Ragesh Dipu
Netflix’s prison dramedy ‘Orange is the New Black‘ has revealed the premiere date and a first look at the seventh and final season. According to THR, all 13 episodes of season 7 will debut on July 26, 2019, on Netflix. The announcement was accompanied with a video message from the cast (check it out below). The series comes to an end after depicting six years of prison life of the female inmates in Litchfield Penitentiary.
The sixth season wrapped up with a cliffhanger when Piper (played by Taylor Schilling) won the Polycon lottery in the finale and set free five months early in the wake of a prison-privatization. In the final moments of the extended season six finale, after Piper and Alex are prisons married by Nicky, Piper walks out into freedom. But the lucky star gracing on Piper hasn’t taken care of the ill-fated, less-privileged inmates in Litchfield Penitentiary.
According to Netflix, the seventh season will feature the ladies of Litchfield as seasoned inmates who come to terms with their fate. They accept the bitter truth that prison life has changed them forever. Even Piper leaves Litchfield as a completely different person. But Taystee’s (played by Danielle Brooks) fate isn’t the same. She was sentenced to a life term for a murder she didn’t commit. Similarly, the other inmate Blanca Flores (played by Laura Gomez) is also facing the threat of deportation and a transfer to the new immigration detention center.
“Both Taystee and Blanca have treacherous, devastating roads ahead of them, whereas Piper, given her privilege, has a comparatively easy transition back,” Schilling told THR. “It feels as though if you are a white person, particularly a white person with money and financial means, that the law doesn’t touch you. And conversely, people are punished for being poor, as opposed to being punished for any kind of crime.”
Executive producer Tara Herrmann revealed soon after the sixth season finale that the upcoming season will follow Piper’s life in the outside world as much as it covers the prison life. Obviously, the followers can see Piper’s desperate attempts to get into the societal framework as an ex-inmate and her struggle to fit in various social situations.
To make things a little intriguing, Aleida Diaz (played by Elizabeth Rodriguez) is also roaming free in the outside world, selling drugs to make money to bring back her kids from foster care. Meanwhile, Gloria (played by Selenis Leyva) and her kitchen team are confronted by the bitter truth of the corporation that owns Litchfield, Polycon. Based on Piper Kerman’s 2010 memoir, ‘Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison,’ the series follows her experiences in the minimum-security federal prison, FCI Danbury. Jenji Kohan created and adapted the series for television.
Check out the video message from the cast below.
“Remember all their faces, remember all their voices. Orange Is the New Black the final season returns July 26,” reads the description along with the video.
Cover Image Courtesy: Netflix
