Orange Is The New Black’s Ending: Where All The Characters End Up

At the end of its seven-season run, Orange Is the New Black saw some of its main characters get happy endings, while others had far more tragic fates. Created by Jenji Kohan, Orange Is the New Black was a trailblazer on the streaming scene, becoming Netflix's second-ever original series at the time of its premiere. From there, it garnered a large fanbase and several Emmy Awards.

Orange Is the New Black is based on the book of the same name by Piper Kerman, who spent time in a women's prison after being convicted of smuggling a suitcase full of drug money. Taylor Schilling led Orange Is the New Black as the show's fictionalized Piper Chapman, but her story ultimately proved to be the entry point for dozens of character studies of the women of Litchfield Penitentiary.

The show followed the inmates through a chicken obsession, an illicit underwear production line, a prison riot, and the subsequent maximum security crackdown. There are so many likable and unlikable characters in Orange Is the New Black, but the main group ends their stories with both tragedy and hope.

Piper & Alex

They End Up Together In Ohio

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After Piper got out of prison, her marriage to Alex became strained by the long-distance relationship, and they both ended up cheating on one another. Alex had an affair with McCullough, a CO, who became angry and vengeful when Alex broke things off. McCullough requested that Alex be transferred to a prison in Ohio, and then Alex decided to set Piper free, telling her that they needed to break up.

After much deliberation over whether to stick with Alex or pursue her new love interest, Zelda, Piper ended up moving to Ohio so that she could be with Alex. She got a job at a cafe and started taking classes in Civil Procedure. In the new prison, there was no wall between them in the visiting room, so they could actually hold hands. When the show ended, Alex still had three years left on her sentence.

After leaving Orange Is the New Black, Taylor Schilling went on to appear in the horror-anthology series Monsterland and the Hulu original movie Pam & Tommy, about the lives of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. In 2024, she returned to the stage for the play The Apiary. Laura Prepon returned to the franchise that made her famous in 2023, reprising her role as Donna on That '90s Show.

Pennsatucky

She Dies Of A Drug Overdose

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Sadly, not every character in Orange Is the New Black got a happy ending. Tiffany Doggett, a.k.a. Pennsatucky, spent season 7 studying hard to take the GED and, along the way, was diagnosed with a learning disability. However, when the time came to take the exam, she was told that she had not been given the allotted extra time she needed.

Despite extra tutoring from Taystee, Pennsatucky left the exam believing she had failed and hit up Daya's gang for some drugs. This turned out to be Pennsatucky's last hit, as she died of an overdose. As her body was carried away from Litchfield, a ghostly version of her waved goodbye to the prison.

Since Orange Is the New Black ended, Taryn Manning has appeared in several reality TV shows, including Hollywood Game Night, Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry, and Worst Cooks in America (as a contestant). She also appeared in several low-budget movies, with titles like Bloodline Killer, Miranda's Victim, Bobcat Moretti, and Sanctioning Evil.

Taystee

Creates The Poussey Washington Fund

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For most of season 7, Taystee had only one goal in mind: death by suicide. After being wrongfully convicted of Piscatella's murder and being sentenced to life in prison, Taystee was far from a happy, bubbly young woman. She asked Daya for enough drugs to end her life, but the high price tag delayed things.

There was a brief flicker of hope when it seemed like a notebook written by Suzanne, in which she recounted how Piscatella really died, might exonerate Taystee — but her lawyer told her it was too flimsy as evidence.

Taystee was about to kill herself when she found Pennsatucky's body, which derailed her suicide attempt. Later, she was about to try again when she saw an envelope from Tamika containing the GED certificates for all the students she tutored. She learned that Pennsatucky actually passed the exam and gained her GED.

This gave Taystee renewed hope that she could actually help people, and she reached out to Judy King for help in setting up the Poussey Washington Fund — a foundation that offers microloans to women newly released from prison to help them get back on their feet instead of falling back into the cycle of crime and poverty.

In prison, Taystee found a new purpose in teaching financial literacy to inmates who are soon to be released so that when they receive their money from the Poussey Washington Fund, they'll know how to manage it.

Danielle Brooks' biggest success after her role in Orange Is the New Black was when she earned the role of Sofia in the remake of The Color Purple. Her performance earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress while winning the Best Supporting Actress award at the African-American Film Critics Association Awards. She also played Leota in Peacemaker and had a role in A Minecraft Movie.

Red

Develops Early-Onset Dementia

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Introduced as a fierce den mother and the veritable Queen of Litchfield, Galina "Red" Reznikov was brought low when she was forced to spend extensive time in SHU. The combination of this isolation and a severe urinary tract infection induced a state of delirium that developed into early-onset dementia.

Over the course of Orange Is the New Black's final season, Red's memory failed her more and more until she could no longer even remember how to cook.

She was transferred to B-Block, a.k.a. "Florida," where Litchfield's elderly and mentally ill patients end up. There, she reunited with her old "friend" Frieda Berlin but didn't remember Frieda's betrayal. She introduced herself as if they had never met. Eventually, Red remembered Frieda and tried to attack her, but Frieda hid in her cell and said she'd stay there until Red forgets her again.

Kate Mulgrew was already a major star thanks to her role as Captain Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager. After Orange Is the New Black, she remained an in-demand actress, with roles in Mr. Mercedes, Star Trek: Prodigy, The First Lady, The Man Who Fell to Earth, and Dope Thief.

Morello

Loses Her Baby And Has A Mental Breakdown

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Red wasn't the only main character who ended up in Florida. After giving birth to a baby boy, Sterling, in season 6, Lorna learned from a tearful Vinnie that their son died of pneumonia. Refusing to accept reality, Lorna continued to insist that her son was alive, even creating Instagram accounts for him using pictures of babies that she found on the internet.

Unable to bear this, Vinnie decided to divorce her, which Morello interpreted as him taking her baby away. Her mental health continued to degrade over the course of Orange Is the New Black season 7, and though Nicky desperately tried to help her, she eventually accepted that she could no longer keep Lorna safe.

When Lorna lashed out at another prisoner, it was the last straw, and she was transferred to B-Block. The last time she was seen, Red was cradling her like a baby and singing her a lullaby as Morello sucked her thumb.

Yael Stone was mostly a newcomer when she appeared on Orange Is the New Black. Since that TV show helped her break out, she appeared in the Liam Neeson movie Blacklight, the Australian films Blaze and The Correspondent, and the TV shows Picnic at Hanging Rock, Bay of Fires, and One Night.

Nicky

Becomes The New Prison Mom

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With Red in retirement, Nicky took over as the new "Prison Mom" after asking Red for advice on how to care for people behind bars. She was in the kitchen, sporting red lipstick and helping a drug-addicted inmate to get through her withdrawal.

After spending the show's final season struggling to keep too many plates spinning (her new girlfriend, Red's dementia, and Morello's breakdown), Nicky finally seemed to embrace her new role, taking care of girls who need it and building a family of her own.

Natasha Lyonne has become a major star since her time on Orange Is the New Black. While her career began long before Orange, she really broke out as a leading lady with her starring role in Russian Doll, the Netflix series she co-created in 2019. She went on to star in Poker Face, which had multiple Orange Is the New Black alums as guest stars. Amidst it all, she lent her voice to Big Mouth​​​​​.

Most recently, Lyonne starred in the animated series The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy, appeared in Fantastic Four: First Steps, and guest-starred in an episode of the final season of Euphoria​​​​​.

Maritza

Gets Deported To Colombia

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In one of the most heartbreaking storylines of Orange Is the New Black season 7, Maritza got arrested by ICE while hanging out in a club. At the ICE detainment facility, she was reunited with Blanca Flores, who lost her Green Card after pleading guilty to organizing the riots. When a group of inmates from Litchfield was brought in to run the kitchen at the ICE detention facility, Maritza also reunited with Flaca.

She begged her for help in proving that she's an American citizen. However, when Flaca finally managed to contact Maritza's mother, she learned that Maritza wasn't born in the United States at all but in Colombia. At first, there was hope when Maritza got her hands on the number for an organization that provides legal help to ICE detainees.

However, Maritza's fate was sealed by an act of kindness when she wrote down as many copies of the number as she could and handed them out to the other women in the facility. The guards spotted this behavior, and Maritza was immediately deported to Colombia, a country she had never visited and where she knew no one. Her fate in Colombia is left unknown.

Diane Guerrero, who played Maritza, is Colombian herself. As the only member of her family with American citizenship, she was left alone at age 14 when the rest of her family was deported to Colombia.

The actress moved on from Orange Is the New Black to capture roles in some huge productions. She became a recurring character in Jane the Virgin (as Lina Santillan), the DCU show Doom Patrol (as Crazy Jane), and the Disney Animation movie Encanto (as Isabela Madrigal).

Flaca

Helps Women Detained By ICE Contact Their Families

No one was hit harder by Maritza's deportation than her best friend, Flaca. As the Litchfield women worked in the kitchen, Gloria began trying to help the women reach their families by taking notes from them with names and phone numbers and using her cell phone to try and make contact with them.

After Gloria got out of prison, Flaca resolved to take over the work she was doing, saying that it's what Maritza would want her to do. She took messages from women as they lined up their lunch trays, telling them that she couldn't promise anything but would do her best to find their families.

Jackie Cruz received her first major role thanks to Orange Is the New Black. Since that show ended, she has had largely minimal roles and appearances. She had a recurring role in Good Girls as Rhea, one-shot appearances in Blue Bloods and Unforgettable, and several smaller movies, including the 2020 Tremors sequel, Tremors: Shrieker Island.

In 2024, Cruz played the titular role in Father, Husband, Killer: The Alyssa Padl Story, an adaptation of the horrific true story of incest, murder, and abuse.

Ruiz

Gets To Spend Time With Her Daughter Again

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Maria Ruiz, who was heavily pregnant when she first appeared in Orange Is the New Black season 1, had her baby and was almost immediately separated from her. She had a second heartbreak when her boyfriend, Yadriel, said that he wasn't going to bring baby Pepa for any more visits to the prison because he didn't want her to see her mother behind bars.

In season 7, Yadriel revealed that he had started dating another woman (also called Maria), and Ruiz was naturally furious.

However, with the help of Joe Caputo's restorative justice program, she worked towards being a better person. Eventually, she apologized to Yadriel and asked if he could start bringing Pepa to see her again. He agreed, and in Ruiz's final scene, she took turns with "New Maria" to read a picture book called Mi Burro, Mi Burro to Pepa in the visitation room.

When she isn't acting, Jessica Pimentel is the lead singer of the heavy metal band Alekhine's Gun. Before Orange Is the New Black, she had several TV appearances in different roles in the Law & Order franchise. Since the Netflix prison drama, she has had a role in The Horror of Dolores Roach on Prime Video and the drama/thriller movie Bound.

Aleida

May Or May Not Have Killed Daya

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Dayanara Diaz, once a sweet girl who liked drawing pictures of anime characters, had been thoroughly transformed by the end of season 7 of Orange Is the New Black. She'd become the drug kingpin of Litchfield and was addicted to drugs herself, and to make matters worse, she recruited her 13-year-old sister, Eva, to help smuggle drugs into the prison.

Aleida, Daya's mother, was released from prison but ended up back behind bars when she found out that Eva had been dating a drug dealer twice her age and went on a violent rampage at the dealer's house. When she learned that Daya roped Eva into her drug operation, there was a fierce confrontation between the relatives.

After Daya asked Aleida if she knows what it's like to kill someone, Aleida punched her daughter in the throat, jumped on top of her, and started to throttle her, saying that she might be about to find out. The outcome of this fight wasn't shown, but it's possible that Aleida ended up killing Daya in order to protect her younger daughter.

Elizabeth Rodriguez had been acting for years before Orange Is the New Black, with past roles in Dead Presidents, Desperado, and Miami Vice. Since the Netflix drama, she has appeared in Shameless as Faye Donahue and East New York as Det. Crystal Morales. She also appeared in the movie Allswell in New York, which she also wrote and produced.