'Orange Is the New Black' Season 5 Takes Place Over Three Days
We still don't have a premiere date yet for the upcoming fifth season of "Orange Is the New Black," but the Screen Actors Guild Award-winning cast spilled some secrets about the new episodes while attending the ceremony this Sunday.
Several actresses spoke with E! News about "Orange," and revealed some key details about what fans can expect from season five. And one of the biggest bits of intel, shared by Danielle Brooks (Taystee), concerns the time period that the episodes cover: The entire 13-episode season will take place over the course of just three days.
"[I]t will be very detailed, very intense, and you better get ready," Brooks told E!. "Get your popcorn, your tissues, everything."
That certainly sounds fitting after the way season four ended, following (SPOILER ALERT) the shocking, devastating death of Poussey (Samira Wiley) and the ensuing outrage among all the women at Litchfield. The finale closed on a tense cliffhanger confrontation between the inmates and the guards, with Daya (Dascha Polanco) pointing a gun at one of them.
In another interview with E!, Taylor Schilling (Piper) noted that season five was a direct reflection of the intensity of season four.
"I think the stakes are higher in this season than they have been in a while just by virtue of the compressed time and seeing people in compressed circumstance really raises the stakes," Schilling said.
Laverne Cox (Sophia) echoed Schilling's comments, adding that the new episodes will certainly live up to viewers' expectations.
"It's really, really good," Cox told E! of season five. "What I can tell you is that I was just as excited as all the fans were to see what happens next. When I read it, it was incredible, when we shot it, it was...intense. It's really, really intense. ... [But] it still manages to have an irreverence and a spin that is funny and thoughtful."
Season five of "OITNB" is set to premiere on Netflix sometime this summer.