‘Orange Is The New Black’ Stars Explain That Season 5 Cliffhanger

WARNING: Major Spoilers ahead for the season 5 finale of Orange is the New Black! Read at your own risk.

The newest season of Orange is the New Black was finally added to Netflix, and it started with a bang. Daya shot a prison guard, and the inmates of Litchfield began a three-day riot unlike any other.

When all was said and done, the season ended much like the last – with a major cliffhanger that left fans wondering what will come next.

Many of the inmates were escorted out of the prison in the final minutes, but ten were left in their pool-turned-bunker. Piper, Alex, Red, Suzanne, Nicki, Taystee, Gloria, Cindy, Biance, and Frieda stood their ground, and they were met with a parade of smoke bombs. Everyone will have to wait until 2018 to find out what happens next.

The stars of the show spoke with USA Today about the cliffhanger, and they revealed that it caught them off-guard. Selenis Leyva, who plays Gloria, said that they only got the script one week before they shot the finale, so no one was ready for it.

“Reading (the finale), I went, ‘What does this mean?’ The way it’s left off, there’s a huge explosion, and (we’re) the last command. If there’s casualties, there’s casualties.”

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Dascha Polanco (Daya) claimed that the entire season was a surprise, and she loved how realistic many of the twists and turns were.

“I think it was a surprise, from the moment I got the first script for season five to when I got the last one,” she said. “To not know, it’s realistic — you’re at the mercy of (the prison), you have no freedom, you belong to the system and it’s the decision of the system to decide where you go.

“That realistic touch, that relatability we get from the audience, it’s because of that dynamic of not knowing, as life is. You can’t predict what’s going to happen. And I thought about that recently, ‘What would have happened if I had known this season would have gone the way it did? Would I have reacted differently?’”

This season as been monumental for Daya, and Polanco teased what fans of the character can look forward to in the future.

“Dayanara’s on her own, she just committed a crime, and that will be punished. You might not see her ever again, or you might see her, as an actor, I don’t know, and as Dayanara, it’s obvious enough that she will be addressed.”

It will be a long wait until the next season of Orange is the New Black hits Netflix next year. There is a guarantee for more episodes though, as the streaming service has already renewed the series for two more seasons.

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How do you think season five of Orange is the New Black stands up against the previous years? Let us know by voting your favorite season in our poll below!