Is Matt McGorry Leaving Orange Is the New Black for How To Get Away With Murder?

The OITNB star will pull double duty on the Netflix show and ABC drama

By Chris Harnick Jul 15, 2014 7:19 PMTags
Matt McGorry, How to Get Away with MurderCraig Sjodin/ABC

Don't fret, Orange Is the New Black fans, Matt McGorry will be back as Bennett. While the OITNB star is a series regular on ABC's new drama How To Get Away With Murder, he confirmed to reporters at the 2014 TCA Press Tour that he will be back.

"Generally speaking, I get to be present in both shows, which is sort of amazing," he said, adding later, "I am allowed to do both, which is incredible and I think ABC giving me permission to do that is really quite wonderful...It's too early to tell how it's going to work, but same way as Pablo Schreiber in season two, you can shoot things out of order. Thankfully, I get to do both."

Phew! But what about if How to Get Away With Murder gets a second season? Producers have said they already have a plan to continue the Viola Davis series. And we all know Orange Is the New Black isn't going anywhere—despite rumors—so what will happen to Bennett?

"It's hard to really know. I think it's just going to depend on what happens and when shooting schedules are," he said. "It's a lot of logistics mostly, but it really is incredible to be part of two shows especially with such powerful, wonderful female producers and a very diverse cast."

And about those rumors, McGorry said he found it "hilarious."

"I was actually in a taxi and I heard it on the news and somebody texted me—I couldn't believe. I kind of had the idea of tweeting something, but I thought it might sound like an a--hole, I was going to say 'We got nominated for too many Emmys'…I thought it was really funny and it was all based on one article?…People texted me and I wanted to say 'Really? you really think this could be the case?'"

As for How To Get Away With Murder, McGorry said he thinks the series brings some interesting characters to the broadcast world.

"They're morally ambiguous," he said. "It really has so many layers, it draws people in. The twists and turns are amazing. For me, what attracted me to the role is I got to do something very different than I got to do on Orange. On Orange I get to play a bit of a straight man on a dramedy and in this I get to play comedic relief in a drama. It's been a really fun, different turn of events to kind of explore that."

How To Get Away WIth Murder premieres Thursday, Sept. 26 at 10 p.m. Orange Is the New Black is season three is in production.