Chase Infiniti as June's daughter, Agnes/Hannah, in 'The Testaments.' Disney/Steve Wilkie Logo text [This story contains MAJOR spoilers from The Testaments season one finale, “Secateurs.”]
Elisabeth Moss knows how to keep a secret.
When the The Handmaid’s Tale sequel series, The Testaments, was announced, everyone wanted to know if she would be reprising her starring character, June Osborne. Viewers didn’t get the answer until The Testaments premiered, and the Mayday resistance fighter made her epic return. But Moss can now finally speak freely — and she says that June was always going to be in the sequel.
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“The most important thing was that the overall idea of how Handmaid’s ended dovetailed into The Testaments and that it made sense,” Moss, an executive producer on both series (and director on the flagship), tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve said this since season one of Handmaid’s — but June’s story is never over until she makes sure that Hannah is safe. That’s all. That’s the end of it. Period.”
Hannah is the daughter who was stolen from June by Gilead to launch this TV franchise. June and Hannah didn’t reunite at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale — and now with the release of Wednesday’s finale, viewers see that they also don’t reunite at the end of season one of The Testaments. Moss expects the fans to react: “I get it,” she says. “I would like them to get back together, too. But I do think there is a way of getting there that where, if we’re going to do it, we’re doing to do it in the right way.”
But the season one finale of the follow-up series does reveal to Hannah — who was renamed Agnes in Gilead — who her mother really is. Agnes, played by Chase Infiniti, is told by her friend Daisy (Lucy Halliday), a resistance spy for June, who her real mother is, and it kickstarts an awakening that will see Agnes joining the fight with her friends and Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) as the show continues. What exactly that will look like is what creator Bruce Miller and his writers are currently figuring out, as they’re now in the writers room for the already renewed second season of Hulu‘s hit series, adapted from Margaret Atwood‘s sequel novel of the same name.
Below, Moss unpacks all of the biggest burning questions from the season one finale, “Secateurs,” which was written by Miller, along with Maya Goldsmith and Gianna Sobol, and directed by frequent franchise helmer Mike Barker. Did Moss have any hesitations returning as June, and will June factor as much in the story for season two? What did June really know about where Hannah was in Gilead, and has she been working in cahoots with Aunt Lydia? Does Moss hope Testaments runs as long as Handmaid’s, and what will Hannah’s awakening look like in season two? Moss talks all that and more, below, making one thing crystal clear: “As long as there’s a Gilead, she’s never going to stop fighting,” she says.
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When The Testaments launched, I spoke with creator Bruce Miller about you reprising June, and he basically said there was never The Testaments without June and Lizzie Moss. Since June isn’t retired from the resistance movement or the fight to get her daughter back, of course she was always going to be apart of this show. But your onscreen role was a well-kept secret until the show premiered, so at what point when you were making The Handmaid’s Tale did it become a reality that you were going to reprise June?
So, I was originally supposed to direct the beginning of The Testaments, but that was back when the idea was first coming together. When I got the job to direct the first two and the last two episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale with my newborn, it became apparent that it was not going to necessarily be the greatest idea for me to also try to direct three episodes of The Testaments. (Laughs.) We all kind of decided, “Let’s focus on Handmaid’s,” and we brought in the beautiful Mike Barker [to direct Testaments]. It was somewhere in that time period [that we decided I would return as June].
This show is so close to the bone for me, both professionally and personally, that sometimes it’s very difficult to distinguish moments in time. I was so immersed in Handmaid’s for 365 days a year, between prep, production and post. We always knew that June was going to be in it. That was no question. When and how? I think that was decided a few months before I shot it, when we got the scripts and we knew exactly what the show was going to be.
You have your hands all over June; you’re such a close collaborator with Bruce. What was most important to you about June coming back? She had this superhero-like reveal in the premiere and has remained a mentor to Daisy (Lucy Halliday) throughout the season. How did you land on how much we would see June, and what role she would play in this new Gilead era?
The most important thing became how Handmaid’s ended, and how that dovetails into June being in The Testaments, because they really went hand in hand. We didn’t officially know how Handmaid’s was going to end from Bruce and his writers room until while we were shooting that final season.
But there was an idea. I had known for years from Bruce that June wasn’t going to get Hannah out [at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale]. I knew that’s what was going to happen. And then Margaret Atwood wrote the sequel [novel], and Hannah didn’t get out. We were like, “Okay, cool. That’s confirmed.” So I knew for a while that wasn’t going to happen. It was always very funny when people were like, “Is Hannah going to get out at the end of Handmaid’s?” I was like, “Guys, I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but there’s a whole other book that Margaret Atwood wrote, and it’s out there. I’m not being cagey. You can go read it if you like!”
How that show ended directly affected how we were going to be able to bring June in for The Testaments, so the most important thing for me was that the two things went together — that we could end Handmaid’s in a way that made sense for that show, but also made sense for The Testaments, which is an incredible gift and tricky with the audience.
For a very long time, like you said, we kept that secret shockingly well. I actually don’t even know how. Of course, there were things put in place. We were very careful about what was on the call sheets. But it just didn’t get out. And it was difficult at times to not be able to tell the fans, “Guys, it’s okay. June’s story is so not over. The Handmaid’s ending isn’t really even an ending.” It was hard not to be able to share that, but I knew and Bruce knew that June’s story was not just going to continue in a way of her being in one scene [of The Testaments]. We knew that I was going to have multiple episodes, and that there was going to be an arc and a larger plan for June with The Testaments.
Bruce would not tell me your code name in the script, are you allowed to tell me what it was in The Testaments? He said you were “Rocket Woman” in Handmaid’s.
That was one season, and that one was not my favorite. (Laughs.) We had a different alias every season. What was it for The Testaments? I’m hesitant to tell you, because if I tell you, I could never use it again! So I’m glad he didn’t tell you. (Laughs.) But let me just say that I tend to go super old school, like classic films or actors or characters where you’re going to have a film knowledge to catch it. I’m not sure a lot of people did!
When you filmed your June premiere reveal where we see you again for the first time, how long had it been since you finished the Handmaid’s finale?
About two months. I think we wrapped Handmaid’s mid-February and I was shooting that in April.
What was it like to play her again in The Testaments, since she is different?
You think? Tell me. I’m curious.
She’s all-knowing and wise. She knows so much more than everybody else in the show, and that felt different.
That’s really cool to hear. I’m glad that it felt different. I think it did feel different [playing her again]. It felt like this combination of being able to slip into the most comfortable pair of your favorite sweatpants, just how homey and cozy that feels. That’s like playing June again, even after just a short time. There’s no point in doing it unless we’re going to be able to continue developing her story and developing her as a character, although I don’t think there’s anything wrong with playing your hits. [Handmaid’s Tale star] Bradley Whitford and I talk about that a lot. How sometimes it’s totally cool to just play the hits! Sometimes that’s what works. But we did want to make sure that June does have a purpose for being there and that it isn’t just a stunt. I’m also helping to forward the show.
It also felt different in the sense of half the crew being different. It was strange to very quickly after Handmaid’s, where you’re with a crew you worked with for many years, come back and be playing the same character where some of the people are the same and you have that consistency, but then there are new faces. That took a little getting used to, but wasn’t a bad thing. A little change can sometimes be helpful in bringing out something that might be a little bit different in you.
June (Elisabeth Moss) surprised viewers with her return in The Testaments premiere; she’s here meeting with Daisy (Lucy Halliday). Disney/Steve Wilkie In this finale, we get this scene between June and Daisy where June hears Agnes’ (Chase Infiniti) name and realizes, for the first time, that Daisy has been with her daughter this whole time. One of the big questions I had going into this show was, does June know Agnes is in Gilead with Daisy? And does June know Aunt Lydia’s (Ann Dowd) also there? Is June working with Lydia?
Right.
You guys kept that all very close to the vest, and we still aren’t sure what she knows about Lydia. What were your conversations with Bruce about how you wanted to handle those questions, and what you wanted viewers to think in terms of what June knows about who is on the other end of her resistance plan with Daisy?
I talked to Bruce extensively about the Agnes part, and whether or not she knows that Hannah is there — I can’t say “Agnes,” it goes against everything I believe in! You can call her Agnes, I’m just not allowed to. (Laughs.) But we went back and forth a lot on that issue, honestly. I was like, “I don’t know, I feel like she should know, why wouldn’t she know? She knows everything.” Like you said, she’s all-knowing, she’s the most powerful person in the resistance. How could she not know that? And he made a very convincing argument, and he was 100 percent right.
One of the best written moments in that scene, in my opinion, is the where you get to see June hear it. It’s always better to see on camera if the character has something happen to them, or if they realize something. We get to see her realize and discover where exactly Agnes is on camera. If we had gone with her being completely all-knowing, we would have been robbed at that moment. That moment is so moving when she realizes, and drops her tough exterior. She drops her composure, and you just see her as a mom. She’s nothing but a mom all of a sudden, not a resistance fighter. June is a mom who wants to get her daughter to safety.
So I think Bruce did absolutely the right thing. What we decided on was that she knows Hannah’s Gilead name is Agnes MacKenzie. She has an idea of where she is, but I don’t think she knew exactly where she was. She doesn’t necessarily know Daisy knows her and is friends with her. In my opinion, she just has her suspicions. I think we have room to add or subtract how much she knew, but she doesn’t have it 100 percent confirmed [until that moment].
And what about Lydia? Do you think June knows, or now is thinking, that Hannah might be with Lydia? Are they in cahoots after how Handmaid’s Tale ended between June and Lydia?
That one, I can’t answer!
I like that you can’t answer, because I think I’m on the right track by asking.
I think that there’s room there as well. And to be honest, I don’t think it’s 100 percent decided on exactly how much and if they’re talking. I don’t have the answers to [yet], but judging by how Handmaid’s ended and the last moment that June and Lydia had, I love Ann Dowd’s reaction when Chase [as Agnes] tells her [about June]. You see this panic for a second of Lydia thinking, “Why is she bringing up June, and why does she know her? And what does she think?” And then Chase does this incredible job of immediately being like, “No, no, it’s cool.” They’re kind of talking in code and you’re like, “What is the code? What are you covering? What’s happening?!” There’s a very purposeful ambiguity there.
You mentioned this earlier, how viewers wanted a June and Hannah reunion at the end of Handmaid’s Tale, and didn’t get it. Now we’re at the end of season one of The Testaments and we still don’t see them reunited. But the finale does circle back to when we saw Agnes writing her name (“Hannah”), and now she’s having this awakening about who her mother really is. That’s a huge callback, but it’s not a reunion. Are you prepared for the fan reaction?
I do expect people, absolutely, to have that reaction. I want them too. Like I said, she’s never gonna stop. So yes, 100 percent, I get it. I get that’s what we want. I like I would like it, too. I don’t disagree! (Laughs.) I would like them to get back together. But I do think there is a way of getting there that where, if we’re going to do it, we’re doing to do it in the right way.
You’re also watching how characters develop and how actors develop their characters, and that’s informing what’s about to happen. Chase and Lucy are bringing things to their characters where you’re going, “I want to see more of that. I want to see more of them together.” All of that goes into the conversation as well. But [Mike] Barker really wanted to show the Hannah writing. That was something he really responded to, and he really wanted to make sure that we had that in the finale. That callback was so important. So Bruce put it in, but I remember that was something Barker really wanted.
What about your onscreen role in season two? Will it be similar, more or less than season one?
I don’t know yet. We’re still getting the scripts and figuring that out, so there’s a lot that hasn’t been really figured out yet. That’s the honest truth, because it’s super early days. We just got our pick up [for season two], so it’s all still being explored. But, if I did know, I wouldn’t be able to tell you anyway!
Of course you can’t! (Laughs.) Are you able to speak to the larger vision for the show? Handmaid’s Tale was long running, which we don’t see as much these days. Do you hope The Testaments runs as long?
That’s always the dream and the hope. You want to be continuing to get to tell these stories. You want to be continuing to get to play with these actors, directors and writers. I feel so close to June. The core of who she is as a woman, as a mom and as a friend, I feel very, very close to her. I would never want to stop playing her. So for me, yes. As long as there’s a Gilead, she’s never going to stop fighting. There has to be so much more story that we can explore, and it’s so cool that now we have this next generation of actors to explore it through. It gives it this new life and energy. As a woman who is not 25, it’s so exciting and fantastic to get to watch and play with these younger actors and get inspired by them.
Do you plan to direct in season two?
I was supposed to direct on season one, but that was completely out of the question because of the ending of Handmaid’s and then I was starting Imperfect Women for Apple in May, which couldn’t push, so I was not able to direct on season one. That feels so strange to me that I didn’t get to direct, because I am so close to that world. And I don’t mean just the onscreen world, but also behind the scenes with the crew members. That whole way of making the show in Toronto with the incredible crew I’ve worked with for over a decade now … it was very strange to not direct in season one. So you can take that and apply it to how I would feel about season two, where I am potentially more available as well.
The final scene of this season felt like you — with Agnes, Daisy and Shu’s (Rowan Blanchard) empowering walk to Alt J’s “Hunger of the Pine” ushering in the next generation of resistance fighters for season two. So it seems you and Mike Barker are in sync.
Mike and Dana Reed and Jane Campion, the OG, are the directors who made me want to be a director. Anytime I’m working with any of them it’s so symbiotic. So getting to do that [June and Daisy finale] scene on that dock was such a magical, magical night. It really was so special and such a beautiful scene. Thank you, Bruce!
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The Testaments is now streaming all of season one on Hulu, and will return for season two. Read THR‘s show coverage here.
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