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Watch: Orange Is the New Black season 4 looks darker than ever in this new trailer

Constance Grady is a senior correspondent on the Culture team for Vox, where since 2016 she has covered books, publishing, gender, celebrity analysis, and theater.

Orange Is the New Black has always walked the thin line between comedy and drama — to the point that every award season, we debate which category it properly belongs to ad nauseam. ("It’s funny, but not haha funny," said Margaret Cho in a 2015 Golden Globes sketch.)

In the newly released trailer for season four, things at Litchfield Penitentiary look decidedly dark. The prison is for-profit (one of the major plot developments of season three), and inmates are crammed in — "It’s sardine time, bitches," Aleida announces.

And the new guards — blaring air horns, slamming people against the walls — aren’t exactly comforting. "I do not like where this is headed," Boo mutters, speaking for us all.

"I’ve been in Litchfield for a while now," says Piper, with that mildly unhinged, might-just-beat-a-woman-to-a-bloody-pulp-during-a-Christmas-pageant look in her eyes, "and I have started to feel unsafe lately."

But looking on the bright side: Taystee has power now! Well, she at least has a desk, and appears to be doing administrative work for Caputo. If she can figure out how to use the phone, that girl’s taking over the world.

Orange Is the New Black will debut the entirety of its fourth season on Friday, June 17, at 3 am Eastern on Netflix.


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