Recent TikTok videos made it seem as though a new season of Orange Is the New Black could be coming this year, but are they telling the truth?
Starring Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman, the Emmy-winning show's seven seasons aired on Netflix from 2013 to 2019.
Despite it being five years since the seventh season's final episode, there has been speculation online recently that the show could be coming back for a Season 8.
Is Orange Is the New Black Season 8 Happening?
Clips from and trailers for the show's seventh season in 2019 were reposted to TikTok, and led many to misinterpret them as teases for a new Season 8:
Y.sa: "wait !!!! is this a new season update"
kait: "Thought a new season was coming out"
Jackie Lord: "Wait there's another season coming out 2024?? I thought it was done"
As of now, there are no active plans for Season 8 of Orange Is the New Black. But, that doesn't mean there were never continuation plans discussed.
Back in 2018, before the show's conclusion the next year, there were reportedly talks between Lionsgate TV and Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan about a follow-up series.
A few spin-off or follow-up ideas were being thrown around, even including a potential Broadway show, but this was still before the show officially ended.
As such, executive producer Tara Herrmann told The Hollywood Reporter that expanding on those ideas then and there was akin to "robbing from the mothership:"
"[It 'feels too much like'] robbing from the mothership ... We want people to pay attention to the show we’re making, not a musical number with Piper and Alex. But that could happen in the future, who knows!”
Could More Orange Is the New Black Be on the Way?
As of 2024, there are no currently concrete plans for more Orange Is the New Black, but that does not mean that creator Jenji Kohan thinks the story itself is over.
In 2019, Kohan told The Guardian that she was "done with darkness and dystopia," hoping instead for "reflections of lives we would like to live." As such, "it was time for release" from the show for herself:
"I’m fucking done with darkness and dystopia. I think it’s bad for us at this point. I want to see more reflections of lives we would like to live and worlds we would like to see. The dark is getting me down ... When you’re writing a show in prison, you’re psychologically in prison for a good deal of time. It was time for release.”
But, she hoped "that in some alternate universe ... the stories continue." She also reminded fans that fanfiction does exist, if fans want to see that universe for themselves:
"'I’d like to think that in some alternate universe they go on, that the stories continue.' There’s probably some fan fiction online that caters to that. 'And probably some excellent erotic fiction,' she says and laughs. 'But I have not gone down that rabbit hole. It was bad enough with 'Love Island.''”
A couple of years later, in 2021, Orange Is the New Black actor Laura Prepon shared some doubts with PopCulture, saying, "I don't think [Jenji] wants to do that," but still acknowledging that fans "would love to have some kind of spinoff:"
"I don't think [Jenji] wants to do that… I think she wants to see some daylight ... I know that people would love to have some kind of spinoff, so I don't know. We'll see what happens but Jenji is just — her mind and her writing, oh man, she's so great."
Orange Is the New Black is available to stream on Netflix.
Gillian Blum has been a writer at The Direct since 2022, reporting primarily from New York City. Though she covers news from across the entertainment industry, Gillian has a particular focus on Marvel and DC, including comics, movies, and television shows. She also commonly reports on Percy Jackson, Invincible, and other similar franchises.
