Celebrity Extra: Taylor Schilling
By Dana Jackson
Q: What ever happened to the actress with blonde hair and blue eyes who starred in "Orange Is the New Black"? I haven't seen her in anything since. Is the show coming back? -- Y.R.
A: You're thinking of Taylor Schilling, who starred as inmate Piper Chapman in the hit Netflix series "Orange Is the New Black." The series ended in 2019 after seven seasons, and there are no plans for its return. Schilling has done steady work since, including two episodes of her former co-star Nathasha Lyonne's Peacock series "Poker Face," but her next project is a lead one. It is a crime procedural produced by Dick Wolf ("Law & Order") and is based on the memoir "What the Dead Know" by former NYC medical examiner Barbara Butcher.
Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman in "OITNB". Photo Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
The series will carry the same title as the book but with Schilling playing a fictionalized version of Butcher named Ava Ledger. According to TVLine, Ava works as a death investigator helping the NYPD "crack their toughest cases" and is "highly intelligent, hypervigilant, and really good with dead bodies." The series is still in the early development stages, with only Schilling's casting being officially announced.
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Q: Is it true that HBO paid James Gandolfini to not take the role of Michael Scott's replacement on "The Office"? Was this while he was filming "The Sopranos"? -- D.S.
A: Yes, according to B.J. Novak, one of the writers and stars of the NBC comedy "The Office," he was one of several people who tried to convince James Gandolfini to join the show after Steve Carell exited in 2011. Reportedly, Gandolfini was a huge comedy fan, and his favorite movie was "The Rocker" starring Rainn Wilson, who played Dwight on "The Office."
"The Sopranos" ended in 2007, so scheduling for the show wasn't the issue. According to actors Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa (also of "The Sopranos"), Gandolfini had a deal with HBO to do the miniseries "The Night Of" and paid him $3 million to decline NBC's offer. Sadly, Gandolfini died in 2013, and James Turturro ("Severance") replaced him in the miniseries, while James Spader ("The Blacklist") was cast as the new boss on "The Office."
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Q: Who is the actress who plays Harper on the HBO series "Industry"? I've never seen her before. -- G.B.
A: The actress was born as Myha'la Herrold but simply goes by Myha'la. She was born in California and studied musical theater at the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. According to an article in Elle, she told her mother when she was just 6 years old that she was headed to the Big Apple someday because she wanted to be on Broadway.
"Industry" has quietly grown into a hit for HBO Max, but you can also catch her in the 2025 film "Swiped" opposite Lily James, "Dumb Money" with Paul Dano, and "Bodies Bodies Bodies" with Pete Davidson. Making her Broadway debut is still on Myha'la's bucket list.
Send me your questions at NewCelebrityExtra@gmail.com.
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