NEW YORK — Netflix sprung a fourth season of Orange Is the New Black onto streaming Friday, and has already locked up three more.
But talking a few days before the show's season premiere, on- and off-screen best friends Danielle Brooks and Samira Wiley are tight-lipped about what's in store for their respective characters, Taystee and Poussey, although many fans already have a clue. The actresses say they gave up trying to guess what's next long ago.
"I remember (in the) first season, I had this whole backstory about who I am, what's my mom's name, my relationship with my mom," Wiley remembers. "Then I found out after episode 12 that my mom's been dead for six years. I was like, 'Lord, have mercy!' " Now, "I don't have any expectations."
Brooks adds, laughing: "I did the same thing! I had this whole backstory about Taystee. I thought, 'I was a stripper!' That's how Taystee got her name!"
The nickname actually came in childhood by mother figure Vee (Lorraine Toussaint), a psychopathic druglord who reunited with Taystee at Litchfield prison in Orange's second season, but was soon killed off in the season finale. Taystee mourned Vee's death last season but begins these new episodes looking after friends Poussey, Crazy Eyes (Uzo Aduba), Janae Watson (Vicky Jeudy) and Black Cindy (Adrienne C. Moore).
"She has been defined as the new 'mom' of the ghetto dorm, so she's trying to embrace it, but not really enjoying that title at all," says Brooks, 26. But Taystee is thrilled by Warden Caputo's (Nick Sandow) decision to make her his secretary, which she considers the "best job in the prison."
Meanwhile, Poussey finds romance with inmate Soso (Kimiko Glenn), although they're forced to confront their differences early on. "Soso assumes that Poussey comes from the ghetto and that she doesn't know much about the world," says Wiley, 29. "That really hurts Poussey," an educated "Army brat" raised on a German military base.
When Litchfield welcomes iron-fisted new guards and 100 more inmates this season, a culture war threatens to sever bonds between prisoners, even claiming one's life. As far as Poussey and Taystee are concerned, "it reminds them both of how deeply they care for and love each other," Brooks says.
It's a bond that rings true for the actresses. Brooks and Wiley became friends while studying drama at New York's Juilliard School. Both have returned to their theater roots: Wiley, who appeared in off-Broadway drama Daphne's Dive this spring; and Brooks, currently starring in Broadway's The Color Purple as Sofia (the role Oprah Winfrey made famous in the 1985 film).
The split shift was particularly challenging for Brooks. Filming Orange last fall, she would often spend eight to 10 hours on set before rehearsing for Purple in the afternoons and performing shows at night. "It was insane," she says, although the hard work paid off: She was a nominee as featured actress in a musical at this month's Tony Awards, where Purple took home the award for best musical revival.
In addition to top prizes earned by Purple and Hamilton, the Tonys made history when all four musical acting prizes went to people of color. While Brooks is honored to be part of diverse casts in which she doesn't have to "be a token," she also wishes that was the norm.
"I'm ready for us to get over this, 'Let's diversify, let's diversify,' " Brooks says. "Just be. Let's just tell stories where everybody feels represented. For me, I didn't even think, 'Oh, there's four black people that received this honor.' I just thought, 'There are four deserving people that are up on that stage that deserve to be there.' That's what it is."
