EXCLUSIVE: 'Orange Is The New Black' Star Hints Big Changes Are Coming For Season Five

Ending on a monster cliffhanger last year for the season four finale, Netflix megahit Orange Is The New Black is gearing up for its fifth season, with the show's Jessica Pimentel (who plays the stoic character Maria Ruiz) hinting that big changes are coming.

Speaking exclusively to The Music, Pimentel says the new season is "highly stylised" and "shot in a completely different way". 

"We all wanna see how it unfolds, even though we know what's gonna happen, we wanna see the performances, we wanna see the shots, we wanna see how the make-up looks on, you wanna see it all go down in one piece.

"I'm really, really excited. This season is shot in a completely different way than the previous four... I can tell you that it is shot in real time over the course of three days. The whole season is three days … The three days are dealing with the aftermath [of the season four ending]."

Remaining tight-lipped on exactly what will happen following the edge-of-your-seat last scene of season four, Pimentel says she's just as keen as fans to see it on June 9. 

"We left at this very high tension place, so I wanna see it just as bad as everyone else. Even though we shoot it, we only see the parts that we're in unless we wanna come in on our days off and watch something [you're not in], but it's so intense on your days off you just wanna relax and get your next scenes ready," Pimentel explains.

Pimentel says her character Maria Ruiz will remain "brave" and "dangerous" this season.

"You see that Maria took a turn for the dark side in season four, but I think it was with good reason. She had a great reason, she lost her one beacon of hope and when someone has nothing, nothing to live for, they become the most dangerous person in the road. So Maria's still dealing with that, I can only say as far as how it relates to the story, Maria has to do what she's gotta do. She's gotta take care of herself because she realises everyone's out for themselves there … You'll see a lot of acts of bravery from Maria this season."

She says, "Expect the unexpected. Every character that you know and love will be in a situation that you won't ever believe that they're in. They're gonna be going through some changes that you won't expect, there's gonna be a nice mixing up of characters that have never interacted before…"

Jessica Pimentel is currently in the country on tour with Meshuggah (her partner is the band's drummer, Tomas Haake). 

Keep an eye on The Music for our full interview with Jessica Pimentel, where we talk more Orange Is The New Black and her death metal band, Alekhine's Gun.