'Orange is the New Black' season 5 updates, spoilers: Laura Prepon talks Alex and Piper's complicated relationship; Returning characters revealed
"Orange is the New Black" season 5 will see a darker Litchfield Correctional Facility after the major cliffhanger in the season 4 finale.
Season 4 left off with a lot of loose ends in the story following the major disarray in the prison. Inmates began standing up to authority and created a huge chaos that rendered some of the prison guards helpless. Moving forward to season 5, reports say that there will be more drama, with the possibility of character deaths and return of long-lost inmates.
Release date
Netflix has yet to announce an official premiere date for the show's fifth season, but there are speculations that it could fall sometime around June. After all, the series has remained pretty consistent on its release dates since its debut in 2013. Season 1 premiered July, while seasons 2-4 have been released toward the middle of June.
Returning characters
After being sent to the SHU, Sophia (Laverne Cox) will reportedly have more exposure and possibly be promoted as a series regular character. Fans can also expect other regulars including Piper (Taylor Schilling), Alex (Laura Prepon), Red (Kate Mulgrew) and Gloria Mendoza (Selenis Leyva). However, there is still a question mark around Lori Petty's return as Lolly, who became last season's breakout character. Additionally, correctional Officer Humphrey's (Michael Torpey) fate remains hanging in the balance after the season 4 cliffhanger showed Daya (Dascha Polanco) pointing a gun at him.
New characters and Piper-Alex relationship
Rumor has it that there will be more new inmates in season 5 who will complicate things further for the characters. Their alliances will continuously to be tested as the Litchfield ladies deal with the consequences of their actions in season 4. As for the central relationship in the story, Prepon recently teased what's next for Piper and Alex.
"Alex and Piper, because it is a tumultuous thing, I don't know if people like that can stay together for too long," she said. "Something happens where they break up but because they really care about each other they get back together, and it's this whole push-pull thing. That's not going to change anytime soon."
"Orange is the New Black" season 5 is expected to premiere next year on Netflix.
