'Orange Is the New Black' season 4 news, spoilers: Season to tackle Black Lives Matter; Martha Stewart doesn't watch series
When the fourth season of "Orange Is the New Black" drops this month, it will take on relevant social issues and use its stellar cast to highlight current events.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the fourth season of the Netflix prison comedy/drama will tackle Black Lives Matter via a culture war that erupts in the show's overpopulated prison. The new guards in the prison will reportedly utilize brutal and racially unjust methods to keep the peace in Litchfield, leading to an event that will affect all of the inmates and evoke the international activist movement.
In an interview with THR, "Orange Is the New Black" actress Selenis Leyva, who plays chef Gloria Mendoza, said that the underlying themes for season 4 are danger and racial tension.
"This season is definitely going to start up conversations that we're dealing with now," Leyva said. "[Creator Jenji Kohan and the writers] really take things that are happening, that are current events, and deal with topics that people are afraid to really dive into. And we're going to go there this season, especially with the prison system."
The actress also said that the prison system will be a character in the new season of "OITNB" and that viewers will see how corruption within the system trickles down to its inmates.
"It's a menacing season," the actress said. "What's happening out of these prison walls is going to really effect these women."
Meanwhile, in a recent appearance on Chelsea Handler's Netflix talk show, TV personality and businesswoman Martha Stewart, once an inmate, said that she has never watched "Orange Is the New Black."
When Handler asked her if it was because the series hit too close to home, the media mogul said, "It's not as good as the real thing."
"When you live through something like 'Orange Is the New Black,' the real characters are better," she explained.
In 2004, Stewart was convicted of insider training and served five months at the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Connecticut. This is the same prison on which the Litchfield facility in "OITNB" is based.
The fourth season of "Orange Is the New Black" drops June 17 on Netflix.
