Orange Is the New Black star Taylor Schilling shares final season hopes

Jenji Kohan’s groundbreaking dramedy Orange Is the New Black began with Piper Chapman’s (Taylor Schilling) imprisonment, and its seventh — and final — season finds her readjusting to life on the outside.

“She’s beginning to navigate what it’s like to live in the civilian world again, and learning that freedom doesn’t come immediately when she steps outside of prison,” Schilling tells EW. “She becomes a little bit bolder expressing what she wants rather than trying to fit in and make it about other people.”

One of the challenges Piper faces in the new season is being separated from Alex (Laura Prepon), whom she married at the end of season 6 before her release. “That’s really what gets dealt with in the season. I think that ends up being what is explored most,” says Schilling. “Piper really realizes that Alex is fundamentally a part of her journey. That’s the choice that Piper is making, that Alex’s love is very important to her.”

As the Netflix series reaches the end of its sentence, Schilling hopes season 7 helps “people feel seen, and that there’s a reflection in the series of what has been happening to the cultural collective.”

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