‘Orange Is The New Black’ Season 4 Will Have ‘Unexpected Alliances,’ Teases Cast [Premiere Date, Trailer]

Orange Is the New Black is gearing up for what could be its best season yet. Along with a brand new trailer and release date, cast members have promised “unexpected alliances” when the hit prison drama returns for its fourth season.

In an interview with E! Online, several cast members and creator Jenji Kohan dished on the upcoming season. While the stars did not reveal a lot of details, their insight does offer a good idea on what fans can expect to go down in the new season.

In speaking about Piper Chapman’s (Taylor Schilling) development in Season 4, Kohan revealed that Piper will continue her descent into prison life as she starts to truly accept her stay behind bars.

At the same time, Blair Brown, who plays Judy King in the series, revealed that unexpected challenges force the women in Litchfield to bond together in ways they never have.

“You do push all the different groups together,” she stated. “Alliances that happen are unexpected.”

For her part, Samira Wiley, better known as Poussey Washington, stated that the upcoming season of Orange Is the New Black is very different than anything they’ve done in the past.

“This season, I feel really good about it and I want to be able to talk about it,” she stated. “It feels like we’ve got something really, really different than what we’ve put out before with this coming season.”

Kohan added to Wiley’s comments and went on to discuss some of the themes that will be included in the new season. While past seasons have included a variety of different subjects, Kohan promised that the new season will add to what they’ve built on in the first three years of the series.

“Sometimes we start with political agendas, the corporatization of the prison, the stratification of the people into their little mosaic pieces within the prison,” Kohan explained. “I can’t tell you much more than that because we want it to be a surprise but all the fun stuff like race and hate and some things from current events that we want to sort of filter through our lens. But I’m just going to be vague about it.”

Meanwhile, Pop Crush is reporting that Netflix has officially released its first promo trailer for the new season. Although the video is only a little under a minute in length, the trailer reveals a lot of what the upcoming season will bring.

For starters, it appears as though Nicky (Natasha Lyonne) will be back in action after being ushered off to maximum security last season. Based on the video, it does not seem as though her appearance is taken well by the other inmates.

Speaking of returning in one piece, Alex (Laura Prepon) made an appearance in the trailer. Although Alex was last seen facing down Kubra’s goons, her presence in the trailer indicates that she made it through her ordeal without suffering too much damage. What does this mean for her relationship with Piper?

Elsewhere, something is definitely going wrong with Red (Kate Mulgrew) and her kitchen, while it appears as though Taystee (Danielle Brooks) may have gotten a job. With so many things happening in the trailer, it definitely appears as though some major shakeups are on the way for the ladies at Litchfield.

In addition to the exciting trailer, Netflix has also announced the official release date for Season 4. According to Enstarz, the new season will officially be available to stream online on June 17. While this means fans still have a handful of months to wait until the new season is online, at least everyone now has an official date to circle on the calendar.

Tell us! Who do you want to see in an alliance in Season 4 of Orange Is the New Black? Let us know in the comments and check out the brand new trailer below.

[Image via Netflix]