'Prison Break' revival set for 2016

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Prison Break will return as an "ultimate escapist" event series in 2016.

Fox confirmed as much in a press release after Fox Television Group chairmen Gary Newman and Dana Walden announced the news at the Television Critics Association winter press tour Friday.

Series creator Paul T. Scheuring will serve as showrunner, with original executive producers Marty Adelstein and Dawn Olmstead to also return. Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell will reprise Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows, despite Michael's apparent death in the TV movie Prison Break: the Final Break.

"We all who watched the show and loved it thought that Michael had died," Newman acknowledged. "Paul Scheuring came in with a great twist that explains that he didn't die, and what he's been doing in the interim."

"The story unravels on an international landscape, it's not a domestic show," Walden added. "I'm hoping we'll see many of the great characters from that season return throughout the season. It has all the twists and turns you've come to expect from that show."

Newman didn't know if other details, like Michael's brain tumor, will be addressed, but said the revival will begin shooting in April. The limited series is expected to broadcast during the 2016-17 television season, and will consist of 8-10 episodes.

Prison Break originally had a four-season run from 2005 to 2009. The series begins with Michael helping Lincoln escape from prison, and follows the brothers through Michael's subsequent imprisonment and dealings with the sinister Company.

Miller and Purcell presently play Leonard Snart, aka Captain Cold, and Mick Rory, aka Heat Wave, on The CW series The Flash, and will reprise the roles on spinoff DC's Legends of Tomorrow. The new show co-stars Caity Lotz and will premiere Jan. 21.