'Prison Break' un-decapitates Sara

"Sometimes you have to fight to find what's relatable and human about this character's experience because it's so extreme," Miller said. "But that fight is important because a show like 'Prison Break' takes a lot of risks, a lot of suspension of disbelief is required, and if the characters stop being like real people, then it's nothing more than car crashes and gunfights."

This season, Michael, Lincoln and Sara stop running and fight the Company, the covert entity behind the conspiracy that Michael and Lincoln's father tried to unravel and is responsible for setting up Lincoln, faking Sara's death and killing many, including the U.S. president, in its efforts to control the economy. Renegade Homeland Security Agent Don Self (Michael Rappaport) enlists the brothers and their ex-con pals to help him bring down the Company in exchange for their freedom. (They are fugitives, remember?)

"We wanted the feel of the yard in the first season where all the guys all wanted to kill each other but they all wanted the same thing," said executive producer Matt Olmstead. "So we really wiped the slate clean after we came back from the strike. We didn't pick things up moments later. We let a month pass so that there could be an evolution of a 'Ronin' group of ex-cons who do the only thing they know how to do at this point because they can't go home again."

The A-Team, as Miller call them, bands together in L.A.

"It's nice to sit at the same table rubbing elbows with people that have tried to kill me and whom I've done my best to leave behind," he said.

"We were shooting a scene this season where one of the other characters had a gun aimed at my forehead and I could swear that we'd shot that scene three or four times," he added. "And it really reminded me of how far the character had come. I don't think that even if he could go back to his old life, he'd be able to. Michael's hands are filthy at this point. I'm not even sure redemption is possible, but as an actor, it's been a lot of fun to play in that gray area."

Fans, Miller said, should find the way Sara is re-introduced "entirely plausible." "I think we've gotten away with a lot worse," he said and laughed.

Like?

"One of the most glaring things would be Michael getting two toes whacked off at the very top of the show and never limping," Miller said, laughing. "In fact, we've seen him sprint across football fields. And, you know, that was a concession I had to make for the story because, realistically, if you lose two toes it affects your balance in a critical and permanent way. But considering what the physical requirements for the role would be, I had to make Michael almost superhuman."

To that end, in tonight's episode, Michael endures the laser-removal of an intricate tattoo, which covers his entire torso and arms, in one sitting.

But with any luck, it could resurface next year.

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maria.elena.fernandez@ latimes.com