{"id":449556,"date":"2026-05-28T14:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T14:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/449556\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T14:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T14:17:08","slug":"elisabeth-moss-says-her-handmaids-tale-character-was-always-going-to-be-in-the-testaments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/449556\/","title":{"rendered":"Elisabeth Moss Says Her ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Character Was Always Going to Be in ‘The Testaments’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fans of The Handmaid\u2019s Tale didn\u2019t have to wait long to learn if June Osborne\u2014the resilient, rebellion-sparking character<\/a> played by Elisabeth Moss\u2014would be in the sequel series The Testaments. June popped up at the end of the first episode<\/a> and then appeared throughout the season as a mentor to Daisy (Lucy Halliday), a Toronto girl who infiltrates Gilead<\/a> as a Mayday operative.<\/p>\n

At the end of season one<\/a>, June agrees to let a frustrated Daisy try her own tactics\u2014with an emphasis on minimizing collateral damage\u2014as the plot to overthrow Gilead begins to gather steam. It\u2019s a big moment for the former Handmaid, who\u2019s used to calling all the shots; June is also forever thinking of her daughter, Hannah, who was kidnapped by Gilead as a toddler and is now the same age as Daisy. We know Hannah as Agnes (Chase Infiniti), who happens to be one of Daisy\u2019s closest friends, and we get to see the moment where June realizes Daisy has a direct link to her long-lost child.<\/p>\n

In a new interview with the Hollywood Reporter<\/a>, Moss talked about June\u2019s role in The Testaments and why it was important for her to continue telling the character\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always knew that June was going to be in it,\u201d Moss said. \u201cI had known for years from Bruce [Miller, who created both The Handmaid\u2019s Tale and The Testaments] that June wasn\u2019t going to get Hannah out [at the end of The Handmaid\u2019s Tale].\u201d The decision was further confirmed, she added, when \u201cMargaret Atwood wrote the sequel [novel], and Hannah didn\u2019t get out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The way The Handmaid\u2019s Tale left things\u2014with some storylines concluding, but June\u2019s own saga left open-ended<\/a>\u2014set up the part she\u2019d play in the sequel, Moss said. \u201cThe most important thing for me was that we could end Handmaid\u2019s\u00a0in a way that made sense for that show, but also made sense for\u00a0The Testaments, which is an incredible gift and tricky with the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

At first, Moss\u2019 casting in The Testaments was kept carefully secret. \u201cIt was difficult at times to not be able to tell the fans, \u2018Guys, it\u2019s okay. June\u2019s story is so not over. The Handmaid\u2019s ending isn\u2019t really even an ending,’\u201d she said. What\u2019s more, \u201c[Miller and I] knew that I was going to have multiple [Testaments] episodes and that there was going to be an arc and a larger plan for June.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for season two, Moss says it\u2019s too early to know how June might factor into the action. However, she added, \u201cI would never want to stop playing her. So for me, yes. As long as there\u2019s a Gilead, she\u2019s never going to stop fighting. There has to be so much more story that we can explore, and it\u2019s so cool that now we have this next generation of actors to explore it through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fans of The Handmaid\u2019s Tale didn\u2019t have to wait long to learn if June Osborne\u2014the resilient, rebellion-sparking character…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[47795,156,4435,111,139,69,122344,127371,437],"class_list":["post-449556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-elisabeth-moss","tag-entertainment","tag-hulu","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-the-handmaids-tale","tag-the-testaments","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}