Orange is the New Black season 7: Everything you need to know

The ladies of Litchfield are facing their final season. What will happen to Piper and her friends during season 7 of Orange is the New Black?

Orange is the New Black is coming to an end and what a ride it has been. Piper was only meant to be in prison for a short while but, with everything that happened at Litchfield, she’s been there for quite some time. Thankfully at the end of season 6, we saw Piper finally reach freedom — but that meant saying goodbye to the many women of Litchfield she’s come to know and love. As we enter season 7, we’ll see how this separation effects her, especially being away from her new bride Alex.

But of course Orange is the New Black fans aren’t just here for Piper — there are so many fan favorites we’re excited to see again in season 7. With this season being the show’s last, what can we expect? Lots of humor, lots of chaos, and heck maybe an escape or two. Here’s what we know is about to go down for Litchfield’s finest.

When does season 7 come to Netflix?

Best guess is either the end of June or the beginning of July of 2019. The show tends to always premiere in the summer, season 1 being in July when the rest of the seasons premiered in late June. So maybe season 7 will return to its premiere date or it will continue to be released in June. We don’t know for sure yet.

How many episodes?

Every season of Orange is the New Black has had 13 episodes. So why would season 7 be any different? We don’t know for sure if that’s how many episodes we’re going to get this season but it would make sense. Then again, it is the final season so maybe we can get a little more of our favorite characters (hopefully not any less than 13 episodes though). 

Who is returning and who is new?

Lucky for us all, none of our beloved characters died last season (still R.I.P. Barbara and Carol). We got to keep all our favorites even if there was a brutal stabbing in the finale. That being said, their lives are nowhere near perfect. For starters, what is going to happen to Piper? She was granted early release after marrying Alex in prison so will she come back to visit Alex at Litchfield or will she be vacant from season 7? Other inmates we’re worried about include the very pregnant Lorna who looked like she was in serious pain in the season 6 finale. Then there’s Blanca who was swiped up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We’d like to hope for the best for our girls, but this is Orange after all and it usually gets pretty bad before we see any good come along.

What happened last season?

Biggest news of all is we got a wedding! Alex and Piper have had quite the relationship with one another. Piper wouldn’t have even been at Litchfield if it wasn’t for Alex, and she’d probably be married to Barry with kids. But we know that that didn’t happen. Piper and Alex’s wedding was one of the pure highlights of the season, but of course a lot of crazy had to go down before we got there.

What was unique to season 6 was its main story arc focusing on two completely new characters, Carol and Barbara, and their long-lasting feud. While Piper and her pals are caught up in this cell block by cell block gang war, the guards are playing a pretty disgusting game called “fantasy inmate” where they collect points based on events that happen in the prison. Outside of the maximum security prison, Natalie Figueroa and Joe Caputo finally get more romantic with each other, and Linda Ferguson goes from quirky to just plain cruel — she, after all, is the person we can blame for Blanca’s soon-to-be deportation.

We’re going to be sad to say goodbye to Piper, Alex, and the rest of the crew at Litchfield. But we’ve had 6 great seasons thus far and we can’t wait to see what season 7 is going to bring us!

Check back on Culturess for new, reviews, and more once Orange is the New Black season 7 airs.