Thursday, June 27 - Weeks ahead of its debut on the streaming service, Netflix has given a second season renewal to comedic prison drama, Orange Is the New Black from Weeds creator Jenji Kohan. The early renewal is major vote of confidence for the series which will debut 13 episodes on July 11.Based on the memoir by Piper Kerman, Orange Is the New Black follows engaged Brooklynite Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), whose decade-old relationship with drug-runner Alex (Laura Prepon) results in her arrest and yearlong detention in a federal penitentiary. To pay her debt to society, Piper must trade her comfortable New York life with fiancé Larry (Jason Biggs) for an orange prison jumpsuit and a baffling prison culture where she is forced to question everything she believes and form unexpected new alliances with a group of eccentric and outspoken inmates.
The series also stars Kate Mulgrew, Natasha Lyonne, Pablo Schreiber, Danielle Brooks, Laverne Cox and Taryn Manning.
Orange Is the New Black is the latest Netflix series to get a second season order - joining House of Cards, which had a two-season deal and is already in production, and Hemlock Grove, which was just given a renewal a week ago.
