Wentworth Miller Is Leaving Prison Break Because He Doesn’t Want to Play Straight Anymore

Wentworth Miller has announced his departure from long-running Fox series Prison Break amid two eloquent Instagram posts regarding his sexuality and his acting career.

Accompanied simply by a blank white square, the 48-year-old actor — who is an out gay man — wrote a lengthy caption on Sunday acknowledging both his fans and his haters, stating that he “can’t be bullied out of this space” while expressing concern that younger queer people might see homophobic comments on his page and be “exposed to bullshit.”

Miller then added “on a related note” that he would not be reprising his role as Michael Scofield in Prison Break.

“I just don't want to play straight characters,” he wrote. “Their stories have been told (and told). If you're hot and bothered bec you fell in love with a fictional straight man played by a real gay one… That's your work.”

Miller’s co-star, Dominic Purcell, who plays Scofield’s brother Lincoln Burrows, expressed his support, commenting: “Fully support and understand your reasoning. Glad you have made this decision for your health and your truth.”

On Tuesday afternoon, Miller followed up with another blank white Instagram post with a lengthy caption, stating that he didn’t anticipate the prior post “going so far, so fast” and further explaining his motives for exiting the show.

“Am I saying gay actors (gay men, specifically) should only play gay parts? No,” he wrote, adding: “I was speaking for myself. At this point in my life/career, it's what feels interesting, inspiring, right.” He also said that he wanted to see more gay parts played by gay actors, claiming that doing so makes a difference in terms of performance and because “straight actors playing ‘gay’ centers straightness.”

Additionally, Miller touched on his own experiences with self-censorship as an actor working in Hollywood, saying that while no one ever explicitly told him to “bury his gayness,” he had received a “don’t ask, don’t tell” message from the culture at large, including the “homophobic subgroup” of the fandom he has cultivated.

“One of the ironies of the closet is I became my own jailer,” he said, quipping, “‘Prison Break’ indeed.”

While Miller didn’t specify what new work his “break” from the closet will entail, he expressed a desire to make up for lost time as an openly gay actor. “My gayness was largely erased (by me, for starters) in the first decades of my career,” he said. “It is my want, now, to center it in a way that cannot be missed by myself or anyone else.”

While some believe that actors should be allowed to play roles regardless of their own personal sexuality, Miller is only one of many queer actors who has alleged discrimination — or a fear of discrimination — in Hollywood for years. A 2013 survey of the labor union SAG-AFTRA found that over half of LGBTQ+ respondents believed that directors and producers were biased against hiring LGBTQ+ performers, and that half of LGB respondents reported witnessing directors and producers making anti-gay comments about actors.

Hopefully since that study was conducted nearly a decade ago, conditions for queer people in the film and TV industries have changed for the better. But judging by Miller’s example, the industry still has a long way to go.

Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for them.'s weekly newsletter here.