'Orange is the New Black' stars on how it ends, and its impact: 'We were pioneers'

Spoiler alert! This story contains details about the 'Orange is the New Black' series finale.

It was a bittersweet goodbye to the ladies of Litchfield Penitentiary.

Netflix's groundbreaking, Emmy-winning drama "Orange Is the New Black" released its seventh and final season Friday, neatly tying up storylines for most of its major characters, although not everyone got a happy ending.

All season long, Taystee (Danielle Brooks) struggled with the prospect of spending the rest of her life in prison, after being falsely convicted of murdering corrections officer Desi Piscatella (Brad William Henke) amid the Season 5 prison riot that followed Poussey's (Samira Wiley) death. She even contemplated suicide, until Suzanne (Uzo Aduba) offered witness testimony clearing her of the crime, giving her renewed hope for a retrial.

News: 'Orange Is the New Black' star Danielle Brooks is 'happily pregnant' with her first child

But in the season's penultimate episode, Taystee was delivered a one-two punch when her lawyer rejected Suzanne's account, saying it wasn't enough to change her case. Minutes later, she discovered the lifeless body of Pennsatucky (Taryn Manning), who died of a drug overdose.

Looking back at Taystee's devastating yet ultimately uplifting arc this season, Brooks is reminded of the so-called Central Park Five, a group of five black and Hispanic teenagers who were falsely convicted of raping a jogger in 1989, only to be exonerated years later.

"It's very difficult to have to surrender to a lie," Brooks says. "When the system that's supposed to serve justice for the wrongfully accused fails you, how do you get back on your feet? (Taystee) is a reminder for so many people that you have to keep going, and that life is worth living. And I actually think she found that (fortitude) within herself, but also in the relationship that was building between her and Pennsatucky," whom she was tutoring. "It comes in places that you least expect it."

In one of the season's most tear-jerking flashbacks, Taystee receives a phone call from her best friend Poussey, who reminds her there are always better things ahead. Feeling newly motivated in the series finale, Taystee chooses to make the most of her life sentence by teaching a financial literacy class to inmates and establishing the Poussey Washington Fund, a real-life initiative to help released convicts get back on their feet.

That tricky process of re-acclimating to civilian life is the central conflict in Season 7 for Piper (Taylor Schilling), who was sent to Litchfield in the 2013 series premiere after smuggling drug money for her then-girlfriend Alex (Laura Prepon). Released at the end of last season, Piper flounders as she tries to re-enter the workforce and maintain her marriage to Alex, who has four years left of her sentence. They attempt an open relationship and nearly call it quits, but ultimately reaffirm their love by the series' end.

"A lot of couples can relate to dealing with distance and it's hard, but when you're with the right person, you make it work," Prepon says. Despite their many breakups and makeups over the course of the show, "you want to see Alex and Piper together, they've been through a lot. I thought the way (the writers) ended it is cool, and I hope fans will feel complete."

"Orange's" finale marks the end of an era for Netflix, which had until then only dabbled in original series with "Lilyhammer," "House of Cards" and an "Arrested Development" revival, all either foreign imports or based on existing properties. Created by Jenji Kohan ("Weeds") and based on a memoir by Piper Kerman, "Orange" was an original concept that deftly balanced laughs and pathos, and was a highly "bingeable" series long before that term had entered the lexicon.

"Streaming was a new thing, and we were really like pioneers on this new frontier because nobody had done this yet," Prepon says. "But when I read the pilot, I loved it and knew this was something I needed to be a part of."

With its predominantly female cast, and focus on telling empathetic stories about women of different races, backgrounds and sexual orientations, " 'Orange' changed the game completely," Brooks says. "To be able to set a precedent in Hollywood that women of color are deserving of these impeccable stories – that we are able to tell them just as much as our white counterparts – the show has just done a phenomenal job of changing Hollywood and reminding people that it's OK to be yourself."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Orange is the New Black Season 7: Spoilers! Stars talk series finale