‘Orphan Black’ Season 4 synopsis hints at drama in the clone club

BBC America has announced that production has begun for Season 4 of “Orphan Black.”

While news that the next season of the sci-fi series starring Emmy Award-nominated Tatiana Maslany is in production is enough to celebrate, the recent news release has a few interesting spoilers in it, and helps set up the new season of clone “seestah” love.

According to the announcement: “Season four of the drama will see leader-of-the-pack, Sarah, reluctantly return home from her Icelandic hideout to track down an elusive and mysterious ally tied to the clone who started it all – Beth Childs. Sarah will follow Beth’s footsteps into a dangerous relationship with a potent new enemy, heading in a horrifying new direction. Under constant pressure to protect the sisterhood and keep everyone safe, Sarah’s old habits begin to resurface. As the close-knit sisters are pulled in disparate directions, Sarah finds herself estranged from the loving relationships that changed her for the better.”

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For those who need a refresher, Season 3 of “Orphan Black” found Sarah and her sister clones (of “Project Leda”) delving further into their origins. They discover they aren’t the only clones around town, with the military’s “Project Castor” developed to create a set of male clones.

If that wasn’t enough of a twist, it turns out the two sets of clones are genetically related. While initially the theory was that the original sources of the Leda and Castor clones were pulled from a pair of siblings, the science gets even more crazy when it’s revealed that there is just one person that provided the source material for both sets of clones -- Kendall Malone (who it turns out is Mrs. S’s mother, for those keeping track of the “Orphan Black” family tree). Hold on, wait, there’s still more.

Enter the neolutionists, a cult-like group of scientists intent on meddling with human DNA (among other things). Back from a short hiatus after being introduced in Season 1, the neolutionists have returned with previously assumed dead Susan Duncan alive and well and possibly in a position of neolution power (at least with enough power to help organize her adoptive clone daughter Rachel’s rescue/kidnapping).

As for Sarah and the clones, the end of Season 3 saw them all celebrating Alison’s win as school trustee, Helena pregnant and reunited with her boyfriend Jesse, Cosima in for more heartbreak and Sarah having a happy reunion with Kira.

The Season 4 synopsis doesn’t reveal too much, but it does seem as if aspects of Beth will again be a major part of the show. Beth, the clone who started it all only to jump to her death in the very first moments of the pilot episode of “Orphan Black” made an appearance in one of Sarah’s fever dreams during Season 3 to help the British clone refocus her resolve to figure out who is behind it all. Sarah has been carrying around a lot of Beth-related guilt lately, and it looks as if she’s not done exploring this dead clone’s past. For a character that had very little screen time while she was alive, Beth seems to hold the key to a lot of things.

The new synopsis also hints that Sarah will fall back on her old ways, her old ways being composed of mainly illicit activities. We’ve seen only hints of this darker past, resurfacing to help her break into various locations or even when Felix pulled a job on new clone Krystal. If this means meeting new characters like ex-boyfriend Victor, and pulling them though the clone-wringer, that could be very interesting.

However Sarah may not have the support of her clone club, “Sarah finds herself estranged from the loving relationships that changed her for the better,” strongly hints our main hero being distanced (intentionally or forced) from her sisters. And if this means no more clone dance parties, we riot.

Season 4 of “Orphan Black” is scheduled for a spring 2016 premiere.

Twitter: @tracycbrown