Orange is the New Black star Taryn Manning talked to Enstars on Oct. 2 about the future of her character on the show and how it is playing Bible-thumping sociopath Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett.

Manning looked nothing like the scraggly junkie with a really rotten set of teeth that she portrays on the Netflix series. Wearing a shimmering black dress and flashing a dazzling smile, she let it be known that all the credit for Pennsatucky's oral hygiene goes to the show's make-up artist's sleight of hand.

In season 1 of the show, Pennsatucky had a major beef with Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) and Alex Vause (Laura Prepon). She was always seen threatening Piper, though in a comical and slightly harmless manner until the season finale, where things got a bit too serious at the Christmas pageant. The last episode ended with somewhat of a cliffhanger -- featuring a brutal showdown between Pennsatucky and Piper -- that completely threw the audience off.

Manning's character threatened to knife the show's protagonist but Piper -- recently ditched by her fiance and separated by her lesbian lover -- is sick of the snaggle-toothed evangelist's threats and ends up stabbing Pennsatucky.

Manning hinted that Pennsatucky isn't quite dead yet and fans will get to see her in season 2. The actress discussed her aspirations for Pennsatucky and it seems like there is scope for improvement.

"Yeah, well one thing about her is that she is pretty ignorant but I find her to be really resourceful and clever," Manning said. "So I think that if she applies herself in the right way -- I don't know yet where her head space is -- I think she has potential to reform in a sense."

Manning, who is a Buddhist, also spoke about playing the part of a religious bigot on the show and how it was actually quite educational for her.

"I love religion, I have always loved religion, way before I got this role, so what was really exciting for me was that I was sort of like forced to start studying religion, in the way that I truly want to." she said. "I have always been really fascinated by Jesus Christ and Christianity and Catholicism, and baptism and all that and I studied more Buddhism practices, and it was so fun to dive in to all that."

Speaking about how she set out to portray such a complex, hypocritical, twisted, and weirdly comical character, Manning suggested that the character was obviously very removed from who she is in real life, but that after some deep-diving, she did manage to pull out the zany from within.

"When I read her I definitely read a part of somebody out there and crazy, I obviously took the writing and made it my own, and I found it to be just hilarious, when I really wrap my head around it. So, I basically just set out to be like the cookiest, most bizarre person I could reach for inside of me," she said.

Tags
Orange is the New Black, Taryn Manning, Season 2, Netflix