Lolly Whitehall (Lori Petty) had a devastating Season 4. After saving Alex’s (Laura Prepon) life from the prison guard who turned out to be a hitman, Lolly helps Alex dispose of the body. The character, a paranoid schizophrenic, is often seen rambling to herself. Lolly bonds with Healy (Michael J. Harney), who tries to help with her mental health issues but ultimately has to send her to the psychiatric prison, after her ramblings about burying a body turn out to be true.
“It shows the truth,” says Petty to Variety about her character’s flashback in episode 7. “Crazy people get locked up now, there’s no mental health government subsidized places that take care of people. I live in Venice Beach and I see these poor homeless people obviously in need of medical attention and they’re just homeless, that happens. Usually the cops turn a blind eye because they don’t want to deal with all the paperwork and figure out where to take you and “How crazy are you?” They usually just look away. Or you get locked up. As it stands, [Lolly] didn’t really do anything wrong, until she got to prison. She was in need of help and nobody helped her.”
When characters are sent away on the Netflix original series, their future remains up in the air. Take Ruby Rose’s Stella, for example. After being sent away in Season 3, the breakout star did not return to Litchfield in Season 4. But Nicky Nichols (Natasha Lyonne) was shipped off in the beginning of Season 3 and made her way back to the penitentiary in the fourth season.
As for Lolly, the future is unclear. On one hand, she is not the one who technically killed the guard. Alex finds him struggling for his life and suffocates him to death. While Lolly is an accomplice, she did not commit the actual crime. Should this be disclosed, then she could return. Alternatively, if she receives the help she needs, then perhaps the character could return.
“They’re still writing. I don’t know what’s up,” Petty told Variety. “They’ve got 100 characters to deal with. It’d be my extreme joy to be back. I’m hoping that happens. They haven’t started shooting yet, so I don’t know.”
Lolly first appeared in Season 2 as a seatmate for Piper when she was on her way to Chicago, then popped up occasionally in Season 3.
Orange is the New Black Season 5 returns next summer.
