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'Orange Is the New Black': Here's how many more seasons of the show we'll see

Multiple new seasons have reportedly been ordered for the Netflix show. The TV program recently won the best comedy cast award at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, with actress Laura Prepon saying of the show during her acceptance speech, 'this is what we talk about when we talk about diversity.'

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Paul Schiraldi/Netflix/AP
'Orange Is the New Black' stars Taylor Schilling (l.) and Uzo Aduba (r.).

“Orange Is the New Black” fans have years of new episodes to look forward to.

The show has reportedly been renewed by the streaming service Netflix, not just for a fifth season (the fourth debuts this June), but for a sixth and seventh as well. 

“Orange” stars Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman, who is sentenced to more than a year in prison and comes to know the other women there.

As noted by Variety writer Cynthia Littleton, while Netflix usually does not share its audience numbers, the service has revealed before that “Orange” is their most popular original show. 

As the controversy over the lack of diversity among this year's Academy Awards acting nominees continues, the “Orange” cast picked up a big prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. When accepting the award for best cast in a comedy series, “Orange” star Laura Prepon said of the cast, “look at this stage. This is what we talk about when we talk about diversity.” 

Examining diversity on streaming TV shows, some critics have praised current programs, though they note that there is always further to go. Washington Post writer Lavanya Ramanathan singled out Netflix’s program “Master of None,” which debuted late in 2015 and stars Aziz Ansari. “Television isn’t just getting more diverse," Ramanathan wrote. "It’s finally beginning to feel authentic. There’s no better example than ‘Master of None’ … What’s extraordinary about ‘Master of None’ is that its protagonist is a person of color who’s simply … normal.”

Ellen E. Jones of The Independent called “Orange” “what diversity on TV should look like.” 

“’Orange is The New Black’ is great entertainment, but it’s also an elegant rebuke to those who grumbling resist on-screen diversity,” Jones wrote.

As noted at the time of its premiere, the sitcom “The Mindy Project” was the first network comedy to have a South Asian-American lead in Mindy Kaling. “Mindy” was canceled by its network, Fox, but is now airing on the streaming service Hulu.

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