[This story contains spoilers from the three-episode season six premiere of The Handmaid’s Tale, “Train,” “Exile” and “Devotion.”]
After playing iconic mother June Osborne for five seasons on The Handmaid’s Tale, Elisabeth Moss became a mother herself. During the two-season break in filming between seasons five and six, the star, executive producer and director on the series had her first child. Then when it came time to play June for the final season, Moss brought her baby with her to the show’s Toronto set.
The first episode of the sixth and final season, titled “Train,” continues to follow June on her dangerous journey to safety, which includes stepping up to defend Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) from Gilead refugees who are seeking revenge on a moving train. When June finally gets to Alaska, she’s lost her only companion, as Serena was forced to jump from the train to save herself and her infant son. Now, it’s only June and her baby daughter, Nichole, until she hears a surprising familiar voice shouting her name.
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June’s mother, Holly (Cherry Jones), who was presumed dead, is a volunteer to greet the refugee arrivals. The episode ends with June and her mother embracing in a much-needed win for both the character and an audience that has been savoring June’s plight, which is set to come to an end after eight years of Hulu and MGM‘s Emmy-winning saga. The scene held an even deeper meaning for Moss, who got to direct herself playing TV’s iconic mother as a first-time mother herself.
“It was incredibly meaningful to be able to end this show as a mom, I have to tell you,” Moss tells The Hollywood Reporter in the conversation below. “I think I didn’t even realize it until I saw different points in the show as we went through. Like in the beginning of episode one, the first image is of June on the train sitting there holding a baby. Then the end of episode one, the reunion with the mom. … I’m really glad that I got to have this last season playing June with a little bit more of a visceral emotional experience of some of the things that June is talking about or fighting for.”
What June is fighting for in this final season is what she’s been fighting for ever since the first scene of the series, when her oldest daughter Hannah (Jordana Blake) was taken from her and indoctrinated into Gilead life. With seven episodes now left to wrap up the tale of June Osborne before the Gilead universe switches gears into follow-up series The Testaments, Moss, who directed the first two and last two episodes, says that every single scene in the final season is meaningful, and that every character will get the ending they deserve.
Below, in conversation with THR, Moss peels back the layers of crafting this final season, including the biggest notes from their partners at Hulu and MGM about making sure the show keeps moving forward with each new episode, and she explains why June will never, ever stop fighting to get her daughter back: “It’s constant in June’s life and always will be, until it’s over.”
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Going back to when it was announced that season six would be the final season, co-showrunner Yahlin Chang told me that conversation happened with creator Bruce Miller before the season five writers room. Can you take me inside those conversations of when you all decided season six would be the end?
I think we were contemplating season five being the end at one point [Bruce Miller initially pitched a five-season series] and it was one of those thing where we were like, [smiles] “Should we just do one more?” I don’t know if we knew how to get to where we wanted to go in the amount of time we had in season five. Maybe it’s because I started directing in season four, but I feel like a lot of the story really picked up that season and started to develop in a really exciting way with a lot of different characters. You felt like it really opened up and you started to see a lot more from different characters, so it felt like there was still so much story left to tell, not just with June, but with all of these other people. It just didn’t feel like five seasons was going to be enough, so I think that’s what resulted in the sixth season.
And I think I was one of the only people who was like, “Seven? Anyone for seven? No? The cheese stands alone? Fine!” (Laughing) “I was like, ‘Okay, we’re done I guess.'”
Bruce said he’s always known the ending to this show, and I know you have known that final vision. Did it change from the original idea?
We knew what it was going to be. We didn’t know exactly where it was going to be, and that’s all that shifted a little bit from an original idea.
When I spoke with both you and Bruce after season five, you didn’t know yet what was going to happen after June smirked at Serena on that train. Real world events delayed you guys going back into production, so when you finally got back to plotting the show, how did you find your final season story with this premiere episode? You think June and Serena are spending this quality time together, and then it gets so crazy and propulsive halfway through.
Yeah, thank you very much. We really wanted to make sure that every single episode was moving forward, that every single scene needed to be there. Look, we can’t afford to shoot scenes that aren’t necessary. Like most television shows, right? There’s not some endless money tree. We have to be economical and we have to deliver what we’re supposed to deliver. I think that means you have to make sure that every single scene deserves its place, and every single scene deserves to be in the cut. Very, very rarely is there a scene that ends up on the cutting room floor in our show. It has happened, but it’s very rare. And that’s because we’re very thoughtful about it and we really make sure that what we’re doing is what is going to be in the show. We’ve gotten better at that over the years as well.
So a large part of this year was reading every outline — obviously, I don’t write the show — but reading every outline, giving feedback, giving notes, reading every script, giving feedback, giving notes. And that was constantly on all levels, from the executive producers to our partners at Hulu and MGM. We were all constantly making sure the show moved forward. “What is the development? Do we end in a different place than we began? Don’t be stagnant. Keep going forward, because this is it. You’ve got 10 left to get to the end.”
The premiere episode ends with this happy reunion as June embraces her mother Holly (played by returning star Cherry Jones). June gets a win after everything she’s been through. You directed this episode, and I know you became a mother between seasons. I understand that your baby was also with you on set. Now playing June as a mother yourself, how emotional was that premiere scene and this season as a whole?
It was incredibly meaningful to be able to end this show as a mom, I have to tell you. Because I’m playing this character who is sort of this iconic mother figure. She is, as all mothers are, a heroine.
She’s definitely on a heroine pedestal.
She is, right? So to end as a mom myself, I’m not going to lie, it meant a lot. I think I didn’t even realize it until I saw different points in the show as we went through. Like in the beginning of episode one, the first image is of June on the train sitting there holding a baby. Then the end of episode one, the reunion with the mom, all the way to the last couple of episodes, it’s such an important part of the story. And it’s not like we were like, “Okay, so here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to have a baby and then we’re going to do the final season.” (Laughs) Obviously, this stuff isn’t planned like that! So it was just this beautiful… synergy, I think maybe is the word. This kind of coming together of art and life that was undoubtedly incredibly meaningful. And I’m really glad that I got to have this last season playing June with a little bit more of a visceral emotional experience of some of the things that June is talking about or fighting for. I’m really happy that I got to have that experience.
Her motherhood is prevalent in every episode that I’ve seen so far of the season. There’s always a reminder that her daughter is still in Gilead: “Hannah is still there.”
Thank you for noticing that. That was really important to us to constantly, even when something is positive or even when something feels like, “Okay, we’ve gotten to a good place,” that June’s spite will never be done until Hannah is safe.
It was interesting to see Luke (O-T Fagbenle) [June’s husband and Hannah’s dad] match June in wanting to get into that fight.
Yes.
But June has lived through this fight several times, she knows how hard it is to go up against Gilead. How much of her in this final season is believing she can get Hannah back, and how much of her is accepting she may never be able to?
I don’t think she will ever accept not being able to do it. You just can’t. Whether it’s a child or someone you love or someone that’s important to you, I don’t believe you would ever give up on getting that person out. I just don’t see a world where you ever can. I think that she tries. There are a couple of moments in the show where she thinks that maybe it would be easier to take a different path, and then it’s never long before she knows that she has to keep fighting. It’s never long before she’s reminded that she will never be able to rest. And sometimes it’s Luke that reminds her of that. Sometimes it’s Janine [Madeline Brewer]. Sometimes it’s Serena. Sometimes it’s Serena doing something terrible that reminds her of it. It’s constant in June’s life and always will be, until it’s over.
The third episode reunites June and Nick (Max Minghella), and they have this “see you later” scene where it seems to me like she’s done having to choose between Luke or Nick. They’re both in her life now. What was that scene like for you?
We wanted to acknowledge what always happens with Nick and June. There was a different version of the scene that ended with them saying goodbye in the normal way that they say goodbye. So it would have ended at the place where they’re like, “Goodbye, blah, blah, blah.” I was like, “Can we take this to the next step? Is there a world where we can explore the idea of them recognizing the fact that they always play this scene? The fact that they always say goodbye, but then they usually end up seeing each other again. Can we reference that?”
I thought that would be really fun, not only for the characters but also for the audience. And then they wrote this beautiful scene where we were able to be a little lighter, a little self-aware as characters. I love that moment. I think it’s super fun, because this always happens every season. You get this goodbye scene with Nick and June, “Ok, we’re never gonna see each other again, goodbye.” And then they see each other again! We wanted to nod to that and have the characters progress and have them grow.
That’s also something that happens the season with Luke [a progression]. There is no character this season that ends in the same place that we began. Not one of them. And there are extremes… such extremes. I mean, no one ends up where we started them.
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The Handmaid’s Tale is now streaming the first three episodes of season six, with new episodes releasing weekly on Tuesdays. Follow along with THR‘s final season coverage, including our interview with co-showrunners Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang on the three-episode premiere and story on how they plotted the end.
