Nicky Nichols Relationships In OITNB Get Complicated Fast
Nicky Nichols and Relationships in OITNB
Nicky Nichols is one of the most relationship-driven characters in Orange Is the New Black, but her romances are rarely simple: her longest and most talked-about connection is with Lorna Morello, and the show also gives her short-lived flings with Alex Vause and several other inmates.
Across the series, prison romance around Nicky is portrayed as messy, intimate, and often unstable, which fits the show's broader theme that survival and desire are constantly colliding inside Litchfield.
Core relationships
- Lorna Morello: Nicky's central and most enduring romantic storyline, marked by sex, emotional dependency, breakups, and repeated attempts to reconnect.
- Alex Vause: A shorter relationship that becomes part of Nicky's broader pattern of attraction to women who are complicated, guarded, or already involved elsewhere.
- Casual hookups: Nicky is also associated with a more casual prison-dating style, including flirtations and competition-driven encounters that underline her reputation as sexually open and emotionally guarded.
Nicky and Morello
The Nicky and Morello relationship is the emotional center of Nicky Nichols' love life in the series. Early on, the two hook up in prison, but the relationship quickly becomes entangled in Morello's fixation on her outside engagement and later marriage, which creates a push-pull dynamic that never fully stabilizes.
The relationship is especially notable because it is not written as a neat prison fling; instead, it evolves into an on-again, off-again attachment where both women seem to care deeply but want different things at different times. Nicky often appears more openly committed, while Morello repeatedly divides her attention between Nicky and the life she imagines outside prison.
By Season 4, the storyline becomes more painful because Morello is married to Vince Muccio, and Nicky is trying to rebuild her sobriety while still wanting Morello back. That tension makes their bond feel less like a simple romance and more like a cycle of longing, denial, and bad timing.
"They break up and reconcile so frequently that it's often difficult to keep track."
Alex and other flings
Nicky's Alex Vause storyline is smaller than the Morello arc, but it matters because it shows that Nicky's attraction is not limited to one person or one emotional pattern. The relationship is brief, intense, and typical of the show's broader habit of pairing characters in ways that mix sex, vulnerability, and power imbalance.
Beyond named partners, Nicky is also linked to a more casual sexual reputation in Litchfield. Coverage of the series describes her as participating in hookup culture inside the prison and even entering a sex-count competition with Big Boo, which reinforces how the character navigates intimacy as both a coping mechanism and a form of control.
| Relationship | Type | Why it matters | Overall status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lorna Morello | Long-term romantic and sexual relationship | Defines Nicky's main emotional arc and most memorable prison romance | Complicated, unstable, repeatedly interrupted |
| Alex Vause | Short-lived relationship | Shows Nicky's attraction to emotionally difficult partners | Brief and unresolved |
| Casual hookups | Non-exclusive sexual encounters | Highlights Nicky's prison reputation and coping style | Frequent and mostly informal |
Why it resonates
Nicky's relationships work because they are written with a mix of humor, need, and self-destruction, which makes them feel unusually human for a prison drama. Instead of treating romance as an escape, Litchfield romance turns it into another source of conflict, especially when trauma, addiction, jealousy, and institutional pressure are all in the mix.
There is also a clear thematic contrast between Nicky's blunt, sarcastic personality and Morello's more romantic and delusional framing of love. That contrast gives the relationship its tension: Nicky often sees what is real, while Morello keeps reaching for what she wants love to be.
- Nicky meets love as survival, not fantasy.
- Morello treats love as destiny, even when reality says otherwise.
- Their mismatch creates the show's most emotionally durable queer storyline.
Historical context
Orange Is the New Black premiered on Netflix in 2013 and quickly became known for depicting queer relationships with unusual breadth for mainstream television of its era. Within that landscape, Nicky Nichols emerged as one of the show's most recognizable bisexual or queer-coded figures, and her relationships helped broaden the series beyond Piper and Alex's headline romance.
At a time when many TV prison dramas used relationships mainly as plot devices, Nicky Nichols was given a fuller emotional life: she could be funny, reckless, protective, self-destructive, and vulnerable all in the same storyline. That complexity is why viewers still discuss her relationships as one of the show's defining subplots.
Frequently asked questions
What to remember
Nicky Nichols is not defined by one romance, but her relationship history is anchored by Morello, complicated by Alex, and rounded out by casual hookups that fit her prison-world survival style. The result is one of the most memorable relationship arcs in Orange Is the New Black.
Everything you need to know about Nicky Nichols Relationships In Oitnb Get Complicated Fast
Who was Nicky Nichols' main love interest?
Nicky's main love interest was Lorna Morello, whose relationship with her is the most sustained and emotionally significant romance in the series.
Did Nicky Nichols date Alex Vause?
Yes, Nicky and Alex Vause had a brief romantic and sexual connection, but it was much shorter and less central than Nicky's relationship with Morello.
Was Nicky in a relationship with Morello while Morello was engaged or married?
Yes, that is a major part of the storyline: Morello's engagement and later marriage create much of the tension and instability in her relationship with Nicky.
Why do fans talk about Nicky Nichols' relationships so much?
Fans talk about them because they are messy, funny, and emotionally charged, and because they show queer intimacy on screen in a way that feels layered rather than decorative.