The seventh and final season of the American comedy-drama television series '' Orange Is the New Black'' premiered on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

on July 26, 2019, at 12:00 am PDT in multiple countries. It consists of thirteen episodes, each between 55 and 89 minutes. The series is based on

Piper Kerman Piper Eressea Kerman (born September 28, 1969) is an American author. She was indicted in 1998 on charges of felonious money-laundering activities, and sentenced to 15 months' detention in a federal correctional facility, of which she eventually ...

's memoir, '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison'' (2010), about her experiences at

FCI Danbury The Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury (FCI Danbury) is a low-security United States federal prison for male and female inmates in Danbury, Connecticut. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Depar ...

, a minimum-security federal prison. The series was created and adapted for television by

Jenji Kohan Jenji Leslie Kohan (born July 5, 1969) is an American television writer and producer. She is best known as the creator and showrunner of the Showtime comedy-drama series '' Weeds'' and the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black''. ...

. The season chronicles Piper's life after being released contrasted against the experiences of other prisoners, some of whom now reside in immigration detention centers.

Episodes

Alternative ending

Another ending was considered for the show with Piper telling her story to Jenji Kohan, who would make it into a TV series. When Jenji told it to her son, he told her that the show and fans deserved better than that.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Recurring cast

Inmates

Staff

Detainees

Karina Arroyave Karina Arroyave (born July 16, 1969) is a Colombian-American actress and playwright. Best known as Bianca Walsh on ‘’As the World Turns’’ (1988-1994), Jamey Ferrel on ‘’ 24’’ (2001-2002), Meirce on ‘’The Blacklist’’ (2021- ...

as Karla Córdova *

Marie-Lou Nahhas Marie-Lou Nahhas ( ar, ماري لو نحاس;) (born September 7, 1989) is a Lebanese American actress, model, and activist best known for playing Egyptian-born inmate Shani Abboud on Season 7 of ''Orange Is the New Black''. Season 7 aired on N ...

as Shani Abboud * Melinna Bobadilla as Santos Chaj

Others

Special guest stars

Jason Biggs Jason Matthew Biggs (born May 12, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Jim Levenstein in the '' American Pie'' comedy film series and Larry Bloom in the Netflix original series ''Orange Is the New Black''. He als ...

as Larry Bloom * Diane Guerrero as Maritza Ramos *

Michael Harney Michael John Harney is an American actor of film, television, and theater. He is best known for starring on the Netflix original series ''Orange Is the New Black'' as Corrections Officer Sam Healy. In 2019, he had a recurring role in the Apple TV ...

as Sam Healy *

Laverne Cox Laverne Cox (born May 29, 1972) is an American actress and LGBT advocate. She rose to prominence with her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series ''Orange Is the New Black'', becoming the first transgender person to be nominated for a Pr ...

as Sophia Burset *

Samira Wiley Samira Denise Wiley (born April 15, 1987) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Poussey Washington in the Netflix comedy-drama series '' Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019) and as Moira in the Hulu dystopian dr ...

as Poussey Washington *

Lea DeLaria Lea DeLaria (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actress, and jazz singer. DeLaria is credited with being the first openly gay comic to appear on American television with her 1993 appearance on ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. She is best kno ...

as Carrie "Big Boo" Black *

Pablo Schreiber Pablo Tell Schreiber (born April 26, 1978) is a Canadian-American actor. He is best known for his stage work and for portraying Nick Sobotka on ''The Wire'' (2003), William Lewis on '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (2013–2014), Mad S ...

as George "Pornstache" Mendez

Guest stars

Production

In February 2016, Netflix gave the series a three-season renewal, which included its seventh season. In October 2018, it was confirmed that the seventh season would be its last. For the seventh season, Alysia Reiner was upgraded to series regular.

Reception

Critical response

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, season 7 has a score of 82 out of 100, based on 10 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, it has a 97% rating with an average score of 7.69/10, based on 32 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Carried by its exceptional ensemble, ''Orange Is the New Black''s final season gets straight to the point, tackling hard-hitting issues with the same dramatic depth and gallows humor that made the show so ground-breaking to begin with".

Accolades

For the

72nd Primetime Emmy Awards The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in American prime time television programming from June 1, 2019, until May 31, 2020, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was originally to be held at the Microsof ...

received a nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.

References

External links

* * {{Orange Is the New Black Orange Is the New Black 2019 American television seasons