The 'OITNB' Cast Posted Emotional Goodbyes As The Show Finished Filming Its Final Season
It's been a long seven seasons in Litchfield, but after all that time the cast and crew of Orange is the New Black is finally breaking free. The series just wrapped filming the final season, and so the cast of Orange is the New Black posted emotional goodbyes, which have everybody tearfully walking down memory lane. The show has been a staple for binge-watchers everywhere for the last six years, and it helped usher in a new age of streamers producing original content since it was one of the very first Netflix original series.
The show chronicles the goings-on at Litchfield Correctional Institution, where the majority of the main characters are serving prison time. Since the characters are locked in, they spend all their time together in one location. The cast and crew of any long-running TV series usually get pretty close, but it makes sense that the folks from Orange is the New Black would get especially close because they've spent so much time creating characters living in such close quarters. The series has also been groundbreaking for its almost entirely female main cast, and its focus on telling the stories of people with a variety of ethnic, gender, and sexual identities. The cast and crew's throwback pictures and goodbye videos have flooded the internet, and they're a reminder of how meaningful the show has been to both them and its audience.
Laura Prepon, who plays main character Piper Chapman's on-again/off-again girlfriend/nemesis, posted a video of the emotional moments after she wrapped filming. The video shows the series creator, Jenji Kohan, swooping in for a hug before Prepon takes a moment to thank her Orange is the New Black family. She says, "You guys are amazing, thank you. This has been a true gift and an honor to work with each and every one of you." As tears well up in her eyes, Prepon cuts her speech short. It's so heartwarming to see how much the show has meant to her, and honestly it makes me love it even more.
Natasha Lyonne, who plays Nicky and is also currently starring in Russian Doll), posted a touching Instagram of her character's prison badge next to her real-life badge for the studio where the show was filmed. She wrote that she had an incredibly visceral reaction to ending the series: "On the last shot, a guttural sound came out of me, like some wounded animal."
Uzo Aduba (who plays "Crazy-Eyes") posted an Instagram tribute to her Orange is the New Black experience and even said that the show changed her life.
Lea DeLaria (who plays Big Boo) posted a bunch of selfies with her cast mates, which really hammers home the point that this cast was like a big family.
As the head honcho on set, Kohan knows the show better than anyone. So when she posted an Instagram of the cast and crew working and wrote, "This is a family," you know it's got to be true.
Taylor Schilling (who plays Piper) also paid tribute to all the people who were part of Orange is the New Black by posting a sweet collage of different photos of the cast and crew. She recently talked to The Hollywood Reporter about the end of the series and said:
It feels so gratifying. I feel so like it’s ready to happen and it’s ready to end. I feel like we’ve told the stories and that it’s time. I don’t feel like any stone is left unturned. I think it did what it came to do.
There's no word yet on when the final season will premiere, but if it follows suit with previous seasons, fans will most likely be saying goodbye to Litchfield some time this summer.
