Orange Is The New Black To End After Season 7
Our time at Litchfield Penitentiary is coming to an end.
Netflix has announced that its Emmy-winning comedy drama series Orange Is the New Black will conclude after its upcoming seventh season.
The series' cast — including Danielle Brooks, Adrienne C. Moore, Uzo Aduba, Taylor Schilling, Kate Mulgrew, Yael Stone, Dascha Polanco, Laura Prepon, Selenis Leyva, Taryn Manning, and Natasha Lyonne — helped break the sad news via a video posted to the Orange Is the New Black Twitter page.
"After seven seasons, it's time to be released from prison," series creator Jenji Kohan said (via Deadline). "I will miss all the badass ladies of Litchfield and the incredible crew we've worked with. My heart is orange but fade to black."
Cindy Holland, Netflix's vice president of original content, issued an equally heartfelt statement: "During production of Season 1, everyone involved with Orange Is The New Black felt like we knew a special secret we couldn't wait to share with the world. Since then, we have laughed, cried, raged, and roared with the women of Litchfield, and every moment spent with them felt like borrowed time — too good to last forever." She continued, "We will be sad to say goodbye but we will definitely be going out on a high. We are grateful to Jenji Kohan and her groundbreaking vision; to her supremely talented team of writers and producers; and to a once-in-a-lifetime cast and crew for creating a truly special work of art that has inspired conversations and connected audiences around the world."
Lionsgate Television Group Chairman Kevin Beggs added that Orange Is the New Black "profoundly impacted popular culture worldwide" and "played a prominent role in building Lionsgate into a platform-defining brand." Beggs commended Kohan, "the mastery of the creative and production team," and "the transcendent cast" for all that they've done on Orange, and promised that Lionsgate and Netflix will bring the series to a "triumphant, satisfying close with the upcoming seventh season."
Based on Piper Kerman's novel Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, Orange Is the New Black chronicles Piper Chapman's (Schilling) life behind bars after she's convicted of a crime she committed 10 years prior. Though Schilling technically leads the way, it's the ensemble cast — like Mulgrew as Galina "Red" Reznikov, Aduba as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes Warren, Lyonne as Nicky Nichols, Moore as Cindy "Black Cindy" Hayes, Brooks as Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson, and Laverne Cox as Sophia Burset — that truly makes Orange shine.
Since premiering on Netflix in July 2013, Orange Is the New Black has been nominated for countless Emmy Awards, six Writers Guild of America Awards, six Golden Globes, a Peabody Award, and more.
Some Orange fans may be surprised that the series is wrapping up with season 7, but that end mark is something Kohan has been thinking about for quite some time now. She told The New York Times in June 2017, "I haven't made a final decision yet, but I'm leaning toward ending it after [season] seven." Kohan added that she had an ending for Orange in mind, although she kept a tight lip on details.
Netflix hasn't yet set a release date for Orange Is the New Black season 7, but the upcoming episodes are expected to hit the streamer sometime in 2019.