Kellerman and Brad Bellick, Mahone became a fugitive hunter at the start of the second season. The writers were aware of the increasing number of antagonists in the show, which led Olmstead to remark, "If there are too many people pursuing them, [the pursuers] are rendered inept because they're not all catching our convicts, and you can only have so many close calls." The writers decided that the character of Mahone was to be a "very formidable" nemesis for the protagonists, and the "flip side of Michael Scofield." Scheuring acknowledges comparisons made between Mahone and Les Misérables character, Inspector Javert, "He certainly is Javert to Michael's Valjean, but you can express it however you want. He's his nemesis." One of the tricks used by the Prison Break writers is to constantly shift the sympathetic characters. Olmstead notes, "A white-hat character can be kind of boring." Fichtner does not believe that Mahone is a "bad guy"; rather, he has "a lot of demons driving him." Fichtner was cast as Alexander Mahone one day before filming began for the second season. After acting the previous year in the series Invasion, Fichtner did not intend to return to network television. When approached with the scripts for the first two episodes of the second season Fichtner was uncertain of his character's background, but attracted to "the potential of who this guy is." Fichtner was given two days to decide whether he wanted to play the character and, although he was unsure if the experience would be worthwhile, he later said that he was glad to have accepted the role. Fichtner has praised the quality of writing on the series, saying "Television shows live or die on writing. The joy of Prison Break has been the writers. They're great and they forever challenged me, which makes the journey worth it." Fichtner has also had several concerns with the scripts written for him, and talks to the writers to make sure that the character stays consistent. On at least one occasion, he has sat down with the writer and tweaked the entire script. Fichtner said that his role on Prison Break ended up being "a lot longer" than he had originally thought. He was signed on to appear for a further two seasons, after being convinced by Olmstead to appear in a fourth (and final) one. The series' move from Dallas to Los Angeles for filming