Taryn Manning and Lea DeLaria Dish on Orange Is the New Black's Dark Fourth Season

Updated on June 21, 2016 at 7:00 PM

One of the main reasons Orange Is the New Black has excelled so spectacularly as a TV show is due to its realistic and moving portrayals of female friendship. Just like the bonds between Taystee and Poussey and Nicky and Red, Big Boo and Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett's surprisingly sweet relationship has become one of the drama's biggest draws. They have their ups and downs, like any real friends do, but they're there for each other through it all. The most recent season especially tests their bond, so POPSUGAR sat down with Boo and Pennsatucky's offscreen counterparts — Lea DeLaria and Taryn Manning — to get all the details on what their season four experience was like, and why being such good friends in real life doesn't always make the acting process easier.

POPSUGAR: It always seems like the cast has such a blast on set, and that you guys are all really close friends in real life. What is it like for new actors, like Blair Brown
(who plays Judy King), to come in?

Taryn Manning: We love Blair! She's a great woman.

Lea DeLaria: What an asset she was to the set, and to the entire cast.

TM: It's hard to come into that set.

LD: Right? We're tight-knit. We're a family, so it's rough to come into this group of people who are set in their ways and already have this thing. But, you know? That's the thing about Blair. She's been around a long time, she doesn't give a f*ck, she sits down, and she joins the party.

TM: She's a great actor.

LD: Yeah, amazing.

PS: Does being so tight-knit have an affect on your acting process?

TM: I've often wondered – and this might be my own conspiracy, because I have those – that sometimes maybe we're too close. We're all friends, so if you're not a great actor, it can come off like we're too chummy. I think it's written in a way to keep us divided. Not in real life, but to make sure that it's understood that in prison, not everyone gets along. You do fight for the stupidest little things, like a cigarette or the phone.

PS: It seems like season four really isn't afraid to "go there," so to speak. Can you tell me a little bit about Jenji Kohan's vision for season four as a whole?

LD: Racism is definitely one of the things that they are going at head-on this season, along with a couple of other things. It's a much darker season. They're talking about major problems that we have in American prisons — it's all there.

TM: Overcrowding, for one.

LD: Yeah, it's darker, all the way around. It's still funny when it's funny, obviously, but it definitely gets darker.

TM: It's frustrating.

LD: Yeah, I'm interested to see how the fans are going to relate when they really start seeing what prisons are like, and the darkness of it. I wonder how they'll feel about it.

TM: I think it's always going to be a roller coaster ride of a show. I think that's what keeps everybody coming back for more. I know that even each episode of this season will bring you up and down, and really put you through it.