Talk:List of Orange Is the New Black characters

Consistent naming
This series has an unusually large cast of continuing characters, often interacting in complex ways, interweaved with intricate plot twists. The purpose of this article is to help a reader understand all the characters, but this is horribly impeded by the use of at least three names for each, and sometimes even more monikers for a character. A single person may be referred to by First Name, Last Name, Nickname, the Actor's Name, or some other name or position.

We editors should agree on a consistent, standard way to refer to each character, to reduce the confusion multiple names will cause for new readers. I suggest using the Nickname, since that is usually the one most commonly heard throughout the series. If there is no known Nickname, then the First Name should be used for the inmates, but the Last Name should be used for staff. Also, the Nickname should appear in quotes ("Nickname") when the character is first described, but then be written without quotes elsewhere in the article. Comments? Reify-tech (talk) 21:21, 3 June 2014 (UTC)

Absence of any references
A few days ago, the article had just two references, one of which I had just added. Somebody has removed both, for no stated reason I could find, leaving the article completely unreferenced. I understand that it may be difficult to find WP:RS for verifying this article, but there is no excuse for removing what little there was, discouraging other editors from improving the situation. If the article remains unreferenced or poorly referenced, it is at risk for major deletion. I won't do it, but there are plenty of other editors who will, in the absence of any improvement. Please try to correct this major deficiency ASAP. Reify-tech (talk) 15:56, 11 June 2014 (UTC)

Additional sources
Sophia Burset:
 * Ulaby, Neda. "'I Kinda Stole The Show': Laverne Cox And The Path To Prestige Television." National Public Radio. June 6, 2014.
 * "Laverne Cox: Transgender Actress On The Challenges Of Her 'New Black' Role." National Public Radio. August 7, 2013.

Brook Soso:
 * Hawkins, Kayla. "Why Is Brook Soso In Prison On 'Orange Is The New Black'? The Inmate Showed Her Brand Of Activism." Bustle. June 11, 2015.
 * Bell, Crystal. "7 Times Brook Soso Was Your Litchfield Spirit Animal On ‘Orange Is The New Black’." MTV. June 25, 2015.

Brook Soso and Mei Chang:
 * Yiin, Wesley. "Soso and Chang, prison bunkmates by default: Why won’t “Orange Is the New Black” expand its Asian cast?" Salon. Friday July 3, 2015.

Larry Bloom:
 * Griffiths, Kadeen. "Jason Biggs Reveals Why Larry Won't Be In 'Orange Is The New Black' Season 3 & It's Not The Explanation You Expected." Bustle. March 27, 2015.
 * Dornbush, Jonathon. "Jason Biggs not returning for Orange Is the New Black season 3." Entertainment Weekly. February 20, 2016.
 * Smith, Larry. "“The Larry Spin-off Is Going to Be Awesome”." Medium.com. July 15, 2014.
 * Venable, Nick. "Orange Is The New Black Is Writing Out One Of Its Major Characters." Cinema Blend.
 * Garvey, Marianne, Brian Niemietz, and Oli Coleman. "Suri Cruise and friends give a big thumbs-up to 'Cinderella,' with Helena Bonham Carter, Cate Blanchett : BIGGS BUSTS OUT OF ‘ORANGE’." New York Daily News. Friday February 20, 2015.
 * Rubenstein, Janine Rayford. "Orange Is the New Black: Jason Biggs Won't Return for Season 3." People. February 20, 2015.
 * Hooton, Christopher. "Orange Is The New Black's Jason Biggs: 'The Larry Bloom spin-off is going to be amazing'." The Independent. Thursday July 17, 2014.
 * Branch, Chris. "Jason Biggs Explains Why He Won’t Appear On This Season Of ‘OITNB’." Huffington Post. March 26, 2015.

And comparisons to the real Larry Smith:
 * "Meet The ‘Real Larry’ Of ‘Orange Is The New Black’." WBUR. Thursday July 17, 2016.
 * Klug, Lisa. "Who is the real Larry from ‘Orange is the New Black’?" Times of Israel. August 14, 2015.
 * Lackey, Emily. "What Happened To Larry Smith In Real Life? He's Absent From New 'Orange Is The New Black' Episodes." Bustle. June 12, 2015.

Stella Carlin: WhisperToMe (talk) 19:05, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
 * O'Keeffe, Kevin. "The Most Amazing Ruby Rose Moments From Season 3 of 'Orange Is the New Black'." Mic. June 17, 2015.

Hope you like some of these references :) - they can be of good help WhisperToMe (talk) 07:22, 13 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Thank you for compiling this list, which will be helpful for other editors. Unfortunately, I haven't had easy access to watching the program since Season 1, so I haven't kept up with developments. I read this article to get some perspectives on what to expect when I eventually get access to the program again. Some of the massive, monolithic paragraphs in the article need to be split into more readable chunks. Reify-tech (talk) 16:17, 13 April 2016 (UTC)

New page for Recurring Characters?
So I've been monitoring this page for a while, and am a regular contributor to it. I have realised that one potential problem is that the creators of this show tend to expand the cast every year, and generally don't remove them at the same rate. This means that more text will get added to each character entry with each coming season, depending on the role they play and there aren't going to be that many characters whose stories end there. This show is going to continue at the very least for another three seasons, and I worry that eventually the page will become untenable. I would therefore like to propose that we rename this page "List of Orange is the New Black Main Characters" and create a new page entitled "List of Orange is the New Black Recurring Characters." That way, we can add new characters to the latter and promote any that are upgraded to "Main Character" when or if the creators do. This might make both pages easier to navigate, and much more sustainable long term. It would also not be all that difficult to do - a simple cut and paste job, and a few constructive edits to make the page look decent. It might also allow us to create a distinction between present and past characters to further help the page, since it's unlikely that any further additions will be made to Poussey Washington or Tricia Miller's entries, and neither Miss Claudette's or Mercy Valduto's pages have had additions since their characters left in Season 1, and it would probably be fortuitous to put them somewhere separate. Grieferhate (talk) 22:15, 15 October 2016 (UTC)

Woah nelly, if this is the general page--
--then what does the actual page for each character look like? The Piper-paragraphs cannot possibly leave anything to the imagination for her main page. This page needs an overall cut-down-to-size. Certainly for those sections that have their own pages a link away. Arcsoda (talk) 23:17, 14 March 2022 (UTC)

Mission Creep
This article severely suffers from "mission creep." The summaries for each character go into a depth of detail that nearly renders it unnecessary to watch the show, as the reader is given a play-by-play account of their every action. A brief introduction and basic description of each characters' general arc throughout the series is all that is required. Glenstorm85 (talk) 03:22, 4 September 2022 (UTC)