Season 5 of Orange Is The New Black Is Going to Hit Close to Home

It's almost that time: Netflix is releasing a new season of Orange is the New Black on June 9, and we'll be glued to the screen until we've finished the whole thing. According to the cast, the show's upcoming fifth season will hit close to home, featuring scary similarities to the way things are going in America right now. The women's prison drama will see rioting, oppression, and major resistance against prejudice. Sound familiar?

"There are so few shows on television that find themselves running parallel, and perhaps directly into, the crisis in our culture," Uzo Aduba, who plays Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren, told ELLE.com at a Netflix screening event in Los Angeles on Friday.

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Laverne Cox, who plays Sophia Burset, explained how the plot of the new season echoes reality. "The prisoners have revolted," she said. "There's a riot and a rebellion." But it's the social lessons within the plot that stand out, Cox said, and what they suggest about people who choose to take action against oppression. "What I think is interesting is to look at the characters who are very comfortable with the system as it is, and the characters who are pushing against that system, and resisting, and participating in the riot this season. I would like folks, when they watch, to think about the people in real life who are pushing and resisting—and then those people who are complacent, and comfortable with the status quo, even when that status quo isn't serving them."

Aduba added that the show attracts—and hopefully educates—viewers who might not have previously given enough thought to political and societal issues. "This show has found itself repeatedly representing the voices of those who have not had a space to speak," she said. "Whether that's on the front of sexual identity, race, or gender. We see it in our news every day—just as recent as today, the arrest of a police officer in Texas for the alleged murder of Jordan Edwards. We're seeing these things occur on, it seems like, a daily basis. I think that this show responsibly handles those issues, and has found such a wide audience." But the actress hopes the audience will go further than just watching the show: "It creates a space for people who might think themselves separate from those issues to consider involving themselves and, at the very least, become empathetic to those individuals who are suffering from these things daily."

As for more on where the plot will go, Taylor Schilling, who plays Piper Chapman, explained that the whole season is set over a period of only three days. "You see people existing under compressed circumstances," she said, "and what emerges when you're pushed to your limit. The more heightened the circumstances, the more interesting pieces of character come out."

There will of course be fallout from last season's tragedy: the death of the beloved character Poussey Washington, played by Samira Wiley. "We get to see Suzanne grieve as only Suzanne can," Aduba said. "But the whole prison's grieving, so we get to watch that play out. I don't know if the stakes have ever been higher."

Danielle Brooks, who plays Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson, said filming the scene in which Poussey was killed was difficult. Poussey died after a correctional officer knelt on her until she couldn't breathe—a story not unlike the real-life death of Eric Garner, who passed away in 2014 after police put him in a chokehold.

"In July, Philando Castile had just [been killed]," Brooks said, "Eric Garner, which this scene was mirrored after...it was so heavy. I think we wanted to make sure that we were giving respect and reverence to the people who have lost their lives."

Given how closely the show has reflected real-life tragedies and stories, Brooks hopes its audience will be paying attention. "If there was a kid in Wisconsin," Brooks said, "or South Dakota, who had never known what the Black Lives Matter movement was, or what it is like to be transgender, or any of those major issues, they know now. They're connected to these characters. I'm just grateful for this responsibility that we have."

The new season of Orange is the New Black will premiere on Netflix on June 9.