With last year’s shocking season finale of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, many were heartbroken over the loss of fan favorite Poussey Washington at the hands of a corrupt prison guard. Now, with the return of a new season of the hit series, fans should be expecting complete chaos in Litchfield.
Several cast members of the series – Uzo Aduba, Laverne Cox, Danielle Brooks, Taylor Schilling, Taryn Manning, Blair Brown, and Samira Wiley – reunited at a Netflix screening event, held last night at the Saban Media Center in Hollywood, to discuss the upcoming season.
It has been confirmed that the series will take place within three days and the power has been placed in the hands of the prisoners.
Aduba, who was giddy about being able to share some spoilers, gave Red Carpet Report a third teaser for this coming season, “Teaser number three, you know how normally when we do flashbacks, the outside world. That device is how we get outside of the walls of Litchfield. Teaser number three: this season, Jenji [Kohan] brings the outside world to Litchfield. Teaser number three.”
Of course, this season will center around the death of Poussey, who Wiley confirmed that Poussey is truly gone.
“We know that Poussey’s character is kind of over and done. I think that is something so important to show that it’s not just a dream. She really is gone,” said Wiley.
With how the death of Poussey happened at the hands of the prison guard and how it was treated afterward, some may say it reflects the police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Wiley tells Red Carpet Report, “I think it’s a direct reflection of the times we’re living in today. It was absolutely a conscious choice to be able to reflect that in our show. I feel a tremendous amount of thankfulness and gratitude for being given that responsibility to tell that story, but it’s no accident that it is echoing what is going on. It was a very conscious choice to bring light to that.
Wiley’s co-stars could not agree more with the series reflecting the power struggle of today’s political climate.
“When I think about the new season, I think that the word ‘resistance’ feels very appropriate,” said Laverne Cox. “We’ve been talking a lot about resistance with the current political environment and the prisoners of Litchfield are in resistance this new season.”
Brooks, who plays Taystee, agreed there are so many parallels to Poussey’s death and the Black Lives Matter movement.
“We were shooting that in the midst of all that was going on with Philando Castile and Mike Brown. The list goes on, unfortunately,” Brooks said. “It was very heavy on all of us and we felt that. We only thought it right to give reverence to that and be as selfless as we could possibly be to honor those we lost.”
Brooks also shared you’ll see a whole other side to Taystee as she mourns the loss of her friend with Soso (Kimiko Glenn).
“This season is going to be interesting because the power dynamic shifts and the crazy thing is we were already out of control when we had structure,” Brooks explains. “Now, there is no structure and we are running the prison, it is going to make an interesting dynamic. We are going to see these women in crazy situations.”
Aduba, whose character Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” feels responsible for Poussey’s death, tells us Suzanne is in for a whole world of grief.
“Suzanne can only grieve as we understand Suzanne to exist and to be,” Aduba tells us. “We saw a glimpse of season four of how she grieves slightly differently. Her grieving continues to exist slightly left of center.”
Cox summed up the rioting on the series as resembling real life in politics and protesting.
“I think it’s really interesting to see which characters embrace the resistance and which characters push back against the resistance, who are much more comfortable with the existing system, even when that system is really disturbing,” said Cox. “I think that kind of look into how the different characters handle the resistance is a really interesting way for us to think of how folks are dealing with the resistance in real life.”
Orange is the New Black‘s fifth season premieres on June 9th on Netflix.
Get a first look at Season 5 of Orange is the New Black
Watch Orange is the New Black: https://www.netflix.com/title/70242311
About Netflix
Netflix is the world’s leading Internet television network with over 100 million members in over 190 countries enjoying more than 125 million hours of TV shows and movies per day, including original series, documentaries and feature films. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on nearly any Internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments.
Image Credit: Netflix
