Tag Archives: Nick Santora

A&E cancels ‘Breakout Kings’ after two seasons

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Today cable network A&E cancelled addicting drama Breakout Kings after two seasons of holding modest ratings. From Matt Olmstead and Nick Santora (the creators of FOX’s Prison Break), Breakout Kings followed a special task force consisting of U.S. marshals and convicts whose goal was to chase down and lock up criminals. Though season 1 was criticized for lack of character development, season 2 made up for it by delving directly into the psyche of arguably the most interesting and entertaining character of the series, Lloyd Lowery (played by the brilliant Jimmi Simpson). Spoiler alert… Season 2 also happened to open with a major death, that of U.S. Marshal Charlie Duchamp (Laz Alonso). The loss of Alonso was hard-hitting, but it also accelerated the series in many ways: Zancanelli allotted the Kings more freedom in terms of how they assisted in tracking down criminals on the loose, and the death sparked the season long arc (and oh-so-gratifying conclusion) involving the maniac Damien Fontleroy (props to Jason Behr for a killer performance).

Spoiler alert… Season 2 ended not so long ago with the Kings in a sticky situation. The U.S. Marshals Chief Director gave the trio an offer they seemingly could not refuse: if they tell the truth about Damien’s fall and turn in Ray they will be immediately released from prison with time served. Thankfully, and in a rare move, co-showrunner Santora shed light on the direction the show would have taken if it had continued on. Via Twitter: “How it ends. BOKs pretend to turn Ray in but double cross Marshals so they go free & Ray walks. Shea gets rich w/ elbow savers. Erica raises daughter in the country. Ray starts private security biz, lives near his daughter. Lloyd & Jules marry. Name their son Charlie.” He concluded, “Wish A&E kept BOK going. Matt and I don’t own the show. So when it’s cancelled, it’s over. Goodbye to the BOK fans. Thanx for the support.” While Santora is now looking for his next show to work on, his partner Olmstead has already moved on to executive produce the upcoming NBC drama Chicago Fire. (Update (5/18): Santora has joined the CBS Dennis Quaid/Michael Chiklis period drama Vegas as co-executive producer.)

The tag for this season was “one king will fall.” Unfortunately, they all fell by season’s end. And it was because of a force infinitely more powerful and twisted than Damien Fontleroy: ratings. Ray, Shamus, Erica, Lloyd, Jules. Your antics will be missed.

[Via Deadline 1, 2]

‘Breakout Kings’ producers compare ‘Prison Break’ to their upcoming A&E series

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As you know, Matt Olmstead and Nick Santora collaborated on the 2005-2009 FOX series Prison Break and now their working together again on another fugitive-themed show called Breakout Kings.  At the Television Critics Association last week they talked about their “love [for] law-breaking.”  On teaming up with Santora for a second time, Olmstead said, “So we just wanted to kind of have fun on the show and keep on working together. So that was the main attraction for me.”  He continued, “What was attractive was not only the momentum of storytelling that you get when you have a fugitive on the run — as opposed to a dead body where there’s a little bit more time to find that person because that dead body is not going anywhere — it was also about the theme that helped kind of unlock the show for us when we’d start to first talk about it, which was everybody is running from something. And so it really kind of unlocked the characters in that we then went in and made sure that all of the characters had that thing that they were running from and towards.”

Refresher: Breakout Kings follows an unconventional partnership between the U.S. Marshals’ office and a group of convicts as they work to catch fugitives on the run.  Laz Alonzo (Avatar) and Domenick Lombardozzi (The Wire) are the veteran U.S. Marshals; their special task force is comprised of Jimmi Simpson (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Malcolm Goodwin (American Gangster) and Serinda Swan (Smallville); Brooke Nevin (The 4400) is a civilian who assists the group.

Expect the villains to be terribly awful criminals.  Santora says, “It’s integral. You have to have really bad, bad guys, or there’s just no stakes from the beginning of the episode. At the same time, each week it can’t be the Son of Sam who is breaking out of prison. It would get repetitive. So it’s a challenge, and we have been so fortunate this year. The actors were just telling Matt and I how great the guest actors are that we’ve had this season on the show.”  Just last week I reported on two of the show’s guest actors: Lost’s Mark Pellegrino and Prison Break vet Robert Knepper.  Knepper will be reprising Break‘s T-Bag for a four-episode arc.  The producers were asked if we can expect other Break alum to come on as surprise guests and Santora replied, “You never say never, but we don’t want it to become a reunion show where we are constantly bringing guys back from Prison Break. And I think we can say safely of all of the bad guys on Prison Break, how are you going to top T-Bag? T-Bag is T-Bag.”  Very true. Continue reading ‘Breakout Kings’ producers compare ‘Prison Break’ to their upcoming A&E series →