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The latest season of “Orange Is The New Black,” season 5, was released last week on Netflix. And after the death of Poussey in season 4, some of us are either excited to see what happens or weary about the ways in which that particular scene mimicked what’s happening in real life.
Interestingly enough, Danielle Brooks, who plays Taystee, on the show, felt both at times as she took on such a pivotal role in season 5. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, she spoke about how the similarities between her character’s story line and real life headlines have often left her heartbroken. But she also shared the sense of hope both she and her character Taystee have for the future of this nation.
Note: Some of the questions and answers from the interviews contain spoilers about Season 5.
EW: The season’s been out for a week now. Have you had time to watch it? How do you feel about it?
DANIELLE BROOKS: Yes, I have gotten to see season 5. I’m very proud of the work that myself, the cast, crew, and writers have done this season, especially because it parallels the world that we live in. Actually, today I got a little pissed off, honestly—I just heard the news on the radio about the Philando Castile [case] and the officer being acquitted. I just appreciate the show speaking to the issues that we’re dealing with. Right now, my heart really goes out to the Castile family for having to feel like they’re not getting justice for this senseless death. That’s sort of where my head is right now, and it kind of sucks because you’re telling this fictional story for six or seven months, embodying what it is to lose somebody and what is it to fight. Then, this season comes out and here we are with another situation where justice is not served. So, my heart is a little heavy right now, to be honest.
EW: While you were filming the season, was it hard to go from reading these tragic headlines every day to performing these scenes where Taystee is fighting for justice— and at times in vain because of how rigid the system is?
DB: Yeah, it’s wicked how the system works. It was challenging. We came back in July 2016 when the Philando Castile incident occurred, so we were going right into work dealing with that particular incident. For me, my work was sort of done. People always ask, “How did you get into character? What did you read or what did you do?” I just watched the clips of Diamond Reynolds, who was his girlfriend, speaking to reporters and talking to all of these news outlets. To me, it was so similar to that episode 5 scene with Taystee when she doesn’t let Judy King [Blair Brown] speak, because that’s the same thing I saw with her; she never let her lawyers speak for her. She was always the one on the forefront putting her voice out there and saying, “You will hear what I’m feeling and the loss that you have caused me and my daughter and his mother.”
As challenging as it was to shoot this, the work was done. That’s such an unfortunate place to be in. It actually breaks my heart that I wasn’t able to really just use my imagination as we do as artists. Instead, it felt so real. All you have to do is put your uncle, your brother — I have a brother who’s 22 — your father in [their] place. It really is devastating and it feels like we still have this noose around our necks as black people. When can we win? Not even win, but just be! When can we just be as equal as anyone else? When will justice be served for us and when can we get a moment to breathe and live in a fair world?…I’m just hurting.
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I want to find beauty at the end of the road. I want to have hope for America. I feel like a big part of Taystee’s motives this year is to fight for justice but also believe that the system can change. That’s a big part of it. She’s pulling out all of the stops and doing all the research and speaking up for these women in hopes that this thing can change. We see at the end of it that they stand together and now she has a group of women that are standing for justice and she doesn’t feel as alone as she did earlier in the episode. I just hope that’s what we gain with telling stories that matter in that way — we can also take from these women and say, “How can I stand with my brother and my sister? How can I be there for a family that’s lost their loved one? How can I get involved in politics or local government or [how we] choose judges?” We just have to get more involved and be more informed on a much more [local] scale that affects our communities…and will ultimately affect the greater scale. We’re all in it together.
EW: There’s this inherent optimism in Taystee’s actions this season. Was committing to that hopefulness hard some days, or did you find it easy because it gave you a reason to keep hope alive for yourself, too?
DB: Definitely the latter, because I think when someone has gone through as much as Taystee has gone through, and especially when someone is dealing with grief, you kind of have two different routes that you can take: You can choose to take the death route where you are living in misery and depression and feeling like you have no reason to live, or you can say I’m going to take life even more seriously and cherish the life that I’ve been given. I know that’s the route that she’s chosen, which is hope and faith. When it comes to the society that we live in right now, I’d rather as an actor be playing that part of it. I’d rather be putting that energy out into the world. I can’t say that I wouldn’t want to do the other route because, as an actor, I wanna play everything. I want to get to play all different moods, shapes, and colors. Sometimes I think of acting in different fabrics. I want to play all different kinds of layers of a person, which I do think I got to do. Don’t get me wrong! Taystee went left, right, up, down. This season we got to see her stand up and have her moments where she feels like she’s going to lose it and crumble. But I do think the hope part matters — especially right now.
EW: Is there a general sense in the cast that season 7 might be the end, or do you hope Netflix could renew for another season?
DB: Who knows? We have until seven for sure. To be honest, I don’t know if I want to play an inmate past that. I don’t know if I want to do that because I have a lot in me and a lot that I want to share with the world and different characters I want to be able to bring to life. After seven, I think it might be time for me to spread my wings, but I don’t want to speak too fast on that.
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