Orange Is The New Black’s Uzo Aduba couldn’t watch show after Samira Wiley’s heartbreaking exit

Uzo Aduba (R) struggled to watch the show after Samira Wiley’s exit (Picture: Netflix)

Orange Is The New Black star Uzo Aduba has revealed she couldn’t watch the show past season four due to Samira Wiley’s heartbreaking exit.

Samira’s character Poussey Washington was killed in horrifying scenes in the end of season four, when she was restrained by a prison guard, who pinned her to the ground during a peaceful demonstration.

Uzo, who played Suzanne ‘Crazy Eyes’ Warren in the wildly popular prison drama, and who has just won an Emmy for her incredible role in Mrs America, was left just as heartbroken by the death as fans.

Chatting to Metro.co.uk ahead of the the release of season four of her show In Treatment in the UK, the 40-year-old explained: ‘I haven’t watched the show since season four just because it was so hard for me to watch the incredible and phenomenal actress Samira Wiley, who played Poussey, leave our show.’

You and us both Uzo. You and us both.

While the Netflix drama explored some of the characters’ backstories in the main show, including Poussey’s and Suzanne’s, there may still be an option for it to return in some form in the future (a reboot? A prequel? We’ll take anything at this point).

‘I would never say never to anything,’ Uzo said of potentially returning to the role. ‘I guess it would be a yes in some capacity. I would be curious about what the capacity is.’

Emmy winner Uzo has taken on a powerful new role in In Treatment (Picture: AP)

Although Orange Is The New Black finished two years ago, its stories have lived on, with the series touching on incredibly important issues.

Uzo’s character was shown struggling with mental illness throughout the show. While we were never shown a diagnosis, in various episodes, Suzanne suffered frenzies, violent outbursts, irrational decision making, and delusions.

The powerful storylines clearly had an impact on viewers, with Uzo recalling: ‘When I was playing Suzanne, I would get a lot of messages from nurses who were working in mental health hospitals, people who were themselves battling mental illness, parents or family members who had a loved one battling mental illness, parents with small children battling mental illness, about what the character meant to them, to have someone seen on television.’

Now, Uzo is continuing with another powerful role as she takes on therapist Dr Brooke Taylor in In Treatment, the HBO series which is coming to Sky.

The show, which has been revived after 10 years off-air, follows Brooke and her sessions with her patients, as they impact her life in unexpected ways.

‘When the show first premiered, I don’t think we were having conversations around mental health so openly or with the lessening of the stigma as we are now,’ Uzo reflected.

‘The show now, I think, is heard very differently and understood in a very different way in this climate than it was then.

‘I think there’s something to be said about proximity – in the previous iteration, we hadn’t been through a global pandemic and in this version, we as a whole global family, we’ve been through what I would say is a trauma and I think we understand what it means to be well in a very different way than we did before.’

More: Netflix

Plus, Emmy winner Uzo is thrilled to be showing off her acting chops in a character that’s so extremely different to her past projects.

‘That’s been wonderful, that’s not lost on me that I was once playing a character named Crazy Eyes and I’m now playing a therapist!’ she laughed.

All episodes of In Treatment Season 4 will be available on streaming service NOW and Sky Atlantic from July 19, 2021.

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