Orange Is the New Black's seventh and final season is airing soon, and since this will be the last look at the lives of the Litchfield inmates, it promises to be the most emotional season yet. The ensemble series is known for juggling various character arcs at once, so it can be hard for fans to remember where it left off with everyone heading into a new season. One of the most important characters in the upcoming season is sure to be Taystee, so you might be wondering what happened to Taystee in OITNB Season 6. Here is the refresher on Taystee you need to read before you start watching Season 7.
In the early days of Orange Is the New Black, Taystee was a lovable, happy-go-lucky jokester who provided fans with some much-needed laughs amongst the more upsetting stories in Litchfield Penitentiary. But as the show heads into its final season, Taystee's character has decidedly taken a turn to have one of the most disheartening and heavy character arcs on the show. In Season 6, Taystee is given the raw end of the deal from start to finish. Following the prison riots in Season 5, the government decides to scapegoat Taystee and place all of the blame on her, charging her with inciting and leading the Litchfield riot as well as killing former corrections officer Desi Piscatella.
In truth, the police raid squad who stormed Litchfield to break up the riots were the ones to accidentally shoot Piscatella in the head and kill him, but the only people who know that are Cindy and Suzanne, who stumbled upon the truth. Although Taystee is her closest friend, Cindy is tricked into pinning the murder on Taystee in order to get immunity for herself, and she convinces Suzanne to not speak about what they witnessed as well. All of this convinces the maximum security guards to believe that Taystee murdered one of their own, and she receives daily beatings for what they think she did.
The bulk of Taystee's Season 6 arc is her trial. She is surprised to learn that her case attracted the attention of the Black Lives Matter movement as well as the ACLU, and even her former warden Joe Caputo works with her to try to help. With all of this newfound support behind her, Taystee pleads guilty to her involvement in the prison riots but not guilty to the murder of Desi Piscatella.
Sadly, though, the public support for Taystee does not end up influencing the jury, and she is convicted for Piscatella's murder at the end of the trial. In the final moments of Season 6, Taystee is returned to her cell more defeated than ever, as she faces the possibility of a life sentence.
There is no telling where Season 7 might take Taystee's story — there are some uplifting fan theories that her public support could grow and inspire a documentary or podcast, or it is also possible that the series could end with Taystee remaining in prison for life.
Orange Is the New Black's final season will be available to stream on Netflix on Friday, July 26.
