Ann Dowd on Aunt Lydia's surprising Handmaid's Tale arc and what it means for The Testaments
Warning: This article contains spoilers from season 5, episode 6 of The Handmaid's Tale.
Praise be: Season 5 of The Handmaid's Tale has given us many more intriguing moments with Ann Dowd's Aunt Lydia, with many more still to come.
Over the seasons, we've slowly gotten to know Lydia a bit more — where she comes from, what makes her tick. And though she started off as a rather loathsome character, there's been a shift in her over time.
Nowhere has that been more obvious than in season 5, where we've seen her fear for Esther's safety in the lone audience of Commander Putnam, genuinely mourn for an ailing Janine, suggest a complete overhaul to the handmaids system to Commander Lawrence, and seek Janine's help to "do better" with regards to her girls.
Now, in episode 6, she learns that Esther is pregnant, and when she learns that she was raped by Putnam, Lydia is furious, and takes the matter to Lawrence, which later results in Putnam's execution and Lydia taking a triumphant field trip with her handmaids to see his body on the Wall.
This is made all the more interesting given that Hulu is now developing The Testaments as a series, based on Margaret Atwood's 2019 sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. Without divulging too much, The Testaments features Aunt Lydia in a pivotal role to the Mayday organization.
Ahead, EW sits down with Dowd to get her thoughts on her character's arc so far, what else to expect from the penultimate season of Handmaid's, and what it all could mean to her role in The Testaments.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: When you first started working on this season, what were some of the earliest conversations like around Lydia's journey in these episodes?
ANN DOWD: The conversation really happens over time. Meaning, there's a general discussion, because we are headed toward The Testaments. So we know that somehow Lydia is going to begin to see the light and begin to realize what's actually going on, as opposed to what she thought was going on with the commanders and also what she could bear to actually see without blinders, if you will.
Speaking of The Testaments, are you able to shed any light on maybe how what we're seeing now will foreshadow what we'll see on that show?
First off, writers are smart, I know nothing about how it will proceed, except that it will. I have done the audiobook of The Testaments. So I am familiar with it. It's brilliantly written, as is everything Margaret Atwood does — it's quite extraordinary. To speak broadly, she's moving into far more awareness of her own complicitness, if that is a word, and actually what's going on underneath all of the pretend stuff at Gilead. Pretend meaning, what commanders say is going on, what the values of Gilead are supposed to be, but aren't. The blinders are coming down, the walls are coming down. She's a very smart woman, she knows men have the power at the moment. And so what she needs to do is be alert, aware, keep track, and keep it hidden. And just to make her moves slowly. She has tremendous patience. It's just a wonderful progression into herself, and also into what she wants to now do with what she knows. And I find her very inspiring as time goes on.
Ann Dowd in season 5 episode 6 of 'The Handmaid's Tale' as Aunt Lydia
It's been interesting, because she was so vile to start, but as time has gone on, it's been very slow and very methodical, but you start to get more glimpses of who she is. And there are just so many great moments, especially this season, some of which even even cracked me up —
Oh really? What cracked you up?
Mostly any war of words between you and Bradley Whitford, who plays Commander Lawrence...
Oh, yeah, I'm all over that. Right. Yeah, it's tough, boy, that relationship. Thank God it's shifting, is all I have to say to you, because she's able to kind of speak her mind a little with him, gain the courage because she knows she has some leverage here. It's kind of a thrilling ride, because he needs to be taught all about himself. You know what I mean?
Yes, and Lydia is the perfect person to teach him.
Because he's treated her so poorly. I could never bear it. I was like, you know, why can't you just like mouth off? Of course, she can't. She wants to live. But things are shifting. And that's a very good thing.
Tell me about the heartbreaking scene between you and Esther [Mckenna Grace]. Were you surprised at all with how Lydia handles that moment?
Well, first of all, she's such a wonderful actress, and such a wonderful person. She's a true delight, and it's wonderful to be in it with her. It's fascinating. It's all part of the original question: What is the journey here for Lydia? First of all, she didn't want to leave Esther in his creepy hands. She knew this is not the way we do it here. And yet she did not have the power to stop it. And to find out that, in fact, what she was so worried might happen, did happen, and connecting the dots as to why Esther [did what she did] with the chocolates, why Esther wanted to end her life, take down Janine, and then realizing she's pregnant. It's all of these worlds colliding. And just all of it smashing around in her head, and sorting out what is real and what is not.
What is real is that this girl — now, you ask the outside world, and [they'd say] all the handmaids are being raped — but in Lydia's mind, she believes that the ceremony is sanctioned by God in a world where things have gone completely out of control with childbirth, young women's relationships with God being non-existent. So on. She has very firm beliefs. Now we'll see where they go eventually. But here, there's a difference for her between a commander outside of the ceremony daring to rape this handmaid. I don't know how she got through it. It's so much shocking revelations and things presenting right in her face. And that gives her strength, doesn't it, to confront Lawrence? You see the progression. And now how the relationship is going to evolve.
Do you think when Lydia takes the handmaids to see Putnam's body that she feels like she won a little in that moment?
Yes and no. Yes, in that he'll be punished, definitely. However, this is what I love about Lydia — she's smart. She knows that whatever decision Lawrence is going to make, he will do it in his own best interest in his seeking power. So yes, [Putnam] deserves punishment for sure, deserves to go on the wall, whatever. However, she's keeping track of [Lawrence]. And it's thrilling to come to see that side of her, that smart, "Who do you think you're kidding?" And then knowing to bide her time to move things along because she needs him.
Shades of this have been present for a while, but especially this season we really see how much Lydia does care for her girls, in her own way.
Yes, very much so in a deep way. Love is a funny thing. Not funny, actually, it's the way forward. But the fact that she loves Janine and comes to realize, "This is my child." The depths of her feelings for that handmaid, that Janine, that beautiful, beautiful, Janine. You know, if love becomes present in your life — we all know this for our own selves — once you let that love in, and let it rule the day, those walls we have, they're going to start to crumble because they're made of fear. Love is more powerful than anything. And that's what's giving her the courage and the way forward. It's also scary for her. It's a brilliant journey the writers are putting her on. I couldn't be more grateful.
What more can we expect from that journey this season? Can you tease those final episodes of season 5 for us?
Okay, I'm gonna say this and it's gonna frustrate you, and I don't blame you. I'm gonna say to your readers, to the beautiful fans of The Handmaid's Tale: Hang in there. You're not gonna believe what's coming. I couldn't believe it. I've been in this job for five years. Every time I read a new script, it's like, wait a minute. I have to sit down. It's extraordinary, what goes down. It's worth every minute. I'll just say hang in there. Keep the faith. I don't have words for the finale. No words. It's extraordinary what [showrunner] Bruce Miller has done.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
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