Entertainment

Taystee's 'OITNB' Storyline Is Just Getting Started

JoJo Whilden/Netflix

Orange is the New Black Season 5 is a banner performance for Danielle Brooks. This is truly her year, though thanks to a cliffhanger her character's fate on the show is left up in the air. Will Taystee be in Orange is the New Black Season 6? There's a chance that not everyone will be back. MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for Season 5.

At the end of Season 5, Taystee along with eight other inmates were secluded in an underground bunker at Litchfield while everyone else was brutally rounded up and arrested. As a last stand, they detonated a stick of dynamite in the direction of incoming riot cops while holding hands in solidarity. It doesn't seem likely that everyone is going to come out of that unscathed.

Even if Taystee does survive, it's possible that some of the ladies of Litchfield could leave the show as they are transferred off to other facilities. I would think that Caputo would make sure that she was still working with him on negotiations, but he is not always in charge.

Brooks doesn't have any upcoming projects that could be considered a conflict. I wouldn't be too worried about her future involvement with Orange is the New Black. She's arguably the main protagonist next to Piper, after all. (Bustle reached out to Netflix for comment, but has not yet received a response.)

Netflix

While Taystee finally had an emotional catharsis and was able to grieve Poussey's death at the end of Season 5, I don't think her character's story is over yet. Taystee has grown a lot over the past few seasons. She's finally starting to find herself outside of being in prison. Nobody knows this world better than Taystee, after going from foster care to juvenile detention and then Litchfield Penitentiary. While she and the other pool bunker inmates are potentially in danger, Taystee will almost definitely appear in Orange is the New Black Season 6 — quite simply, she has to.