The Handmaid’s Tale has always been about a mother’s journey back to her daughter. When playing that mother at the center of Margaret Atwood’s tale on the Emmy-winning Hulu series, Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne had her first daughter ripped from her arms at the height of the formation of Gilead, the dystopian society at the center of the saga that stripped women of their human rights. June has spent five seasons heroically fighting to get her oldest daughter back and now, when the sixth and final season launches on April 8, she’ll be launching an all-out rebellion for a final attempt.
Moss, who stars, executive produces and directs on the series, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the emotional impact of becoming a mother herself before playing June one last time for The Handmaid’s Tale. “It was incredibly meaningful to be able to end this show as a mom, I got to tell you,” she says. “Because I’m playing this character who is this iconic mother figure. All mothers are heroines, and she’s definitely a heroine.”
Moss, who had confirmed her pregnancy in January 2024, spoke publicly for the first time about becoming a mother when promoting the final season during a PaleyFest LA event on Wednesday. When filming the season last year in Vancouver, Moss said she had her baby with her on set, something she said she felt “so fortunate to be able to do,” adding, “So many parents cannot. Any of us who had the privilege of being able to bring our kids or see our kids at work, we would every single time be like, ‘Aren’t we lucky to get to do that?’”
When speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Moss, who hasn’t yet shared the sex or name of her baby, said that the weight of becoming a mother hit her as the sixth and final season plot progressed.
“It’s such an important part of the story,” she says. “It was just this beautiful synergy, I think maybe is the word. This coming together of art and life that was undoubtedly, incredibly meaningful. 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.”
O-T Fagbenle, who plays June’s husband and Hannah’s father Luke, also spoke about his celebratory reunion with co-star Moss when they returned to set after a more than two-year break. “The main thing that happened on the first day of set is that I got to meet Lizzie as a mother,” he tells THR. “This show is so much about people and their children and about motherhood, and what it is to give birth, and Lizzie went through that. I was just so happy for her. So day one, for me, the big thing I remember was just meeting my dear friend, my colleague and just knowing that she had been through this extraordinary experience.”
Hannah, played by Jordana Blake, in season five, episode eight’s “Motherland.”
Sophie Giraud/Hulu
Reuniting with and trying to save her daughter, Hannah (played by Jordana Blake), who is now a preteen in-training to become a Gilead wife, remains the underlying theme of June’s fight in season six. “June’s spite will never be done until Hannah is safe,” Moss warns of June’s wrath ahead.
June last saw Hannah in person back in season four in a heartbreaking reunion where her daughter, who has been renamed by her Gilead foster parents as Agnes, initially didn’t remember June. Season five saw Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski) using Hannah as a pawn and, more recently, at the end of season five, June and Luke came thisclose to getting Hannah out. That two-episode arc hinted to viewers that Hannah (pictured above), who debuted the new purple color of a Gilead wife-in-training, has never given up hope about her mother. She was shown writing her real name (girls and women in Gilead are forbidden to read and write) and giving the camera a signature June look of defiance.
June has since had a second daughter, Nichole, who is free and with June outside of Gilead. Her biological father is June’s lover, Gilead Commander Nick (Max Minghella).
The Handmaid’s Tale launches its final season with three episodes on April 8, followed a weekly release until the May 27 finale. The end of The Handmaid’s Tale will usher in its forthcoming sequel series at Hulu, The Testaments, which is Atwood’s novel that is being adapted by Handmaid’s Tale creator Bruce Miller. That series is in active development and is set to star Chase Infiniti, with Ann Dowd expected to reprise her role as Aunt Lydia.