‘Orange Is the New Black’ Season 6 Photos Have Fans on Edge

Netflix has released new teaser images for Orange Is the New Black season 6, which premieres later this month.

An official Netflix Twitter account revealed the pictures on Monday morning. They showed four characters staring listlessly through cell doors.

A few minutes later, Netflix added the key art for the season. It features Piper half-standing on a bus while other characters look concerned and forlorn around her. All of them are handcuffed and chained to the floor, and the graphic reads “to the max.”

“The #OITNB Season 6 key art has arrived!” The tweed says. “New eps drop July 27.”

The announcement got a huge response, but many replies centered around one thing: the absence of Alex in the promotional photos. Alex Vause, played by Laura Prepon, did not appear on the trailer released on Monday, either. She was briefly mentioned, and other characters wondered where she might be, but she did not show up at all.

“This is nice but WHERE THE HELL IS ALEX???” asked one fan. Countless others wrote back with the same question, and a few fan theories soon emerged.

“She’s been dead. It’s going to be a time jump kind of season,” one fan predicted. “In transit that guy who wanted her dead got her. We don’t find out until the finale.”

Season 6 will begin with the characters moving from one prison to another, and the key art released on Monday make it clear that the journey will be central to the season. However, the trailer puts the emphasis more on life inside the new prison, where those from Litchfield must try to adapt.

Orange Is the New Black has a dedicated fan base, but in some ways the show has a lot to make up for after season 5. The season was disappointing to some, and even series creator Jenji Kohan referred to it as “weak.” Last year, Taryn Manning — who plays Tiffany “Pennsatucky” Doggett — opened up about Kohan’s criticism in an interview with Digital Spy.

“I know working on that season was rough because it was supposed to take place in three days, and it felt unorganized, and the storyline felt a little disorganized,” Manning said. “So it had that feeling of art imitating life.”

Still, season 6 is well on its way to putting the show back on track. It promises a whole new set of challenges and a fresh take on the prison lifestyle that makes the show what it is.

New episodes will premiere on Netflix at 3 a.m. ET on July 27.