If we were any other blogger, this first look video clip featuring Wentworth Miller’s upcoming guest appearance on LAW & ORDER: SVU’s upcoming eleventh season premiere (playing Nate Kendal, an NYPD officer who saves a rape victim) would warrant a highly inappropriate, immature and some might argue unprofessional joke with regards to Miller’s exchange with Captain Donald Cragen. Lucky for NBC, that’s not our style.

If three seasons of PRISON BREAK have taught this TV Addict anything, it’s that there’s always a price to be paid when something good happens to one of your favorite characters. Well, that and surgically re-applying body parts such as hands and heads isn’t nearly as complicated as one might assume.

That said, watching yesterday’s fourth season premiere, even I didn’t expect that Michael would lose the one thing that’s been with him from day one. Which is why I posed the following questions to star Wentworth Miller when I recently had the opportunity to interview him in Los Angeles.

The whole tattoo removal came as quite a surprise when I watched the show’s season premiere. What led to the decision and are you happy that it’s gone?
Wentworth Miller: I am. The tattoo became for me kind of burdensome after awhile. Even when we didn’t have to apply it we had to pretend as though it was there. Which meant wearing long sleeve shirts in Dallas where it’s 120 degrees and you’re squatting on your knees in the Sona Prison Yard. All the sweat on my forehead in those scenes was my own. It wasn’t me with a spritz bottle before every take.

It took it’s toll and in the end I’m glad we dealt with it in the way that we did. We made it clear that this experience has taken its toll on Michael and he’s paid a price both inside and out. The tattoo is really a physical signifier of his journey that has left a mark on him.

The image of yourself and the tattoo was a brilliant marketing tool that helped launch the series. But take us back to the start of the show. How many episodes in did it take for you to realize, “Oh Sh*t, We’re going to have to apply this tattoo on me for every single episodes for seven years!”
[Laughs] I think it was early on. I remember when we shot the pilot for the first time I was like “WOW, this is awesome.” But then a couple episodes in, after four or five sessions of me staying two hours after everyone went home to scrub it off at night… the reality of the process became more apparent and my respect level for people who spent their time on STAR TREK grew enormously. Because to go through that process everyday, wearing some sort of plastic prosthetic headpiece for twelve hours at a time, that’s pretty intense. So hats of to them.

Missed the full interview? Click here to check out our entire conversation with PRISON BREAK star Wentworth Miller.

With the two-hour season premiere of PRISON BREAK premiering tonight, this TV Addict thought that this would be as good a time as any to run our exclusive interview with star Wentworth Miller who was kind enough to take some time out of his hectic schedule to sit down with me at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel in Los Angeles.

So I couldn’t help but notice that once again PRISON BREAK seems to have re-invented itself.
Wentworth Miller: Yeah, one of the hallmarks of the show is that we’re not afraid to take what we already know works, clear it out and re-invent it season after season. Which is risky, but I think it’s paid off so far.

Does it make it easier as an actor knowing that every season is going to be completely different?
It does keep things more interesting than your average procedural drama where the only thing that changes episode after episode is how the victim died. As an actor, it gives you a new playground to play in, which is really fun.

Speaking of new playgrounds, are you happy to be back home shooting in Los Angeles?
I liked being in Dallas and I like being on the road. It was different and lent a certain environmental difference to the show. So many shows shoot in Los Angeles, it’s almost been shot to death. I think that shooting in Chicago [season one] and Dallas [seasons two and three] really gave the show a very different visual look. That said, it’s nice to crawl into your own bed at night and you can’t put a price on that. We’ve been on the road for the past three years and it’s nice to come home.

I imagine one of the negatives of Los Angeles is the price of fame with the Paparazzi seemingly everywhere. Do you think the invasion of privacy that comes with being a television star is a fair trade? Was it something you were prepared for when you signed up the show.
I don’t think it’s possible to prepare for something like what happened to me in the first season. Because the show kind of blew up and I had to learn a lot of things on the run. I spent four or five years in acting class. They’d talk about diplomacy, politics, they didn’t talk about public relations and the paparazzi, so all of that stuff was quite new to me. I’m still trying to figure out what it all means and how it all works. It’s an ongoing process and I think it’s a little different for TV versus feature films because when you do a movie, you shoot for a couple of months, do press and then it goes away. With TV, you shoot the show ten months out of the year and it’s an ongoing process. If I said yes to every request from the FOX PR department I’d be talking about the show 365 days a year all around the world. It’s a much more intense and concentrated experience.

Are you surprised by how well the show has translated across the globe?
It’s been incredible. In my opinion, the show is kind of a modest success in the States. We have a fiercely loyal audience but the numbers haven’t changed drastically from the first season. But overseas where PRISON BREAK is the number one selling DVD in Japan, 135 million people are downloading the show every week. Those are big numbers. It’s been surprising and gratifying to know that you’re part of a story that is crossing cultural barriers, linguistic barriers and touching people’s lives, entertaining them in some way shape or form all around the world.

I’m constantly amazed with the number of non-english speaking comments that are left on theTVaddict.com
The show’s appeal is universal and to know that you’re part of something like that is a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s really gratifying.

Are you happy that Sara’s back?
I am. I love working with Sara. I think she adds something very unique to the show… like estrogen. I think she brings a side of Michael out that you don’t get to see when he’s facing off with say T-Bag. Mahone or what have you. And she’s a fan favorite and the fans made their opinions known post her departure. They were heard and respected and are a very part of this process. They are why we do what we do. I’m very glad the powers that be recognized the mistake had been made and did everything they could to bring her back.

Following tonight’s shocking turn of events on FOX [and GlobalTV in Canada], be sure to return to theTVaddict.com for a post-game wrap-up with Wentworth Miller.

Related Interviews:
Robert Knepper and Jody Lyn O’Keefe
Sarah Wayne Callies
Wentworth Miller and Sarah Wayne Callies at the Television Critics Association Press Tour

Since this TV Addict won’t be publishing his very own exclusive one-on-one with Wentworth Miller until Monday, I thought I’d parse some interesting tidbits I gleaned while taking part on a recent conference call that Wentworth Miller was kind enough to take part in to help promote the upcoming two-hour season premiere on September 1, 2008.

1. Was Michael’s reunion with Sara everything you hoped it would be?
Wentworth Miller: Absolutely. I was just happy to see Sara back. I really felt her absence Season Three. I felt that her return was important not only to my character, but also to the show in general. What can I say; the fans have spoken. Sara returns.

2. At what point did you realize that Sarah Wayne Callies might be coming back?
I think it was at some point during the strike that I started hearing rumors that Sarah was returning, that the fans were organizing write-ins and petitions and I think that’s emblematic of where we are in terms of television and the media. It’s very much a back and forth conversation between the fans and the writers, between the writers and the powers that be. Their opinions, especially when expressed online or via correspondence, are important and are taken into consideration.

3. Obviously reattaching someone’s head is a bit of a tall order. What can you tell us about how this comes off in the first couple of episodes?
I think that we address it as plausibly as possible. It helps that the show is kind of fantastic and I feel like we’ve gotten away with worse. But at the same time, we do provide an explanation and we don’t tease the audience. It’s not a flash of Sara’s ponytail disappearing down an ally for the first episodes, everyone wondering when she’ll actually make a face-to-face with Michael. She’s back first episode. Michael and Sara reunited, and then the gang hits the ground running because there’s work to do.

4. This is the fourth season and each of the seasons, the show has pretty much rebooted its premise to some degree. For you as an actor, what are sort of the advantages and disadvantages of doing a show that from one season to the next can be something completely different?
Well, it keeps it interesting. First and foremost, most other TV shows are in the habit of figuring out their winning formula and then beating it into the ground whereas we take what we already know works and toss it out the window at the start of every season, which I think is very bold and ambitious and it certainly provides a new playground for the actors.

That said, I’ve been more comfortable with some seasons than others. My favorites so far has been one and three because I actually think that my character works best behind bars with very real, physical, deadly obstacles to surmount whereas second season was a total change of pace and a real downshift for me and was one of my least favorite seasons because it felt as though my character was literally and figuratively riding shotgun, much more reactive than active. That can be frustrating.

But like I said, it’s most important for a show that’s running 67 episodes at this point to keep it as fresh and as exciting for the actors as possible.

5. At the end of the day, do you think it’s possible for Michael to be happy and do you feel that he’s worthy of redemption?
That’s a very good question. I think the interesting wrinkle that Sara’s return signifies is when Michael thought she was dead he crossed certain lines that he might not otherwise have crossed. At the end of Season Three, he was actively involved in arranging the death of another inmate, the henchman, who was killed in the cave in that Michael manipulated. So when Sara suddenly reappears, Michael is a very much changed man, perhaps one that she doesn’t recognize, perhaps one that’s not really worthy of the relationship that she has to offer.

I think that Michael is still a good man. But at this point, I think it would take something quite extreme for him to really even the score because in order for his brother to go free, so many people have died in the process and I think that weighs terribly on Michael’s conscience. Once this experience is over, once say they successfully destroy the conspiracy, there is no returning to his white collar existence as a structural engineer. I mean I think the only thing that Michael is kind of fit for at this point is as a hired gun, which actually dovetails quite nicely with the directions he takes.

6. What personality trait do you like most about Michael?
His sense of loyalty, that it’s always about others. What I told the writers at the start of Season Three was please do not make this about Michael fighting to survive because Michael’s not particularly interested in his own survival. Michael is interested in self sacrifice. I think Michael has a touch of the martyr about him and he’s only motivated to act and act aggressively when other people’s lives are on the lines, when those that he loves have guns to their heads.

7. I was wondering how the relationship between Lincoln and Michael evolved this season.
That’s a great question. I think there’s been a lot of push-pull between these characters, a lot of swinging of the pendulum where the little brother is suddenly the big brother and the big brother is suddenly the little brother, so on and so forth.

I think this season is about kind of settling their mutual debts. At the top of the season, we see Lincoln in Panama. He has a potential love interest. He’s reunited with his son for the first time. It’s possible that he can make a life for himself, but he knows that his brother, who sacrificed everything so that Lincoln could go free, Season One, is back in the States on this revenge quest. I think out of allegiance and a sense of indebtedness, Lincoln follows his brother to the States so that they can stand together and take on the conspiracy. But I think when all is said and done the brothers will be able to part as equals.

8. Now that Sara is returning, I was just wondering is there a chance that we’ll see C-Note coming back again.
C-Note, the one character in PRISON BREAK who got a happy ending. I wouldn’t be surprised. I wouldn’t be surprised. We do love the unexpected twist and turns on this show and I think Rodman would be a great addition. I always thought that his contribution to the show was a very cool one.

9. You’ve had a lot of characters come and go. If you could bring back one character, who would it be and why?
I think I’d bring back Paul Adelstein. I thought he was a fantastic Agent Kellerman and I thought was symbolic of the kind of character that the show does best, which is someone living within the shades of gray. Not entirely black, not entirely white, not entirely good, not entirely evil, but someone who is complicated as we all are in real live. I think Paul really did a beautiful job of defining a character who could be vicious one minute and entirely sympathetic the next. He’s very much missed.

10. Your role is consistently so intense. How do you balance that out like on your hiatus or your other jobs outside of PRISON BREAK? Are you always looking for something lighter, or is this kind of what you love doing?
I have loved doing it. I think once PRISON BREAK comes to an end, I’m not going to jump into the next Bourne Supremacy franchise, and I should be so lucky actually. It is important to kind of balance out the intensity of the work that we do with some humor and we try to keep the mood on the set as light as possible. I’ve also become a big fan of the Family Guy and American Dad, Reno 911, The Office, the British version and the American version just because at the end of the day, after shooting all these scenes where I literally have a gun pointed at my head, it’s important to come home and unwind with something that is the polar opposite of where you’ve just come from.

As far as projects post-PRISON BREAK, I’d love to be involved in like a romantic comedy or something, really change it up if possible.

I think it was my generations Plato, Homer Simpson who said it best. When he summed up his feelings in one succinctly brilliant word. “D’OH!”

Can someone tell me why exactly your very own TV Addict didn’t throw caution/responsibility/financial security to the wind and shell out the bucks to head to Los Angeles for last night’s FOX SUMMER TCA PARTY? I mean talk about your hindsight is 20/20. A mortgage payment would have been a small price to pay to spend the night hobnobbing with the likes of J.J. Abrams, Joss Whedon, Lena Heady, Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, Hugh Laurie, Emily Deschanel, David Boreanaz, Wentworth Miller, Brian Austin Green, Olivia Wilde… well you get the idea.

So a quick heads up friends. If you notice anything ‘wonky’ on theTVaddict.com throughout the day. And by ‘wonky’ I mean spelling and grammar mistakes above the usual levels. Please keep in mind that they’re simply a bi-product of the incredibly large amount of tears that are pouring down on my keyboard at this very moment.

Seriously, how did I NOT attend this party. I mean click the link below for more of what I missed.

FOX kicked off the start of the network side of the Television Critics Association Press Tour [TCAs] with a — wait for it — PRISON BREAKfast. Your chance to share hash-browns and bacon with the stars of the show’s fourth season: Wentworth Miller, Dominic Purcell, and the shocking return of Sarah Wayne Callies, complete with her head still attached. There was an entire breakfast buffet laid out, complete with iced down buckets of Yoo-Hoo, and prison-orange tablecloths, but everything quickly devolved into the “corral the actors with your microphones” game. And luckily, we were able to nail down Wentworth Miller and Sarah Wayne Callies for some questions and a scant few secrets about what to expect for the show that will this season feature PRISON BREAK ins instead of outs.

Simply click play for the interview featuring Miller and Callies and be sure to check back later in the week for words with Dominic Purcell.

Related TCA Coverage:
TCA 2008: MAD MEN
TCA 2008: TRUE BLOOD

WIth the fall TV season officially starting last night, this TV Addict found himself jumping back on the PRISON BREAK bandwagon in an effort to get his ‘new TV fix’ on.

Implausible situations — Check!
A hero who never smiles — Check!
Some really nasty prisoners — Check!

Ladies and gentleman, Welcome to Sona B*tch! Or as I like to call it, the prison that guards forgot.

Okay, so I may be overstating things a wee bit, and quite possibly suffering from a new TV season over-stimulation high, but seriously, could last night’s third season premiere of PRISON BREAK been any more exciting? How on earth are Scofield and Co. going to manage to escape this time? Any chance there’s a really talented tattoo artist stuck in Sona? Feel free to waste some valuable bandwidth with your guesses.