How many times can Michael Scofield break out of jail? That’s the question FOX executives are asking themselves as they try and decide if Prison Break should get a sixth season following its revival.
The current fifth season – a return after eight years off the air – is averaging a 1.1 rating in the advertiser-friendly 18-49 demo. That matches the ratings for FOX’s Lucifer and Gotham, both returning in the 2017-18 TV season.
So will Prison Break be joining them?
“We would definitely consider doing more episodes,” Dana Walden, Fox Television Group CEO, said. “I know [the producers] are thinking about it.”
It sounds as if FOX sees Prison Break as more of a limited success rather than an every-season type of show. “We want to make it special” with occasional encores, Walden said.
Prison Break isn’t the only second-chance show on FOX’s airwaves. The network also launched 24: Legacy as a spiritual sequel to Jack Bauer’s international romps. Currently, the continuation show is averaging a 1.0 rating in the target demo. Fellow Fox Television Group CEO Gary Newman said the network was “so happy with the creative” execution and with Corey Hawkins’ turn in the lead role.
“Replacing Jack Bauer is no east feat,” he said to the surprise of absolutely no one.
Hawkins, however, is currently busy with his Tony Award-nominated run in Broadway’s Six Degrees of Separation, which has clouded the possibility of any new season of 24: Legacy, though the thriller remains “very much in mix” at Fox, Newman said. And, if we’re being honest, network money talks a lot louder than Broadway’s.