'PRISON BREAK' PRODUCER MATT OLMSTEAD TALKS ABOUT THE SERIES FINALE, THE ABORTED SPIN-OFF AND THE EXTRA TWO-HOUR WRAP-UPAll the things you wanted to know about the FOX series and more as the last episodes of Season 4 concludesBy CARL CORTEZ, Contributing Editor
Published 4/17/2009
It was a big surprise when Fox announced PRISON BREAK was coming to an end after four seasons, but then again, the series is not something that was designed to sustain itself for 10seasons, as executive producer Matt Olmstead can attest.
With Fox airing the final five episodes Friday nights at 8:00 p.m. starting tonight (with a two-hour event) and a special additional two hour coda to the series still waiting in the wings to air either on Fox or on DVD, Olmstead spoke this week about what to expect in the coming weeks and reflects back on the ground-breaking series.
"We kind of knew all along that this season was most likely going to be our last," says Olmstead. "Most shows took a bit of a hit in the ratings and that kind of coincided with us storytelling-wise in terms of what we had left in the tank. So, we knew at the very beginning of the season that we weren’t going to hold back anything and use up all the ideas that we had and not to worry about setting up for a fifth season. "
And as the season progressed, Olmstead admits it was clear that the end was near.
"It turned out to be kind of a benefit to us in that we were able to really set up things that were going to pay off at the end of the season and what would be the end of the series," says Olmstead. "So, we have some last images, last storylines that take place at the season finale/series finale that were set up at the beginning of the season. So, it was a bit of a luxury in the sense that we had the time to platform the ending as opposed to going on hiatus like some shows have to do and wait to hear if you’re going to come back or not --- and then you don’t have a chance to wrap up a serial-like show, which deserves to be wrapped up properly."
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