’ll hook me way more than the O.G. series ever did. Let me explain…
Don’t Get Me Wrong, The O.G. Series Was Great
Don’t get me wrong, the original Prison Break was a great series that pushed boundaries for network television and gave the world some of the best characters (and detestable, albeit nonsensical villains) of the 21st century. The initial hook – a man commits a robbery so that he’s sent to the same prison as his brother so he can help the wrongfully convicted man and save his life – is honestly one of the greatest premises of a TV show in the past few decades, and the execution (at least in the first two seasons) was superb. But like I said, I fell off after those initial seasons and didn’t really have a desire to finish what I started or go back to the beginning.
But The Spinoff, With Its Focus On A Prison Guard, Has Me Wondering Where This Could Go
In October 2025, Deadline reported that the new Prison Break show, which will tell a new story set in the shared universe, had been given a series order by Hulu following a successful pilot. Based on the description – a soldier-turned-corrections officer takes a job at a deadly prison to prove how far she’ll go for someone she loves – I’m left wondering where this show could be going as its story unfolds.
Is this going to be something similar to the O.G. show, where Emily Browning’s character, Cassidy, attempts to break a loved one out of prison to protect them, or will it be a situation where she’s manipulated into helping someone escape? Either way, color me intrigued; even more so with additions of Drake Rodger, Lukas Gage, Donal Logue, Margo Martindale, and Ray McKinnon to the cast.
Also, I Cannot Wait To Watch A Prison Show Crafted By Elgin James
What really has me excited for the new Prison Break series is the involvement of Elgin James, who serves as the showrunner and executive producer of the show after writing and directing the pilot. Seriously, this has me wanting to scream and shout with excitement to see what goes down.
Whether it’s his work on Mayans M.C. and The Outlaws or his role in shaping the Boston hardcore scene in the ‘90s and early 2000s, James has always had a brash, unique, and steady voice pulling from all kinds of experiences. Having spent time in prison himself (and performing some at-home surgeries like the one seen in his 2004 documentary, Boston Beatdown Vol. 2), there’s so much he can pull from with this new take on the franchise.
We won’t be seeing Prison Break on the 2025 TV schedule as production doesn’t seem to have taken off yet, but I cannot wait to see where this show goes in the very near future.