Prison Break Stunner: Sarah Wayne Callies Returns! - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Brian Damage · 03-27-2008, 04:01 PM

Prison Break fans, prepare to seriously lose your heads.

Sarah Wayne Callies — whose rather ugly contract dispute with producers led to her apparent decapitation last October — is returning next season. Full-time. As Dr. Sara Tancredi. Head and all. Seriously.

How? Why? When? WTF?! All legitimate questions. Good thing I just hung up with Mr. Answer Man (aka executive producer Matt Olmstead).

So... I take it that wasn't Sara's head in that box...
Matt Olmstead: Yeah, that wasn't.

But initially it was supposed to be her head. What changed?
Olmstead: What changed was.... once we realized that the emotional hook of Season 3 was going to be the death of Sara, when we didn't get the actress to do it, as soon as we wrote it and shot it, we realized that there was actually a way she could still be alive. Lincoln glanced at the head in the box for a split second. That could've been anyone. He wasn't about to pull it up from the hair and inspect it closely. And then we were fairly careful thereafter of references we made to that and who took credit for it and what was seen or heard, and we left it fairly [vague]. But initially when we realized that we never actually saw the character get killed, we just had that knowledge in our back pocket and moved forward with the narrative as we intended. Which was, she's out of the picture, Michael's guilt and Lincoln is freaking out because if they did that to her they could do that to his son. It really gave us a real push for the season.

Don't you think that was a little unfair to the audience — particularly fans of Dr. Sara — to jerk them around like this? They had every reason to believe she was dead.
Olmstead: I don't think it was unfair, because it gave us some real juice storytelling-wise, because it put teeth in the antagonists. Obviously, they were capable of killing somebody now. It also gave us a couple of episodes where Lincoln withheld the information from Michael, and that gave us conflict with the brothers. But also, what were we really going to do? Were we going to see Sarah Wayne Callies tied to a chair for 13 episodes? And then if she broke free, what is she really doing? It was almost a disservice to that character to keep her around last season. Certainly, we could have put her on a cruise ship and she's off sailing away. But we felt if we're going to lose that character, why not get the most drama out of it. We didn't look at it in terms of we were trying to tell the audience to go, you know, do something to themselves.

What role did the fan response to Dr. Sara's death play in her return?
Olmstead: It factored in. It was kind of a confluence of events. We saw on the message boards that a lot of fans were wondering if she really was dead. And then that led to conversations of, "Well, what if she isn't?" But then we put that on the backburner and moved forward with what we had to do, because it wasn't anything that could be dealt with right then. And then when we came back after the strike and we realized that we were not going to finish Season 3... we creatively decided to blow it all out, jump forward in the timeline and get a fresh start. And, so, when we pitched that, a lot of those elements remained, but we were still looking for what that emotional core was for Michael. We were kind of exactly where we were in the beginning of Season 3, which led to her demise, quote unquote. So we went back and revisited [the idea of bringing her back to life]. And once we started talking about it, it was mentioned again that fans are still wondering about her. And when people who are fans of the show — and of Sarah — are asking, "Is she really dead?", what they're saying, essentially, is, "I hope she's not dead."

http://community.tvguide.com/blog-en...ison/800036399

AB · 03-27-2008, 05:43 PM

Well at least they're not saying it was all a dream. lol!

Mr. Television · 03-27-2008, 08:14 PM

Wow this is good news. Some people on PB are not replaceable.

GOB42 · 07-06-2008, 10:37 AM

all i can say is wow

03-27-2008, 04:01 PM	#1
Brian Damage I'm Rich Bitch Forum Icon Join Date: Feb 03, 2002 Location: What Ain't No Country I Ever Heard Of...They Speak English in What? Posts: 63,108	Prison Break Stunner: Sarah Wayne Callies Returns! Prison Break fans, prepare to seriously lose your heads. Sarah Wayne Callies — whose rather ugly contract dispute with producers led to her apparent decapitation last October — is returning next season. Full-time. As Dr. Sara Tancredi. Head and all. Seriously. How? Why? When? WTF?! All legitimate questions. Good thing I just hung up with Mr. Answer Man (aka executive producer Matt Olmstead). So... I take it that wasn't Sara's head in that box... Matt Olmstead: Yeah, that wasn't. But initially it was supposed to be her head. What changed? Olmstead: What changed was.... once we realized that the emotional hook of Season 3 was going to be the death of Sara, when we didn't get the actress to do it, as soon as we wrote it and shot it, we realized that there was actually a way she could still be alive. Lincoln glanced at the head in the box for a split second. That could've been anyone. He wasn't about to pull it up from the hair and inspect it closely. And then we were fairly careful thereafter of references we made to that and who took credit for it and what was seen or heard, and we left it fairly [vague]. But initially when we realized that we never actually saw the character get killed, we just had that knowledge in our back pocket and moved forward with the narrative as we intended. Which was, she's out of the picture, Michael's guilt and Lincoln is freaking out because if they did that to her they could do that to his son. It really gave us a real push for the season. Don't you think that was a little unfair to the audience — particularly fans of Dr. Sara — to jerk them around like this? They had every reason to believe she was dead. Olmstead: I don't think it was unfair, because it gave us some real juice storytelling-wise, because it put teeth in the antagonists. Obviously, they were capable of killing somebody now. It also gave us a couple of episodes where Lincoln withheld the information from Michael, and that gave us conflict with the brothers. But also, what were we really going to do? Were we going to see Sarah Wayne Callies tied to a chair for 13 episodes? And then if she broke free, what is she really doing? It was almost a disservice to that character to keep her around last season. Certainly, we could have put her on a cruise ship and she's off sailing away. But we felt if we're going to lose that character, why not get the most drama out of it. We didn't look at it in terms of we were trying to tell the audience to go, you know, do something to themselves. What role did the fan response to Dr. Sara's death play in her return? Olmstead: It factored in. It was kind of a confluence of events. We saw on the message boards that a lot of fans were wondering if she really was dead. And then that led to conversations of, "Well, what if she isn't?" But then we put that on the backburner and moved forward with what we had to do, because it wasn't anything that could be dealt with right then. And then when we came back after the strike and we realized that we were not going to finish Season 3... we creatively decided to blow it all out, jump forward in the timeline and get a fresh start. And, so, when we pitched that, a lot of those elements remained, but we were still looking for what that emotional core was for Michael. We were kind of exactly where we were in the beginning of Season 3, which led to her demise, quote unquote. So we went back and revisited [the idea of bringing her back to life]. And once we started talking about it, it was mentioned again that fans are still wondering about her. And when people who are fans of the show — and of Sarah — are asking, "Is she really dead?", what they're saying, essentially, is, "I hope she's not dead." http://community.tvguide.com/blog-en...ison/800036399
	__________________ The Key to the Kingdom of Heaven: John 3:3 *Money Doesn't Buy Happiness...But I'd Rather Cry in My Private Jet*

03-27-2008, 08:14 PM	#3
Mr. Television 22 Years at Sitcoms Online Forum Icon Join Date: Jun 06, 2003 Location: Somewhere you're Not Posts: 62,128	Wow this is good news. Some people on PB are not replaceable.
	__________________ Sonny

07-06-2008, 10:37 AM	#4
GOB42 Come On! Occasional Poster Join Date: Jul 06, 2008 Location: IL Posts: 47	all i can say is wow
	__________________ Sam Winchester: Why'd you let me fall asleep? Dean Winchester: Because I am an awesome brother. What did you dream about? Sam Winchester: Lollipops and candycanes.

03-27-2008, 05:43 PM	#2
AB Member Eternal Member Forum Icon Join Date: Dec 26, 2006 Location: The South Posts: 59,429	Well at least they're not saying it was all a dream. lol!