Siege of Wentworth

Sean points his weapon at Boomer who has Marie hostage

The Siege of Wentworth (Season 7 of Wentworth) was a siege where Marie Winter (Wentworth) and Sean Brody planned to escape the prison after Marie's blackmail attempt of Attorney General Michael Heston fails to get Marie out.

Who was involved 

• Sean Brody and Marie Winter on Michael Heston's orders 

Hostages

• Vera Bennett (Wentworth)
• Linda Miles
• Anna Deng
• Vicky Kosta
• Carly
• soz
• Liz Birdsworth (Wentworth)
• Sue "Boomer" Jenkins
• May Jenkins
• Allie Novak
• Ruby Mitchell (Wentworth)
• Rita Connors (Wentworth)

Deaths

• Sean Brody (Shot and killed by Allie Novak)
• Vicky Kosta (shot and killed by Sean Brody)
• May Jenkins (shot and killed by Sean Brody)
• Liz Birdsworth (Wentworth) suffers a stroke post siege in her cell (smothered by Sue "Boomer" Jenkins at prior request)

Start of the Siege

It starts when Vera gets suspicious of the new guards Sean is seen with, Rita in the holding cell nods to Vera that there is trouble, the fake officers are asked to produce ID and instead produce guns and take Vera, Liz and officer Deng hostage. Vera slams the panic button and tells Officer Deng to call in a lockdown, Deng does this but is knocked out cold, and Will places the prison on lockdown and asks Sean what is going on, Sean at first blames Liz and says she attacked a guard, but Will sees Marie on security and then sees Vera.

Sean takes the laundry inmates and Linda hostage

Sean gets angry at Will for not doing anything and he produces a weapon and says he is taking Marie out of the prison, and that he is "the one with the gun here". Will refuses to listen to the demands and tells his PA to contact the SOGs. Will remembers that work unit is still on and calls Linda to ask if she knows anything about whats happening, Linda denies any knowledge but says that Sean and Marie have something going on and thats all she knows. Will asks Linda if she can get the other prisoners to the airlock and Linda says that they can try, Linda tells the prisoners that they are going to the airlock and make it to safety, but this fails as May drops her bottle of booze and the prisoners and Linda are forced back into the laundry.

Vera is taken to the laundry and she reveals that Sean is working for Marie. Sean reaches boiling point when Will refuses again to release the lockdown and he threatens to shoot someone, Sean points his weapon at several people before firing on someone.

Aftermath of the Shooting

The hostages in shock after Kosta's death

In the aftermath of his first victim, it is reveal Sean had shot Kosta and that he says to Will that he should have listened to him. As the SOGs arrive the prison is still on lockdown with a prison in mourning and shock. Rita with the help of Liz gets out of her holding cell and manages to attack Sean and his other fake guard, shooting the other one in the arm. Jake blames Will for the entire thing and says he will go down with pain relief, as this happens Jake wants to swap places with Vera. Boomer manages to take Marie hostage with her own shiv and Sean who has had enough of people thinking that Marie killed Kaz reveals in fact it was him who killed her. Boomer drops the shiv and sits back down as Sean takes the life of another hostage, May. Will who has had enough tells the SOGs to get Sean out of the prison without anymore deaths. A helicopter is called in as Sean demands are met. But during this time Rita informs them that the fake guards are armed and one of them is hurt, Rita also informs Will that she was an ex-cop. Rita and Will find out about Heston's true nature, and during this the prisoners and guards donned in teal make it to the roof and see the helicopter leave, while Vera is left behind with Liz and Boomer helping her deliver her baby girl Grace. The siege is over when Michael and the two fake guards are arrested and Sean is shot and killed by Allie.

Aftermath

As Marie is taken away Will tells her that she will be going into protection "alone and for good" and that Marie said she didn't know that Sean had killed Kaz until today. Will walks away and sees Vera being taken out with Grace in her arms, Will says sorry to Vera as the prisoners are enjoying a time of peace. Rita walks past Liz's cell and sees her on the floor, it is revealed that Liz suffered a severe stroke which led her to suffer locked in syndrome. Boomer knows it is not what Liz would have wanted, Miller gives them a moment and Boomer gives Liz her final wish. Linda and Greg grab Boomer who has smothered Liz and it is revealed that she will be charged with manslaughter. Rita is told that she will be placed into police protection and moved away from the prison.

Follow on

After the siege of Wentworth Michael Heston is sent to Walford where he commits suicide in his cell after it was revealed he was the leader of a paedo ring. After Heston dies the soul blame of the siege is placed on Marie Winter (Wentworth) who is still in the slot three months after the siege, she is later moved to protection to where she learns she will get life in prison and sole blame is placed on her, as all the evidence against Michael died with him.

After the siege Wentworth is placed under new management after the arrest of Derek Channing for Joan Ferguson's attempted murder and Brenda Murphy's murder where Ann Reynolds takes over as General Manager and begins her reign to bring the prison into line.

Several of the staff are left traumatised by the siege including Linda Miles who suffers from PTSD after the siege and suffers flashbacks and stress related to the event, as well as Sue "Boomer" Jenkins, Allie Novak and Vera Bennett (Wentworth) who still struggle to cope with the memories of the siege.

Trivia 

• The series in its limbo had two separate endings, One was the alternate original ending if the series didn't go ahead with Vera/Franky/Bridget looking over baby Grace and Three Prisoner alums (Colette Mann, Val Lehman, Fiona Spence) entering the prison as a nod to the series predecessor as Ruby was leaving Wentworth with Linda and Will taking over their respected positions with a photo posted by Leah Purcell on Instagram with her on a motorbike. And the ending now of Rita's Cop Car driving past the homeless camp and Ferguson looking into the flames.

• The ending of the episode was reworked after the series received funding after a mass effort to save the series from cancelation. Scenes that were possibly redone include the talk between Rita/Will about Boomer being released from the slot, Rita/Ruby's conversation and her leaving the prison. The entire ending was re filmed with Ferguson's scene being filmed in secret at 2 in the morning.

• The cast said that filming for both episodes was very hard, but agreed it was some of the best work they had done on the show, after filming days the cast would come together and talk it out, promising each other they would be kinder for the rest of filming the two episodes.