So then we offered to come up before she gave birth and film at her house. We were willing to push the start date back, which would have meant her coming in Episode 10, but that wasn't accepted. Thirteen episodes would have allowed the character to have a proper exit. It looked like a pretty good deal on the face of it. What was your understanding as to why she didn't want to come back? It seems strange that she refused to return in any capacity. Wasn't Sarah under contract? Didn't she have to return? There are very few untouchable actors on the show.
She was, at the time, pregnant and living in a remote part of Canada and nesting kind of looked at the options and didn't want to go forward. was gracious enough to let us use her image, which really helped. We used the story to our advantage in that she was being held hostage. So, as a result, you were forced to kill her off sooner than you had planned? But it became evident that that wasn't going to happen, we made lemonade out of a lemon. We were really looking forward to paying off that relationship. We then whittled it down to just a phone conversation, and that was turned down, too. Then we suggested flying to her - she was pregnant and living in a remote part of Canada - and bringing a camera crew to her house, but that wasn't accepted. So then we whittled it down to 11 episodes, then 10 episodes, then nine episodes, then four episodes. There were going to be some really emotional scenes where he tried to save her from dying, but she ultimately passed. Our initial idea was to have the first 13 episodes, so she and Michael could have a proper goodbye. We determined that this was the right thing to do in order to really jolt the series.ĭid you ever stop to consider that this might be a slap in the face to fans who had invested two years in the Michael-Sara relationship? But in order to make the season work, we really didn't have any other motivation for Michael. And when we pitched the network, they wanted to know if there was any way we could avoid that, because everyone loved Sarah's work. And given what Michael's been through, how do you keep him going? And then it was tossed out, "What happens if Sara gets killed as an extension of what we already had planned for Season 3?" We knew that would work. I remember we were sitting in the room thinking, "How do we unlock Season 3, motivation-wise?" Since we're not a procedural, we have to keep everyone moving forward. What changed is that our initial pitch to the network was, so we had to go back to the drawing board. Last January, after it was announced that Sarah was pregnant, your colleague, Paul Scheuring, assured fans that he had no intention of killing off her character.
And then feel free to assign blame wherever you feel it's warranted. Poor taste.) Stick around after the Q&A for Callies' response. Prison Break executive producer Matt Olmstead explains in this exclusive interview, the violent nature of Sara's death was the culmination of long and fruitless negotiations between the show and new-mom Sarah Wayne Callies. The sad truth is, it didn't have to end this way. And now prepare yourself for another sobering piece of news. Michael's long-suffering soul mate is dead and she ain't comin' back.īreathe in. Prison Break, well, stop reading, 'cause a stone-cold reality check is coming your way: That was definitely Sara Tancredi's decapitated head staring up at Lincoln from that box. If you're still in denial about the horrific turn of events on tonight's As Prison Break executive producer Matt Olmstead explains in this exclusive interview, the violent nature of Sara's death was the culmination of long and fruitless negotiations between the show and new-mom Sarah Wayne Callies. Michael's long-suffering soul mate is dead and she ain't comin' back. If you're still in denial about the horrific turn of events on tonight's Prison Break, well, stop reading, 'cause a stone-cold reality check is coming your way: That was definitely Sara Tancredi's decapitated head staring up at Lincoln from that box.
Prison Break Exclusive: The Real Story Behind Sara's Death