Sarah Wayne Callies is getting candid about her time starring on the Fox drama Prison Break.
The actress, 46, and her former costar Paul Adelstein launched their “Prison Breaking” rewatch podcast earlier this year. “It’s given me the sort of medicine to go back and be able to look at those early projects … despite the rampant misogyny, despite all of the challenges, despite being, on a show like that, the only woman around,” Callies explained on the Monday, May 20, episode of Rachel Bilson’s “Broad Ideas” podcast.
Callies went on to say being an actress on a predominantly male show is a double-edged sword. “I’ve had an actor on that show spit in my face, and I was like, ‘Holy s–t,’” she revealed, teasing that fans will hear more about that incident on her rewatch podcast down the line.
“I would go home some nights and have to spend an hour talking my husband [Josh Winterhalt] out of going to hospitalize somebody,” Callies added.
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Despite experiencing some not-so-nice moments on set, Callies noted that some of her male costars “were great and some of them were totally gentlemen” and that she made many “lifelong friends” from the show.
On the flip side, Callies told Bilson, 42, and her cohost, Olivia Allen, that she initially “wasn’t ready” to revisit her Prison Break past on her podcast. “I didn’t want it to send me into a spiral of, like, ‘What did I let them do to me? What did I let them say to me? What did I put up with? What did I not report?’ All of that,” she stated.
Us Weekly has reached out to Fox for comment.
Prison Break originally ran for four seasons on Fox from 2005 to 2009. The series later returned for a 2009 TV movie, titled The Final Break, as well as a nine-episode fifth season in 2017.
The show centered around Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller), who purposefully gets himself sent to prison to help break out his brother, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), from the inside. Callies played Dr. Sara Tancredi, Michael’s wife and a doctor at the fictional Fox River State Penitentiary.
Callies went on to star in shows such as The Walking Dead, Colony, Council of Dads and The Company You Keep and films such as Whisper, Into the Storm and The Other Side of the Door.
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While some of the show’s cast have expressed interest in rebooting the series once more, Miller, 51, announced in November 2020 that he would no longer play Michael Scofield, as he isn’t interested in playing straight characters after coming out as gay in 2013.
At the time, Callies showed love for her former costar’s decision with a sweet Instagram message. “To all the fans, know this: the cast of prison break is a queer-friendly space. we stand with – and among – our friends & family in the LGBTQ+ community with full-throated support for their rights and artistic work. all the time. always,” she wrote alongside a snap of her and Miller. “And if that’s a problem for anyone, to quote a good man, ‘that’s your work.’”
