Netflix/Jojo Whilden(NEW YORK) — Season five of Orange Is the New Black drops today on Netflix, and it picks up right where season four left off: the prisoners of Litchfield rioting in response to the death of beloved inmate Poussey.
It’s serious stuff, and Taylor Schilling, who plays Piper Chapman, says it’s only right, since our country is also going through serious stuff.
“It’s hard to remove our show from what America is right now,” says Schilling. “It’s a darker, much more serious place to live and the show I think reflects that.”
Still, Laverne Cox, who plays Sophia Burset, feels that season five, which takes place in real time over the course of the three days, still retains Orange Is the New Black‘s signature style of humor.
“Only Orange Is the New Black can take a prison riot and have it be this kind of irreverent at times,” says Cox. “Certainly it’s also very serious but there’s times when we can laugh about it and I think like — I think that helps in life, that when horrible things happen and unjust things happen, you can find a way to laugh about it.”
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