"So I am glad people are excited about Sara coming back. If you go back thru Season 3 you’ll see that we intentionally did several things that would allow us to bring the character back if it was feasible production-wise. We saw an opportunity, the talented SWC was available and now we are going to have a fun time making a 4th season. Thanks for supporting the show.
Best, Nick Santora."
Source: PBreakFans
Nick Santora on Sarah Wayne Callies' Return
Posted on: 4/04/2008
Filed under: News, Nick Santora, Sarah Wayne Callies
Season 4 Confirmed!
- Nick Santora
Posted on: 3/23/2008
Filed under: News, Nick Santora
Nick answers some important questions
Why is Lincoln still running?
Linc is running from the cops because about a half dozen witnesses saw him hijack a bus in episode 11, remember? He is hardly the #1 priority in Panama considering there was just a prison break at Sona, but he sure doesn’t want to be recognized.
What is up with Mahone/Whistler?
I can’t tell you what the Mahone/Whistler conversation leads to, you’ll have to watch next season and feel free to rewatch the scene because those 2 actors play great off of each other.
So what DOES the Bird Book Contain?
I can’t tell you what Whistler’s book was really about (you’ll find out if you watch next season) but as we all learned tonight, there were no coordinates - that was all a ruse — which, if you go back and watch older episodes, you’ll see that Susan was torturing Sophia for no reason other than convincing Michael that Whister was also in a bad situation with Susan — i.e., to convince Michael that if Whistler’s true love was being tortured, then he must be an innocent pawn as well. It was all a show for Michael — a show that Whistler did not agree to — so his reaction to the torture was genuine anger, which only served to make the lie even more effective. Wow, Susan really is a bitch.
This still doesn't answer some more important questions which Nikki over at Prison Break Buff pointed out:
● How will Sona run now with T-Bag in charge?
● What is bellick’s role in T-Bag’s camp? (he looked pretty dejected at the end)
● How will Sucre react to Sona?
● Will Sucre, T-Bag and Bellick get out of Sona?
● How will Michael find Susan B?
● How do Whistler and Susan B really know each other?
● Will Whistler come back and try to get Sofia?
● Why was Mahone contacted and what is his role going to be?
● Will Lincoln and Sofia live happily ever after?
● Will everyone make it back to the States or will they settle down elsewhere?
● Will Michael ever find happiness?
● Is Kellerman really dead?
If the show doesn't return for a 4th season, then we will never know. While Nick Santora seems confident the show will return, The Boston Herald seems done with the series: "Please, don’t add another year of Prison Break to viewers’ sentence… FOX should pardon its viewers and give them early parole. We’ve done our time. We don’t need any more of this crime."
Source: PBreakFans, Prison Break Buff, The Boston Herald
Posted on: 2/19/2008
Filed under: News, Nick Santora
Santora: "I believe we will be picked up for a 4th season"
UPDATE: We are working on trying to figure out a story arc for season 4 and how it would all play out, etc. while not leaving things hanging from season 3. I am confident we will get another season. There are no guarantees, but I’d be shocked if it didn’t happen.
Source: PBreakFans
Posted on: 2/16/2008
Filed under: News, Nick Santora
Santora: "I don’t know when the next eps are going to air"
It appears the strike is effectively over, but not officially. Not to get into the details of it, but in short I can say that I am happy to be going back to work but I think the deal that the writers’ guild is taking is a bad one - the strike was far from worth it. Just because I am sick of talking about it with other writers, I am going to refrain from commenting any more on the strike or the new contract. As for the show, I will probably be back at work with my Prison Break colleagues on Wednesday, working hard on trying to figure out what the heck we are going to do with this season/show. I don’t know when the next eps are going to air or if they will be part of season 3 or season 4 or whatever. We’ll keep you posted.
Source: PBreakFans
Posted on: 2/12/2008
Filed under: News, Nick Santora
Santora: "We are going to have to readjust some plans"
Michael and Sona:
“Michael was saying that he was feeling like the animals in Sona - he was becoming one of them. He wasn’t slamming Linc.”
Linc’s a Good Guy:
“I and the other writers feel that Linc has done a lot more than just help Michael with money to pay for his education. He, in Season 2, risked his life many times for Michael’s safety. Even in Season 3, Linc was running around trying to help/find Michael before he even knew LJ was kidnapped. Linc loves Michael, would do anything for him. He’s a good guy.”
Wrapping Up the Storylines:
“We had lots and lots of plans regarding how we were going to continue this story we’ve been working so hard on for years. But the work stoppage has thrown such a monkey wrench into things that we don’t know how many eps we’re going to have to wrap up storylines, characters, etc. I promise you that we will bust our tails trying to make sure that stories are handled in a satisfying manner, but a lot of our plans will have to be rework, reconfigured, scrapped, etc. Don’t worry - we’ll make it all work, but we are going to have to readjust some plans.”
Posted on: 2/09/2008
Filed under: News, Nick Santora
Santora on the Strike (again)
As for what will happen if and when the strike is over (and let’s remember, it ain’t over yet, negotiations could continue to move deliberately or fall apart altogether), we have no idea. There are scheduling issues and production issues that are SO complicated that would have to be worked out … so I honestly can’t tell you how it would work out. We’ll all just have to wait and see. When I know, I’ll let y’all know.
Source: PBreakFans
Posted on: 2/04/2008
Filed under: News, Nick Santora
Latest From Nick Santora
Hi Everyone. I hope you’ve enjoyed the first few episodes back for PB. Rumor has it the Strike might end soon, so I wanted to touch base and let you know that there is a chance we will all be back at work soon, writing PB and getting new episodes cranked out. But the truth is, no one will know when the strike is over until it is really over officially instead of just rumors. Also, on Monday night I will be hosting the tv show “Murder By the Book” on Tru TV (the same network that used to be called Court TV) … it is on at 10pm EST. They have best selling novelists host a different episode each week. It was weird to be in front of the camera, but I really liked the crew I worked with and it was a fun life experience. If you get a chance, watch it as they asked me questions about Prison Break during an interview and thought I don’t know what parts of the interview will be used and what will be cut, the PB stuff may have made it and you guys might find some of it interesting. Hope everyone has been well and I hope that I will be able to post about NEW writing that is going on in the PB writers’ room soon when the strike hopefully ends! Best, Nick Santora.
Posted on: 2/03/2008
Filed under: News, Nick Santora
Santora: "3.08 will be the last episode of PB for what might be a long time"
Hi everyone — got up at 5am today to be on the picket lines by 6am — funny, I like and respect the people I’ve collaborated with (all the executives) at both the network and studios and the press is kind of making it seem like both sides of the strike HATE each other — not the case for me and n’ot the case for most of the people I know involved in this mess — the execs we deal with every day are not the people that are saying “Hey, the Internet is ‘too new’ and we just don’t know if it will catch on” even though projections are that the studios will make over $4.6 Billion dollars from showing episodes and films we wrote over the internet over just the next 3 years. The execs we deal with are on our team team — the team that wants PB to be as good as possible. That being said, I don’t hate anyone — except this one kid who used to hide my lunchbox on me in first grade but that’s a totally different story — I just don’t want my compensation to be reduced for my work on projects that produce billions of dollars in revenue for massive global corporations. I mean, come on, our first offer to the studios was for them to KEEP 97 1/2% of the internet money!! We’re only asking for 2 1/2% … that all. In the meantime, the network has decided that tonight will be the last episode of PB for what might be a long time. When this strike is over, I sure hope you fans come back … our ratings the past few weeks (especially the two-parter last week) were very strong and I know I personally would hate to lose you guys — I love telling stories and I love that you guys enjoy them. Also, tonight is the first ever on-screen credit for Christian Trokey, an incredibly talented writer I have had the honor of knowing for 6 years … he spent 6 years toiling as an assitant in the entertainment industry before he got his break, and I would hate for this strike to take away from the fact that Christian Trokey has achieved tonight something that he has been working toward since he was a teenager. Christian and I wrote the episode together and I am thrilled that my name gets to appear on screen with his … he is that good. So please watch tonight and share in Christian’s accomplishment and let him hear your congratulations if you feel so inclined. And don’t worry … no strike last forever, and I will picket as long as I have to, for my fellow writers and for the people who enjoy my writing — I want the studios to just please come back to the negotiating table so we can cut a deal and I can get back to what I was born to do … write. Be well, all the best, and with great appreciation for all the support and kindness you have shown me and Prison Break … Nick Santora.Source: PBreakFans
Posted on: 11/13/2007
Filed under: News, Nick Santora
Santora Reminds Us To Watch 3.06 Tonight!
With all this strike talk, don’t forget that we have a GREAT SHOW tomorrow night. This is the Episode 6 I’ve been talking about … of course, I am just one man with a humble opinion, but I just LOVE this ep. I hope you love it too, we all worked very, very hard on it. Well, I’ll be on the picket lines tomorrow. Wish us luck.
Best, Nick
Source: PBreakFans
Posted on: 11/05/2007
Filed under: News, Nick Santora
Santora: "If a strike happens, PB will air probably until 3.13"
Hi. Tried to post last night but had problems with my computer so I shut down. Anyway, things are nuts in LA right now — there is very likely about to be a Writers Guild strike as there appears to be an impasse between the studios and the Guild. I know a lot of you will have questions about it, but to be honest, there are so many complicated issues that I can’t explain them all but if you go to DEADLINEHOLLYWOOD.COM, ARTFULWRITER.COM, UNITEDHOLLYWOOD.COM those 3 sites can give you some insight as to what writers are feeling and if you go to the AMPTP’s website, you can get the studio’s point of view. If a strike happens, PB will air probably through episode 13 … then we’d be on that long break that PB takes every season anyway, and then we’d come back for the second half of the season (that is, of course, if the strike is over) But we’d be behind on scripts and production because, basically, everything shuts down when there is a work stoppage from writers or actors or directors or teamsters or whatever. I didn’t want this strike to happen (still might not happen, but it looks probable) but I support my Guild and the incredibly talented people that are its members and if we go on strike, I support that decision and will not write a word for film or tv until said strike is over. But hopefully it all works out. As many of you have heard me say repeatedly in interviews and when answering your questions … this is a wonderful collaborative art form … writers, directors, actors, art directors, make-up artits, and everyone in between help make film and tv a great way to entertain, educate and inspire. But is seems to me, in my 6 + years in this industry, that sometimes The Powers That Be forget that you can’t produce a blank page, you can’t act a blank page, you can’t direct a blank page. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, the truth is, it ALL starts with the script. If you don’t have the script, you have nothing. That being said, once again, I hope the strike doesn’t happen. I really like the executives I’ve worked with in the studios … like them A LOT. And I hope to get to work with them for a long time. But, until we know how this plays out, I am ready to walk out with my Guild brothers and sisters when the Guild calls for it and stay on strike for as long as it takes — but, again, I hope it doesn’t get to that point. During the strike I probably won’t be online much if at all — there will be Guild meetings, picketing, and lots of other surreal stuff that will be taking up my time … but I appreciate EVERYONE’S support of PB (even those who have critiques of the show, as constructive critiques can help make you a better writer) and I hope that soon I will be reaching out to you with good news about these contract talks.
Best, Nick
Source: PBreakFans
Posted on: 11/02/2007
Filed under: News, Nick Santora
Nick Santora: "SWC is and always was, a professional"
Below Prison Break writer Nick Santora talks more about Sarah's departure from the show, blah blah blah:
Source: PBreakFansThis is actually important to me. I’ve received many emails lately about Sara Callies and how people are surmising that she was “fired” from the show. I just want to stress that Sara Callies is, and always was, a professional. She was not in any way “fired” and the suggestions and posts from some people that she “did something” to cause her departure just is not true. Sara is so incredibly talented, was such a pleasure to work with and is an asset on any film or television production that is lucky enough to have her. She isn’t on the show because a contractual agreement couldn’t be reached between her and the studio. Happens all the time in the entertainment biz and in other professions too. But to suggest, as some have, that it was something else is irresponsible. So please, those of you who have floated those absurd theories, don’t do it any more. They are plain wrong.
Posted on: 10/27/2007
Filed under: Nick Santora
New Nick Santora Interview
How long have you known that Sarah Wayne Callies was not returning to the show? Is that something that has been planned since last season?
Nick Santora: We didn’t know it was definite until sometime in the summer, so we just had to change our storylines and come up with something that was jarring, emotional, and would still drive our characters and make it clear that even though Dr. Sara Tancredi is gone from this world, she is not gone from the heart, mind, and soul of Michael Scofield.
I know some people were saying she can’t be gone because the network and studio released statements that she plays an integral part in season three. Well, she does. She is a motivation for Michael who is thinking of her constantly. So Sara is still kind of alive.
Sara is ultimately beheaded as a warning to Michael and Linc. What kind of conversations did you have about her fate?
Nick: Once we realized we didn’t have the actress, and hence didn’t have the character, we just bandied around a bunch of ideas which we thought were creatively satisfying. The one thing that was never an option was recasting her with a completely different actress so that there would be someone who looked nothing like Sarah Wayne Callies, running through Panama pretending to be Dr. Tancredi. We couldn’t do that or insult our audience so we knew we had to figure out a way to explain why she wasn’t on camera.
Michael has dealt with a lot of loss lately. Will Sara’s murder finally push him over the edge?
Nick: You are going to see a side of Michael you’ve never seen before, but it is not going to be Here’s the straw that broke my back. I can’t take it anymore. It is going to be Michael turning around and saying, Enough is enough! I am going to go out there and get my pound of flesh now!
And Michael Scofield is going to do things you never imagined he could do. It is going to flip a switch. He is still going to be the same character, people are still going to love him, but we are going to sympathize with him and know where he is coming from.
Source: PrisonBreakBuff
Posted on: 10/16/2007
Filed under: Interview, Magazines, Nick Santora
More From Nick On Michael's Rebound Girl!
Seems a lot of internet fans are realy jumping forward with their thinking that Michael is about to fall right into a “love” relationship with someone — people seem to have read A LOT into Matt Olmstead’s quotes in that TV Guide interview. I assure you, we wouldn’t make the Scofield character look that dumb and insensitive. There are lots of bonds a man and a woman can have that bring them together other than sex/love … bonds like “vengeance” perhaps? I’m just saying …
Source: PBreakFans
Posted on: 10/14/2007
Filed under: Nick Santora, Spoilers
Upcoming Season 3 Spoilers From Nick Santora!
2) We will see all sides of T-Bag again this season.
3) Lincoln’s hotel isn’t expensive. We saw food get delivered to the prison in prior episodes and saw that only prisoners in “untouchable” status are denied food. Lechero runs the prison - we as a writing team assumed viewers would be sophisticated enough to connect the dots and figure out that Lechero and his crew assign rooms. Just don’t think it is very dynamic to see Sammy tell Michael “You get cell #12″. Linc gets money when necessary from the company/Susan and why assume he was telling the truth when he told Sucre he only had $50. I have to say that some concerns regarding where people sleep and how they found their beds are a bit mundane, but you have every right to express them — but we as writers would rather spend the very short period of time we have to tell our story exploring character relationships and plot and avoid boring details.
4) Samantha is right that people can post critiques of the show. Absolutely. I don’t need, and none of the writers need, to have our egos stroked. But Samantha is wrong when she says this board is for “suggestions.” I stated clearly on day one that I cannot hear nor read suggestions from fans regarding the show for legal reasons. So please, keep any suggestions to yourself. But if you want to say: “I didn’t like the episode because Michael was mean to Bellick” or something like that, no problem. But suggested story lines or plot lines, etc. will be ignored by me and not read for the aforementioned reasons.
5) Each season of PB is basically a brand new show. This year we had to introduce all new characters, establish them, explain a new world, a new set of rules, etc. That takes time - it can’t be established in one episode or two or more. For those of you who wanted Michael to instantly start breaking out in episode 1 of this season, that is not where we wanted to go - it would play false and make Sona too easy to break out of. Michael is stumped. He can’t figure a way out. That is dramatic to us as writers. But things might change soon … he might start making plans, figuring things out. The relationship between the brothers might be put to its biggest test yet. We might see Sara again real soon. We might find out what is in the box. We might see some of our friends from Fox River put themselves in grave danger. We might … in fact we will. I promise. You just need to watch each week and see. This upcoming episode is killer. And I stand by my thoughts on episode six … a great episode and one of the best ending to an ep ever! and it is just 2 1/2 weeks away.
Goodnight,
Nick.
Posted on: 10/04/2007
Filed under: Episodes, Nick Santora, Spoilers
