By Stacey Harrison
One of the more anticipated aspects of A&E’s hit new series Breakout Kings was the promised return of Robert Knepper to the role of T-Bag, which he rode to such acclaim for four seasons on Prison Break. Viewers will finally get to see the infamous character’s return in this Sunday’s episode “The Bag Man,” which finds T-Bag having escaped from prison and making a run for Canada. When I spoke to creator Nick Santora (who also worked on Prison Break) last month, he gushed about getting Knepper back into the role, calling the episode “amazing,” and he spoke about how he and co-creator Matt Olmstead reached out to their old friend:
“We said, ‘We’re interested in doing this episode, in bringing T-Bag back to life,’ and his basic attitude was, ‘I trust you guys. The only thing he requested was— actually I don’t want to say what he requested, because it gives away the ending. But he said, ‘I trust you guys and I know whatever you come up with will be great. You protected me for four years on Prison Break, and protected T-Bag.'”
Santora then said that Knepper was more than pleased with the results.
“He sent me a really nice e-mail after it was over and said it was the most amazing, surreal experience of his acting career, and that was the greatest compliment that we could’ve gotten. We know that Prison Break fans are going to love the episode. You don’t need to have ever seen a Prison Break episode to like it, but if you’ve seen Prison Break, and you’re a fan of the T-Bag character, you absolutely can’t miss this episode. It’s just great to see him back in his element, doing his thing, being his badass self, and at the end it actually really wraps up and puts a nice button on the T-Bag character.”
Breakout Kings airs Sundays at 10pm on A&E.
Photo: Credit: Michael Gibson