'OITNB' Star Uzo Aduba Talks 'The Time Hump Chronicles' and How Crazy Eyes Became Suzanne

Emmy winner Uzo Aduba just got nominated a second time for playing unstable inmate Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on Orange Is the New Black — which is a little confusing, because she’s nominated for Season 2, while every episode of Season 3 has been out since June. But it doesn’t really matter: Aduba is fantastic every season, a standout even in a cast stacked with award-worthy performances.

Yahoo TV sat down with Aduba during Netflix’s summer press tour last week, and Season 3 gave us plenty to talk about, from Suzanne’s wildly successful foray into writing with her erotic sci-fi novel The Time Hump Chronicles, to her new love interest Maureen, to what it was really like to shoot that climactic scene in the lake in the Season 3 finale. (In a word: “awesome.”)

Congratulations on your Emmy nomination — but is it strange that you’re nominated for Season 2, and Season 3 is already out, and now you’re shooting Season 4? Do you ever forget which season you’re talking about?
Well, I’m made sharply aware of it when it comes out! [Laughs.] And I think it’s kind of a great opportunity for everybody in the cast; when we hear Season 2, we start thinking back. Because Season 3 just came out, and immediately you start thinking back to what we were going through, feeling, and experiencing while we were shooting Season 3. It’s a nice kind of flashback… well, ironically, for this show. [Laughs.] But a flashback to Season 2, which feels nice. It’s nice to have that kind of refresher.

And even just from the acting perspective, it’s informative, because we’re shooting Season 4 now, and some things that might have become dormant, because you’re now kicking that up a little bit, you’re building that bridge.

Related: The ‘Orange Is the New Black’ Cast on Nicky’s Fate, That Cathartic Lake Scene, and More

My favorite storyline this past season was Suzanne and The Time Hump Chronicles. We’ve seen glimpses of Suzanne’s creativity before, but we’ve never seen her have this kind of outlet for it. 
Exactly. It was interesting to see, because I think in the past, in Season 1, we were able to see how she uses someone else’s words to express herself artistically, through Shakespeare. But it was interesting to see, given the freedom, what she wants to say artistically. [Laughs.] Words of her own choosing. And they’re not crazy — they’re unique!

Suzanne’s frustrations with her readers’ demands and her devotion to her muse: It almost felt like Jenji Kohan and the writing staff were speaking through Suzanne.
Absolutely! [Laughs.] That feeling of, “We can only do what comes to us, when it comes, and this is what was born in the moment.” That’s what she was inspired to write.

What I think is beautiful is, Jenji and the writers, they are similar to Suzanne in that they’re not afraid of whatever kind of material they feel inspired by. And not just Suzanne’s stories. For all the characters on the show. They’re not afraid to go wherever the narrative might want to take them, whether that’s traditional or not. And they stand in it proudly, which is exciting, as an actor, to watch it play out. So yeah, definitely, when we got to that part with The Time Hump Chronicles, I was like, “We are going there! Got it. Let’s go for it. Rodcocker is what? Let’s do it.” [Laughs.]

And is The Time Hump Chronicles actually written down somewhere? Will it be published at some point?
It is indeed written down. [Whether it’ll be published,] that I don’t know. That is a Jenji question. [Laughs.] I’m sure there is a life of some type for it. But yes, it is certainly written down. Those pages had an actual story. That wasn’t just ramblings written there. That was the story, written out.

Related: ‘Orange Is the New Black’: The 9 Most Surprising Season 3 Relationships

You said Suzanne’s words are unique, not “crazy.” I feel like when we met Suzanne, we were introduced to “Crazy Eyes,” but then we got to know Suzanne. Like, it almost feels wrong to call her Crazy Eyes now, you know?
Oh yeah, I do. When we came into the prison, we came in with such a strong point of view through Piper, and still have that lens. And since she was so far removed from any of these women, not even just Suzanne, I almost looked at it like we were seeing these women… almost the fun-house mirror versions of these characters. How [Piper] saw them.

But then as she’s assimilated more to the environment, she’s acquainted herself with these women, and you start to realize, “Oh, what I thought these people are is not who they are. These are actually people.” So that fun-house idea starts to fall away, and you start to look at them for how they actually are, versus how we think they might be.

Which is the experience I had when I was reading the script initially. When I first read the pilot, these characters would pop up, and they were huge — larger than life. And I was thinking, “Oh, we’re telling a story about this prison.” And then when I got to Episode 2, all of a sudden, these preconceived notions sort of fell away. It was like, “We’re not even telling the story of prisoners. We’re telling the story of these people.” That’s what this is about. So to me, that’s what’s come alive in it for Suzanne. And I’m happy that our writers give her a point of view that is stronger than just “crazy."

We also got to see some hints of romance between Suzanne and this new character Maureen (Emily Althaus) this season. It was nice to see Suzanne develop an actual relationship, where they’re on equal footing.
Absolutely. You know, the third season was really interesting, I thought, because Jenji was really into exploring this idea of faith and belief throughout, and that ran through Norma, and the kosher meals, and the miracle of the lake. It was like a parting of the Red Sea. [Laughs.] And Suzanne was no exception. In past seasons, she’s been somewhat of an idol worshipper, whether it be Piper or Vee that she sort of held up. And this season, it was interesting to watch who and what she’s chosen to put her faith in.

And I was very glad to see that, because we start off the season, and her faith and belief was kind of rocked, with Vee leaving and feeling really shattered. We don’t know if she’ll find something to hold onto, or to put herself into. And it was exciting to see it go into the writing, and despite never having won at love — now twice — the idea of love is still something that she believes in. And Emily Althaus is amazing; she’s a phenomenal actor. So we’ll see where that blossoms. Flowers and dandelions. [Laughs.] 

That final scene at the lake, with all the prisoners jumping in together: How much fun was that to shoot?
Awesome! We shot it in mid-October, and it’s starting to get cold. We shot it on a Saturday and a Monday. It was the first time we ever shot on a weekend, and it took two days. And when we first were told we have to shoot these particular scenes outside, and we were all going to be getting in water, we were like, "In water?” And we had to do it before it got really cold.

Neri Tannenbaum, our line producer, who is a genius, she somehow looked at some future forecast, and she was like, “It says that weekend three weeks from now is supposed to be maybe in the 70s.” And we were still like, “Probably not, because it’s October.” [Laughs.] But we got there on that Saturday, and it was in the 70s. It was a warm day. It was so much fun. We were in these wetsuits, and people were in these waders. The only way I can describe it is, it could have gone so easily another way where it would be the most horrendous day, where everyone was cold, and in a bad mood. But no one was!

Our director, our writer, our script supervisor, our producers — they all had waders on, and they would go into the water in solidarity. Everybody was in a great mood. And it made me so proud of that group, as a cast. Because again, it could’ve been this horrific day. And instead, everyone was awesome and ready to play. That’s what makes this thing special. Because the writers and everyone could’ve just been like, “Well, good luck!” But they were like, “We’re in here with you.” They were awesome. We had a great time.

Season 3 of Orange Is the New Black is streaming now on Netflix.