Actor-comedian Mike Birbiglia, who most recently played a group counselor in the hit film The Fault In Our Stars (see this Inquisitr article), has signed on to take on a recurring role in the upcoming third season of Orange Is The New Black , Laugh Spin is reporting.
As of this post, it is not know exactly what role Mike will play on OITNB . Show runner Jenji Kohan is keeping Mike Birbiglia’s new role – and all new roles – under wraps. All that she’s said publicly, so far, about season 3, is that it will be “about faith, to an extent.”
Birbiglia’s character options are rather limited, since most male characters on OITNB are either guards, prison employees, or husbands/boyfriends of Litchfield inmates. Wall St Cheat Sheet suggests that Mike’s new role could likely be that of a new prison guard, especially since actor Pablo Schreiber will not be back as C.O. Mendez, aka Pornstache, who lost his job at the end of last season.
Writer Katey Rich of Vanity Fair speculates that Birbiglia’s role will be a sympathetic character.
“Given his role as a group counselor in The Fault in Our Stars, Birbiglia could easily show up as a warmhearted psychologist type, or even a guard who allows himself to be softer than any of the others.”
The comedian has been expanding his acting résumé of late. Besides his recently-concluded Fault gig, Mike has been working on a big-screen adaptation of Annie ; finishing up work on the upcoming movies Digging for Fire and Trainwreck ; and is working on an as-yet-untitled Reese Witherspoon – Sofia Vergara project.
For his part, Mike isn’t saying much about his new job. As of this post, he’s been mostly silent about OITNB on his Twitter feed, except to re-tweet the THR story about his new job, and to re-tweet this fan tweet:
UH @birbigs ON ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK?! Is it legal to have this much awesome together? Is this real life? Am I having a stroke?
— Kimberly Chiang (@kimbobblypants) August 15, 2014
In other OITNB news, two new cast members besides Mike Birbiglia have been confirmed. Blair Brown, formerly of Fringe , and Mary Steenburgen, formerly of 30 Rock , have been confirmed as joining Mike Birbiglia in Season 3. Their roles, like Mike’s, are under wraps. Laura Prepon has also confirmed that she will be reprising her role as Alex Vause in the majority of new episodes in season 3.
What kind of role would you like to see Mike Birbiglia play in the next season of Orange Is The New Black ? Let us know in the Comments.
Image courtesy of: The Hollywood Reporter
