Poussey Plays A Big Role In 'OITNB' Season 5

Drop what you're doing because your favorite show is coming back. The Orange Is The New Black Season 5 trailer gives lots of hints about the upcoming season, and, as we all know, one of the most heartbreaking aspects of Season 4 involved Poussey. And, beware, as major spoilers lie ahead. In the penultimate episode of Season 4 of Orange Is The New Black, Poussey was tragically killed, and, although her death was an accident, her fellow inmates were left devastated and angry. As the latest trailer shows, Poussey's friends instigate an uprising in the prison as a result of her death, but we get no confirmation that Samira Wiley is in Orange Is The New Black Season 5 at all.

Wiley famously left Orange Is The New Black in Season 4 and is now starring in Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale. As her character's death was the result of one of the prison guards crushing her windpipe while he restrained her with too much force, inmates are seeking justice over her mistreatment. In the shocking trailer, they appear to overcome the guards, and their protests become the focus of the news. Cameras and journalists are seen outside of the prison, and several prisoners use a mobile phone to video chat a person outside to explain why they are protesting.

Although Wiley doesn't appear in the trailer for Season 5, it's clear that her character is the main motivation for everything that happens next. Taystee announces, "You done a girl wrong, Mr. Caputo, and we want justice," and she later exclaims, "We're denied basic humanity." Having lost one of her best friends, Taystee isn't about to stand by and let Poussey's death go unpunished. Later in the trailer, a group of the inmates appear to conduct a seance. They seem to be attempting to summon Poussey and are all extremely traumatized by her passing. It's likely that Poussey will be discussed at length in Season 5, but it's unlikely we'll see her onscreen.

In an interview with Bustle in June 2016, Wiley recalled her last day on set in Season 4, saying, "I had to say goodbye to the set. I had to say goodbye to wearing those clothes for the last time." The finality with which she talked about leaving the Netflix show, makes it sound as though her journey has come to an end.

But, most importantly, Poussey's death is a motivator for the prisoners to stand up for their human rights. They pen a letter which reads, "To whom it may concern, we the inmates of Litchfield are human beings, and we are protesting the abusive conditions under which we are being held." Even though Wiley isn't in the new season of Orange Is The New Black, her character will live on in the actions of her fellow inmates.