At last, at last.
Netflix has released a trailer for the second season of Orange is the New Black, and it seems the red-envelope suits have gotten the memo: this isn’t just Piper’s show.
We quickly catch up with our de facto protagonist: it’s clear that prison is just as much in her now as she is in prison. “It’s starting to feel like home in here,” she says of her cell. I didn’t catch a glimpse of Pennsatucky in the video, so that leaves a very important question hanging.
But then it’s back to our favorites, like Taystee, Nicky, and Sophia. There appear to be two new arrivals, bullying Vee (Lorraine Toussant) and a younger Asian-American inmate (didn’t catch her character name) who’s an even bigger naif than Piper. “This is not how I imagined prison to be at all!” she exclaims. (Is this Jenji Kohan’s response to claims that the show, while admirably racially and sexually diverse, has given the short shrift to some groups?)
After being conned by the mother-daughter team of Aleida and Daya, prison officer Bennett seems to have gone to the side of Pornstache. RIP decency.
And sadly, Piper’s lover Alex is in just one quick shot, since actress Laura Prepon has announced her departure from the show. (If you haven’t yet read up on the real Alex Vause, this Vanity Fair profile is well worth the revelations. She and Piper Kerman, whose prison memoir provided the inspiration for the show, seem to have an unimaginably complex but now cordial relationship.)
The new season will be available for your bingeing pleasure on June 6.