Getting out was the easy part

The new series of Prison Break picks up just hours after the last one left off: with brothers Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows (and a number of fellow inmates) on the run after escaping from a tough jail close to Chicago.

Burrows was banged up after being framed for the murder of the brother of the US Vice President. Michael Scofield, a structural engineer who helped design the prison itself, deliberately got himself arrested and sent to the same jail to help bust his brother out of there. Now they've finally made it out, but hot on their heels is new character Alexander Mahone – a brilliant special agent specialising in capturing escaped convicts. Will the rabble of runaways manage to evade the obsessive Mahone? And just who framed Burrows in the first place?

See you after the break

Details of series two had already been mapped out by Prison Break creator Paul Scheuring even before the first series had been made. Indeed, he was only able to sell the idea to the TV studio by assuring them he had a "two year plan" for the show – meaning it wouldn't simply end when the characters completed the prison break of the title.

"It's basically a reinvention of the playing field," says Scheuring of the second series. "Our guys are going to be scattering to the four corners of the country, in all different modes of conveyance – you're going to have planes, trains, automobiles." But forget Steve Martin and John Candy – this is more the second half of The Great Escape. Or, as Scheuring put it, "The Fugitive times eight".

Creating a nemesis

One of the most important aspects of series two is the introduction of the Alexander Mahone character. A special agent tasked with finding the escaped convicts, he is Michael Scofield's intellectual equal and arch-nemesis.

Yet, despite the key role he plays in the series, Mahone wasn't actually in the original plan developed by the writers. The character was developed after Peter Liguori, one of the big bosses at Fox Broadcasting, suggested it would be interesting to have Scofield chased by an obsessive, incorruptible lawman in the manner of Tommy Lee Jones from The Fugitive movie. Actor William Fichtner was recruited for the part, although he was initially reluctant because he'd only just worked on another series, Invasion, and wanted a break from the hectic schedules of the TV world.

It's a good thing he did decide to take on Mahone though, as the US reviews immediately singled him out for praise (with one critic saying "Fichtner is going to be the best actor on any show this season").

The big move

While the first series of Prison Break was filmed in the Chicago area (largely in a disused jail complex), the producers mounted a huge operation to move everyone to Dallas for season two.

But why did they do it? Well, unlike the prison-bound first series, season two is set in different locations across America – meaning the crew needed to film in a region that featured a variety of contrasting towns and landscapes within short distance of each other. Chicago was just no good for this, as they would have had to drive for hours out of the city to find any other suitable locations.

Dallas, on the other hand, is surrounded by small towns that can – in the words of one crew member – "double for Anywhere, USA". The fact that it moved location makes Prison Break a bit of a rarity, as very few major shows actually do this (one notable predecessor being The X-Files, which swapped Vancouver for LA during its run).

And there's more…

Creator Paul Scheuring had originally intended for the second season to be the last, but its massive success has meant that a third series will be coming our way very soon.

So what can we expect? Well, according to Scheuring it will "return to the roots of what the show was about". In other words, it's going to take us right back to the prison environment, but this time it'll be even more unflinching and dramatic than ever before. "The only thing I will say is that it will be a much more stripped-down, brutal, violent version of the show than we've seen in the past. Seasons one and two will seem tame in comparison." To which we can only say, bring it on!