fifth season. Robert Knepper told Digital Spy that "[writer] Paul Scheuring loves Bill Fichtner and I love Bill Fichtner. He's a brilliant actor – but Paul honestly said to me, 'I don't know what to do with that character'. He didn't want to just bring everybody back, so that the audience go, 'Oh, look, it's Bill Fichtner again!' – he honestly thought, 'I'm not sure where to do that in the plot.' So if someday there's another chapter of this, maybe then Bill will be back. But I think the characters that are there, each of our moments that we have, are key to the storytelling, which is how it should be." Mahone's absence is somewhat explained in the final episode of the revival; in which Michael Scofield recounts to Theodore Bagwell how their mutual enemy Poseidon had been monitoring Michael's communications with anyone he believed could be a resource or ally. With those individuals, such as Mahone, unavailable; Michael is forced to turn to Bagwell himself for assistance. Characteristics Mahone is depicted as an intelligent FBI agent with "an amazingly sharp mind", quickly discovering the secret of Michael's tattoos and his plans. His thoroughness and investigational skills allow him to extrapolate the fugitives' location, causing Michael to remark, "It's like he knows where we're going, what we're thinking." Mahone has been described as "intellectually matched with Scofield", mainly in his ability to analyze and interpret his surroundings. Craig Blanchard of The San Diego Union-Tribune describes Michael as the "brains of the operation" and Mahone as his "arch-nemesis, sort of his equal on the other side of the law." Michael and Mahone have been described as "two sides of the same brilliant coin"; however, Mahone notes, "there's one big difference between you and I (sic), Michael. And you just proved it. You can't kill. And that's what it's gonna take to stop me. Because I don't have the same reservations. I can." His willingness to commit murder in order to preserve his life is shown when Michael asks if he would kill two innocent men to "get his life back", to which he replies "Absolutely." Fichtner defends Mahone by saying that he "doesn't do everything he does because he wants to do it. He's not OK about it. It's going to start to come out." Mahone is not a straightforward character, and his past is revealed as the series progresses.