Robert Knepper Talks 'Breakout Kings' and T-Bag's Big, Bad Return, Plus an EXCLUSIVE Clip

The breakout character of Fox's 'Prison Break' run was one Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell, indelibly portrayed by Robert Knepper.

According to Knepper, T-Bag was originally written as a "250 pound guy with a gold tooth." But when the wiry Knepper was cast, he gave the keenly intelligent but shady character thistle-like hair and a deep southern drawl. His lolling tongue deserved separate billing. For those missing their weekly cuppa T, the 'Bag Man' is tunneling out soon.

In A&E's new drama 'Breakout Kings' (reviewed here), Knepper will reprise his role as T-Bag (Sundays, 10PM ET on A&E, Knepper's first episode airs March 20).

Created by 'Prison Break's executive producers Nick Santora and Matt Olmsted, the premise is a winner: a trio of slippery cons (including Jimmi Simpson of 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' as the eloquent nerd Lloyd) teams with a pair of U.S. Marshals (played by Laz Alonso and Domenick Lombardozzi) to catch prisoners on the lam. T-Bag is one of the first targets of the 'Kings.' Knepper says the month-long arc is a "love letter to T-Bag" and praises the "balls" it took for Santora and Olmsted to "come up with this idea of going into this next chapter."

Still, Knepper had to be sold on returning to his cell. "I felt 'this is gonna be a hoot, this is gonna be a fun thing to do' and then right before I started shooting I thought 'oh no, this is gonna suck!' because people are gonna go: wait a minute, he's a character from another show ... I wanted people to have the same reaction, the same horror when they watched 'Prison Break.' The ['Breakout Kings'] script was so f---ing good, I think we achieved that."

You go mano-a-mano with Jimmi Simpson's Lloyd -- there are similarities between T-Bag and Lloyd.
One of the finest actors I've ever worked with. It was so easy to step back in, especially with that guy. I'm sitting there in this scene with [Simpson] and I felt like I was just so damn cocky –- I just looked at him and said "You're good! You're just so damn good!" and he said, "You're good too, man!"

Your work generated Emmy talk, but you look at 'Prison Break,' or 'Oz' –- incarcerated characters never get their due come award time.
Damn it, I do want to start a little fire on this one. Let's break that rule that you don't give guys in prison Emmys! [Laughs] It would be a huge tribute to all those guys that made people sit on the edge of their seat for four years [during 'Prison Break'].

I've also spotted you on 'Shameless' ...
I've had so much fun working on 'Shameless.' I just said to my guys "Please, I love comedy!" Look at the funny sh-- I got to do with T-Bag, and seriously, there are some funny as sh-- lines in 'Breakout Kings' as well.




Is your run open-ended on 'Breakout Kings'?
When Nick proposed this idea, I was thinking: I dunno, man. I grew up in Ohio and county fairs were a big part of our lives ... Every summer we went, there were always these Hollywood types that would come to Ohio, like the cast of 'Hee Haw.' They would truck these people in from somewhere, and as I grew up and I became an actor I thought: what the hell were these people thinking? I guess that was a summer gig for them when they weren't shooting 'Hee Haw' ... When I played Bobby Kennedy for NBC ...

I was going to mention that! I'm Irish-Catholic, so I've seen all the RFKs, and you were wonderful.
After I played Kennedy [in 'Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot'], and after I finished T-Bag on 'Prison Break,' I thought I am never going to act again. All I could look forward to the rest of my career is the county fair circuit. T-Bag's greatest hits! So when Nick brought up the idea of resurrecting T-Bag, I thought, what am I thinking? I'm trying to get away from T-Bag. But I think it's gonna help to kick this new show in the butt and help launch it. So I went with my gut. And I'm really glad that I did.

I'm sure it's gonna deliver big time.
One thing I didn't do is answer your question.

Oh! [Laughs]
I said to Nick Santora, "I'll do this thing, but T-Bag can't die." Silly me, I just didn't want this to be a goodbye to T-Bag ... It's up to the creators. If they want this character to stick around, then they'll figure it out.