Familiar faces have been placed in very unfamiliar spaces on Season six of Orange Is the New Black. But one cast favorite is noticeably absent throughout the entire season, and viewers are asking, “Where is Maritza?” With clues on her whereabouts few and far between, we are beginning to wonder if we’ll ever see her again. Let’s break down what we do know.
Maritza and her BFF Flaca have been a dynamic duo for the first five seasons of the show. OITNB without Flaritza is like Christmas without tamales. Maritza and Flaca have an undeniable chemistry that provides comic relief – and beauty inspo – for a prison environment that is utterly depressing. During last season’s prison riot, Flaritza stayed out of trouble, focusing on their beauty tutorials and day-in-the-life videos on YouTube, which ultimately garnered a considerable following. But once armed officers stormed into Litchfield to put an end to the riot, Maritza and Flaca were separated, forced onto different buses, presumably headed to different locations.
The last thing we hear Maritza say to Flaca is, “I love you,” to which Flaca doesn’t respond.
A few episodes in, we learn that Flaca has ended up in Maximum Security Prison, along with some other Litchfield ladies. We assume that Maritza has yet to be released into the general population and that we’ll see her soon…but nope! 13 episodes and no sign of Maritza.
Overall, Flaca seems to be coping surprisingly well at the loss of her best friend and has found a new sidekick in Cindy. Must be nice to move on so quickly, or perhaps she’s just hiding her feelings. At the end of the season, she finally opens up about missing Maritza, and it breaks our hearts to think that they’ll never see each other again.
It takes a hot minute, but we learn through Lorna that the Litchfield prisoners were bussed off to prisons all across the country and that Maritza is in an entirely different prison. But why? Where? For how long? We even get a quick glimpse of a federal detention center in Cleveland, but no sign of Maritza.
So, was Maritza written off? It’s not common for a recurring role to be absent from an entire season. A few episodes, sure we get it. But a full season? Something’s not sitting right.
What we know for sure is that Diane Guerrero, who plays Maritza, had a significant role on the second season of CBS sitcom Superior Donuts. She also is doing a book tour and is set to play Crazy Jane in DC Universe’s upcoming Doom Patrol. Now that Superior Donuts is cancelled, does that mean she might come back for season seven of OITNB? With the way this season unfolded, we’re hoping for the best. Only time will tell.