Three things we learned about Orange Is the New Black season 2
Expect a new character, a strained relationship and a departure from the book in the show's upcoming second season
It's just under three months until Orange Is the New Black's second season hits Netflix on 6 June, but that's not going to stop the cast and creators of the show from hinting towards new characters and plot lines that are soon to be gracing our computer screens.
The majority of the cast and the creator of the show Jenji Kohan came together on Friday for a Q&A panel at PaleyFest in Hollywood, a yearly interactive pop culture event where fans can ask the cast and crew of their favourite shows their most burning questions.
In between giggles and jokes, Kohan and the OITNB cast did reveal some information about what will go down in Litchfield Federal Penitentiary next season.
To get your imagination going about what to expect from your favourite inmates this June, here's three things we learned from the show's panel at PaleyFest.
1. A new character is bound to "shake everything up" in season 2
Time to clear out a bunk bed…a new inmate is checking into Litchfield. New character Vee has been billed as a street-smart drug dealer who used children as her runners. At Paleyfest, Lorraine Toussaint, the Law & Order actress cast to play Vee, reveals more about the complicated character.
"Jenji has written one of the more complex characters I've ever played, and probably one of the more difficult characters I've played," Toussaint said. "I think it'll be interesting seeing how this character is received, because Jenji has written a character that plays and enjoys the game."
Cast member Laverne Cox hints towards some troublesome behaviour from the show's newest inmate as well.
“She shakes everything up – I mean, nothing’s the same because of Vee," Cox teases.
2. Piper and Larry won't exactly be on the smoothest of terms this season.
At the beginning of the series, it looked like main character Piper (played by Taylor Schilling) and her fiancé were going to conquer all and beat the challenges of having Piper serve a 15-month sentence.
But after some incidents of infidelity on Piper's end in jail, it looks like Piper and Larry's relationship will be on the rocks this upcoming season.
"When we left Larry and Piper in season one, their relationship was precarious at best, and for Larry, season two is pretty much spent trying to figure out if the damage that was done to the relationship is irreparable or if there's something that they can mend there," Jason Biggs, who plays Larry, said. "I think it's hard for him to just give up on it, so season two is spent with that sort of turmoil.
3. Don't expect the series to follow the book it is inspired by
Orange Is the New Black was inspired by the true story of Piper Kerman, an upper-middle class white woman sentenced to 15 months in prison for a mistake she made 10 years ago.
Kerman penned an autography called Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, but Kohan reveals that it's been extremely difficult to stick to the details Kerman presents in the book.
“When we started Season 1, legal said, ‘You can’t use any of the characters in the book because Piper’s the only one who signed a release,'" Kohan said. "So the thing very quickly became its own animal. Season 2 is more. It’s all the little details you wanna know about.”
