Actors Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell talk to BuzzFeed News about the show that brought them together, reuniting as villains on The CW’s superhero series, and their plan for more Prison Break.
Cate Cameron/The CW
The CW's The Flash has tapped one of the most popular television pairings in recent memory to play a duo of sinister villains. Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell, who starred as incarcerated brothers Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows on Fox's Prison Break from 2005 to 2009, will reunite as Captain Cold and Heat Wave, beginning with the Jan. 20 episode of The Flash.
Miller already made his debut on The CW's freshman superhero series last year, playing Leonard Snart (aka Captain Cold). But next week, he'll officially be joined by Purcell, who takes on the role of Snart's cohort, Mick Rory aka Heat Wave. While fans are looking forward to seeing Miller and Purcell team up once more, the actors themselves are even more excited, considering they had not seen one another since Prison Break ended more than five years ago.
At the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena, California, following a recent joint panel for The Flash and Arrow, Miller and Purcell sat down with BuzzFeed News to look back on the four seasons they spent behind (fictional) bars. They also talked about the hard lessons they learned about typecasting, how they came to love their inextricable association with those characters, what it felt like to work together again, and why we may not have seen the last of Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows just yet.
Purcell and Miller on Prison Break Season 1.
20th Century Fox, Courtesy: Everett Collection
It's been more than five years since the Prison Break series finale. With that distance, how do you feel about your time on the series?
Wentworth Miller: Working on a one-hour drama is like throwing down track right in front of the train. We were in the business of cranking out great material for 81 episodes and it took everything I had. Then, the show was done and I was ready to move forward and put it behind me. Recently, I did a Q&A at a college campus and I showed up expecting the crowd to be interested in what I'm up to — my writing, various things that are present tense. But the only thing they wanted to talk about was Prison Break. And everyone in the room was 17, 18 years old, so they were just coming to it. For them, the show is present tense. And that hammered home for me that, because of technology and social media, this stuff has a second life.
Dominic, do you find that to be true as well?
Dominic Purcell: The films I have done are completely redundant. I am Lincoln Burrows forever.
How do you feel about that?
DP: After the show, I had a problem with it. But now I embrace it because I realize what a wonderful opportunity it was and what a great thing is was to be part of that great show, a show that people really loved and still do, you know? There's not a day that goes by where I don't hear, "You're the guy from Prison Break! I love that show." You just have to embrace it. I'm very humbled by Prison Break's success.
Do you get similar reactions, Wentworth?
WM: I have people calling me Michael left and right. As an actor, I had, naturally, I think, some concerns. How do I distance myself from this iconic character? And it's one of the beautiful things about our current situation — it didn't really factor into my thinking at all that by signing on to play Captain Cold, by him signing on to play Heat Wave, this will move us farther away from Michael and Lincoln than a million legal procedurals ever would.
DP: Ever. It's also very unique that two actors get an opportunity to play characters, like Michael and Lincoln, who become iconic, and now we're playing two iconic roles again. We're very fortunate. It's wonderful.
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