Posted on June 10, 2016

Black Lives Matter Will Take Center Stage on ‘Orange Is the New Black’ This Season

Evette Dionne, Revelist, June 9, 2016

“Orange is the New Black” is returning June 17, and the Netflix fan favorite is entering intense terrain this season. The Hollywood Reporter (THR) has dubbed it “the darkest season yet,” since the show will tackle important contemporary issues: Black Lives Matter and racial injustice.

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All of these elements collide in the fourth season, according to Jackie Strause, the THR writer who screened the forthcoming season.

“The new and inexperienced guards employ levels of brutality and racial injustice that ultimately evoke the movement in an event that will impact all of the inmates,” she wrote in her spoiler-less review.

Actress Selenis Leyva, who plays chef Gloria Mendoza on the show, confirmed the intensity of the season to THR.

“Danger is the underlying theme: racial tension and danger,” she said. “This season is definitely going to start up conversations that we’re dealing with now.”

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If Black Lives Matter is taking center stage, season 4 may be “Orange is the New Black’s” best season yet.