Not all prisoners are created equal — some we like more than others. There’s been eight years between the end of the original “Prison Break” ending and the revival beginning. It’s too soon to decide where the new folks from the revival rank among the original cast, so for now we’ll settle for ranking said old folks.
24. Donald Self (Michael Rapaport)
He got whatever was coming to him. This dude was shady AF and could not be trusted at all. The worst part was that he tried to come off as helpful and trustworthy and all that stuff.
23. Theodore “T-Bag” Bagwell (Robert Knepper)
No. No, no, no, no. He had some redeeming qualities — at least in terms of but no.
22. LJ (Marshall Allman)
Whiny teenagers tho. Also no.
21. Paul Kellerman (Paul Adelstein)
Boooooooo. He was responsible for making sure Lincoln was framed for murder, but then at the end of the series he ends up helping the former escaped prisoners sooooooo … eh.
20. Terence Steadman
The most fun twist of “Prison Break” season 1 was that not only was Lincoln framed for killing Terence Steadman — but that the dude hadn’t even been murdered at all. He likes to paint himself as a tragic figure for having to stay locked up in a huge house but whatever, we’re glad he died.
19. Haywire (Silas Weir Mitchell)
The crazy guy who was the only one smart enough to understand Michael’s tattoo after part of it got burned off. They owed him a spot on the escape crew because of that but they dumped him soon after the breakout — and then he was the star of a bizarre subplot in which he murders some teenager’s stepdad before killing himself when he was cornered by Mahone. Not sure what he added to the show to be honest.
16. Warden Pope (Stacy Keach)
Building popsicle stick sculptures that you need the help of a genius inmate to build probably means you’re not a great maximum security prison warden.
17. James Whistler (Chris Vance)
We don’t really know how we feel about James Whistler. He was low-key pretty shady and pretty much the only reason Michael was in Sona was because the Company (the conspirators responsible for every bad thing that happened on this show) wanted him there to break Whistler out. Either way, if the Company has an interest in him, Whistler has got to go. But we gotta hand it to him, the guy sure knew how to survive for a while.
16. Vice President Reynolds (Patricia Wettig)
A villain who wasn’t really that good at being a villain, considering how easily she’s manipulated by the other people in the grand conspiracy to hate on Lincoln.
15. Roy Geary (Matt DaCaro)
Usually it’s a bad thing when T-Bag brutally murders somebody, but this one we’re cool with. The murder getting pinned on Bellick was just icing on the cake. In death, Roy became tolerable.
14. Lechero (Robert Wisdom)
Was the king of Sona until the good guys escaped and left him alone with T-Bag. That’s not something that works out well for anybody, so no pity points here.
13. Alexander Mahone (William Fichtner)
Ughhhh, for the most part we don’t like Mahone. He’s smart, yes and has a mysterious past or whatever, but he can’t be trusted.Even when he’s seemingly good or helpful he just seems fake. Don’t do drugs, kids — they just end up getting you stuck carrying out the dirty work of a vast government conspiracy.
12. Tweener (Lane Garrison)
Really obnoxious throughout season 1 before taking this sweet light romantic dramedy roadtrip with a college girl. But Tweener’s ultimate fate was really just to be a plot device to show Mahone’s true colors — Mahone straight up blasted Tweener once he found him, cutting short his brief time to shine as a character who wasn’t awful.
11. John Abruzzi (Peter Stormare)
Abruzzi is just whatever.He lets his love for revenge and holding grudge lead him down some wrong paths which is what eventually gets him caught up. In short, not the brightest dude. But, hey, Peter Stormare can’t help but be fun.
10. Gretchen Morgan (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe)
She’s got what you’d call an attitude problem, but she softens from her cartoonish villainy to a real person by the end of the series, when she helps Sara when the third prison break on the show happens in “The Final Break.”
9. Brad Bellick (Wade Williams)
He’s the type of guy who has like a Napoleon personality. His ego is just too huge for what he’s really capable of. Although at first, he was just a mean and salty guy, as the season progressed we find out that he actually isn’t as bad as we first thought. He’s not our favorite dude, but he definitely sacrificed his life to save others.
8. Dr. Sara Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies)
Eh, she started off kinda annoying but homegirl is cool now. She’s mostly introverted so we don’t get to see much of her personality or know how much we like her, but she’s a respectful and cordial person who for the most part usually does the right thing. She’s kinda a mom about everything.
7. Sofia Lugo (Danay Garcia)
She broke up with James Whistler’s after figuring out that she couldn’t trust him so that alone means she’s pretty smart. She also found ways to sneak messages to Whistler while he was in Sona and figured out the connection between Michael and her then boyfriend. She’s a dope girl and we could totally be besties with her.
6. Bill Kim (Reggie Lee)
This evil conspiracy Secret Service man is played perfectly by the mustache-twirling Reggie Lee. Never not entertaining
5. Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell)
After understanding how Lincoln took care of his younger brother Michael, we can understand why the latter would put himself in that situation to save his fam.
Burrows basically is like a big, scary, intimidating man with a soft, sweet and cuddly inside that you just want to hug.
He’s cool people.
4. Veronica Donovan (Robin Tunney)
She had her bae’s — Lincoln Burrows — back and his brother’s the entire time.She’s definitely a ride or die lady and it’s sad that she had to actually die.
3. Fernando Sucre (Amaury Nolasco)
This is the definition of a ride or die best friend — take notes people. He stays putting his life at risk for his boy Michael. Plus he was still loyal to his bae Maricruz even though she was planning on marrying another man.
2. Benjamin Miles “C-Note” Franklin (Rockmond Dunbar)
C-Note is the man. That’s all. He was a good guy but ended up in prison because of the system is corrupt. He cares deeply about his family and we can definitely respect him for that.
1. Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller)
Yaaassss bae! We love this man. First off, he’s a genius — let’s see any of you break out of 163,893 prisons. He’s selfless — he put himself in jail to save his brother. Who does that?! He’s compassionate–he helped like a million other people escape with him. Plus, he’s the most beautiful human being ever. What’s not to love?
