Hulu’s ‘Prison Break’ Reboot Adds Six New Cast Members, Including True Blood’s Sam Trammell

Hulu has spent the better part of a year quietly rebuilding one of Fox’s most binge-worthy dramas from the ground up. What began as a modest pilot order back in late 2024 has steadily grown into a full series with an increasingly stacked cast of recognizable television veterans.

The original ‘Prison Break‘ captivated audiences for five seasons with its high-stakes escape plots, following brothers Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows as they navigated increasingly dangerous obstacles behind bars. Hulu’s new take shares that same universe but builds an entirely different story from scratch, centered on a fresh cast of characters navigating one of America’s deadliest correctional facilities.

That new story just got significantly deeper. According to Deadline, six additional actors have joined the reboot in recurring roles: Sam Trammell, Sean Bridgers, Chris Coy, Kerry Bishé, Robin Weigert, and Jean Louisa Kelly.

The new additions bring serious television pedigree to the project. Trammell, best known for his seven-season run on HBO’s ‘True Blood,’ will play Jarrod Boggs, described as a powerful figure with deep roots in West Virginia. Bridgers, a ‘Deadwood’ alum, takes on the role of Hollis, a devoted family man trying to rebuild his life from the ground up.

Bishé, known for her work on ‘Halt and Catch Fire,’ steps into the role of Mary Smith, described as a mysterious and dangerous female inmate whose presence adds another layer of unpredictability to the story. Weigert, an Emmy nominee for her performance as Calamity Jane in ‘Deadwood,’ will play Chaplain Bannon, the prison’s chaplain who counsels inmates navigating their own personal reckonings.

Rounding out the new additions, Kelly takes on the role of Margaret, described as the new matriarch of a power-brokering political family, while Coy plays Mule, a dangerous and unpredictable inmate whose volatility promises to shake up the prison’s already tense dynamics. Together, the new characters suggest the reboot is leaning heavily into the political and institutional corruption themes that defined much of the original series.

These additions join a previously announced core cast led by Emily Browning as Cassidy, an ex-soldier turned corrections officer at the center of the show’s central conflict. The official logline describes her as someone who takes a job at one of the deadliest prisons in America to prove just how far she’ll go for someone she loves, setting up a very different entry point into the franchise compared to the original brothers-on-the-run premise.

Browning is joined by Drake Rodger as Tommy, Lukas Gage as Jackson, Clayton Cardenas as Michael, nicknamed “Ghost,” JR Bourne as Junior, Georgie Flores as Andrea, Kelli Berglund as Cheyenne, and Myles Bullock as Darius, nicknamed “Red.” That ensemble reflects a deliberate shift toward a more gender-balanced prison setting, a notable departure from the original series’ predominantly male-driven cast across its four seasons.

Elgin James, known for his work on ‘Mayans M.C.’ and ‘The Outlaws,’ serves as the reboot’s writer, showrunner, and executive producer, in addition to directing the pilot. Dawn Olmstead, who executive produced the original ‘Prison Break,’ returns for the new iteration, alongside original series creator Paul Scheuring, along with executive producers Marty Adelstein and Neal Moritz.

With 20th Television once again serving as the studio behind the project, the reboot maintains a direct institutional link to the franchise’s roots even as it charts an entirely new narrative path. Given how quickly the cast has expanded in recent months, production appears to be moving steadily toward what could be one of Hulu’s more ambitious drama launches in the coming year.

With this level of talent now locked in, expectations are building for how Hulu’s ‘Prison Break’ will distinguish itself from the original while still honoring what made the franchise a hit in the first place.

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