Granted, the central trio of Sarah Wayne Callies, Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell are all still in the prime of their lives, so perhaps a full seven years wouldn’t have been necessary.
I’m sure a winning story could have been drafted, of course, but without it being absolutely necessary, then it would just be asking fans to get distracted from the narrative.
In any case, that’s just for the photogenic side of things.
Indeed, while nobody here is going to be “that person” who vocally observes that all of these actors are older now, I think we can all agree how silly it would have been for creator Paul Scheuring to conceive this new season taking place in the immediate aftermath of Michael’s (supposed) death.