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'Orange is the New Black' season 5 release date, cast news, spoilers: Series to return in June 2017?

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The dramedy series is expected to return with its fifth season in June next year. Meanwhile, Danielle Brooks, who plays Taytsee, became emotional when her real-life and on-screen best friend Poussey (Samira Wiley) exited the show.

The release date for "Orange Is the New Black" season 5 on Netflix has not been set yet. But for the past four seasons, the series has premiered its every installment around the time of June, which causes predictions that the same will happen for the fifth season.

Series regulars Piper (Taylor Schilling), Alex (Laura Prepon), Gloria Mendoza (Selenis Levya), and Red (Kate Mulgrew) are sure to be seen when "Orange is the New Black" returns.

But there are speculations that Piper and Correctional Officer Humphrey (Michael Torpey) will be written off the series soon.

In season 4, Piper had created a lot of enemies from her short rule as "the boss" in prison. After a series of events where her fellow inmates took her down — and even branded her — removing her as top dog, Piper has had a change of heart. She then re-developed a romance with Alex.

Meanwhile, CO Humphrey had a gun pointed to his head by Taytsee, after she started a riot upon learning that Caputo (Nick Sandow) did not mention her friend's death. It is anticipated that Humphrey will take a bullet and will die from the shot.

Brooks shared in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter how she became very emotional from Poussey dying in the show.

Brooks explained that there were two big reasons why she felt emotional about the scene. One, because of her involvement with the Black Lives Matter movement, and two, because Wiley was her close friend since they were teenagers.

"Acting out the scene over and over and over again is not an easy thing to do. There's nothing like having to imagine losing someone like that in that way — especially with everything that's going on in the world that we live in," Brooks explained.

She then went on to explain how her close bond with Wiley helped her in the scene where Poussey died.

"Just looking at Samira, seeing her on that ground and imagining my friend, who is really my friend, not being with us, it brought me right where I needed to be. After we shot the last shot, I just held Samira for a very long time," added Brooks.

"Orange is the New Black" is expected to premiere in June 2017.