Danielle Brooks speaks on why her Orange Is the New Black character resonates with so many viewers.

Brooks, who plays Taystee Jefferson on Orange Is the New Black, discussed with Adweek recently just how the outgoing inmate has turned into a fan favorite.

"I think it's because she says whatever she wants to. She brings a different color, a different way of showing life in prison versus what people are used to seeing," Brooks noted. "Taystee really is the joy of the prison. And there are so many layers to her character, especially later on when you discover why she is the way that she is and why she tries to find so much joy in this place. I think that for the audience, that's exciting because it's not just another 'angry black woman' without any depth. That's something that people can relate to."

But the upcoming fourth season of the Netflix comedy-drama is going to be more dramatic, with a couple shockers that will leave viewers gobsmacked, as Brooks said in a previous interview:

"We left off with Taystee being the mom, taking over this role that Vee [Lorraine Toussaint] was in. We're going to see how she deals with that," Brooks revealed to Vogue. "This season really drops in a totally different way. The prison is becoming overpopulated. All the new inmates really add more tension, and believe me, it is tense. This season is going to be epic. It's one of the best that they have written so far. There are some surprises that are going to tear you in half."

As Brooks discussed, the Litchfield prison population is now expanding. We saw in the season 3 finale that there were new bunk beds being installed to accommodate the new inmates. It remains to be seen how the show's current cast of characters will react to this sudden increase, but chances are, it won't be pretty.

Orange Is the New Black season 4 is set to drop on Friday, June 17 on Netflix.

Check out the trailer for the new season below:

Tags: Orange is the New Black television netflix