T-Bag...

Agreed.

Bit much mate.

His performance in the first season was spectacular and Emmy-worthy. How he was able to pull off a character that is completely different from who he really is in every way shows how skilled he is an actor. There wasn't any other actor in Prison Break who was playing someone who was nothing like them in real life, except maybe Adelstein and Fichtner. That's what made Robert Knepper's performance shine so much, because T-Bag was the most difficult character to play. After the first season though, it just wasn't that good anymore, though I don't blame Rob for that, he was working with the script and directions they had written for him. If he'd had better material, then he would have continued giving a good performance. Also, no matter what he says, it seems like he was just going through the motions of playing the part after a while.

It's something that happens with actors who portray characters in television series rather than films. A film you play the character for a couple of months and then it's over. But with a series, it drags out over several years, and actors get tired of it. The point where it looked like he was no longer having fun playing the character and was only showing up because it was a steady job was in the later part of season 2 after the character visited the Hollander family and then decided to finally leave them alone. All the episodes after that, the performance just wasn't the same performance that everyone got hooked on before. Also, while Prison Break made him more well-known it had a down-side. Now that's all that most people know him for, and it must be annoying with people constantly calling him T-Bag and mentioning that one role everywhere he goes. Some people also seem to not understand that none of it was real and say stupid/bizarre things to him on social media because they associate him with T-Bag instead of understanding that he's just an actor who played a fake character that he has nothing in common with.

Yes!!!

No, he doesn't get enough recognition so we will appreciate him on here. He is that damn good.

And he does himself no favors by revisiting T-Bag every time it is an option despite his claiming to not want to be identified with that role alone.

At least his role in the sequel appears to be a limited one. No doubt he came back because once again the enticed him with the cash. Sometimes a role comes along that isn't good career-wise for the actor, but is good for their bank account. It reminds me of William Shatner and other actors who became known only for one role and absolutely loathe it. When Shatner was on the Star Trek TOS in the late 60s, he never imagined that he would end up playing the same character for years and years. TOS wasn't very popular in it's original run, and only became a phenomenon years after the show ended. He thought it was a good job for a few years and then move on to other projects and keep evolving their career. But then he had difficulty find work afterwards and in the late 70s and during the 80s, they threw tons of cash at Shatner and so he kept coming back and playing Kirk in every movie. He made it clear that he thought the role ruined his career. No actor wants to be known for only one role they played, no actor wants to be typecast, and no actor wants to deal with the annoying craziness of fandoms with cult followings. And for many years, Shatner made no secret how much he despised Star Trek and its fans. He was sick and tired of people calling him "Captain Kirk" and saying silly things like "I thought your middle name was Tiberius" and other ST references. He was sick and tired of attending conventions and where he was surrounded by a bunch of rabid trekkies. But there was one thing about it tha the did like...and that was the money. For the past ten years, he's started lying about how much he hates it, but that's because he realized it gave him easy and hefty paychecks and he's willing to endure it for all that money. I imagine it's the same reason Knepper stayed on with Prison Break long after the T-Bag character had run his course, and it's the same reason other actors in a similar situation usually make the same decision, to go on milking the character because they have trouble finding other work and the thought of a big paycheck is enticing.

An actor's ability to portray someone very different from themselves is not some kind of spectacular achievement. It is the bare minimum requirement of the job.