“Why People Connect So Strongly”: ‘THR Presents’ Q&A With ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Team
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The Handmaid’s Tale traveled outside the confines of Gilead for much of season five, expanding the story of June Osborne, played by Elisabeth Moss, after her escape from the totalitarian society at the center of the Hulu series. The first two episodes, in fact, picked up in Canada in the 24 hours after the show’s most violent act yet, when June led her fellow handmaid’s in the brutal murder of her former abuser, Commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes).
And those episodes, both directed by Moss, kicked off the tone of the entire penultimate season, explain cinematographer Nicola Daley, costume designer Leslie Kavanagh and composer Adam Taylor in a THR Presents panel, powered by Vision Media. Particularly when the double-episode premiere ended with June’s abducted daughter Hannah (Jordana Blake) being used as a pawn by June’s Gilead nemesis Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski) during the worldwide broadcast of Fred’s funeral. In the final moment, a more grown-up Hannah steps into the frame, revealing the plum color of the Gilead wives-in-training.
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“There was a lot of discussion about the plums,” says Kavanagh of the shades of purple-y plums and lilac colors seen throughout the season. “There hasn’t been a new introduction of color since season two. The motivation for me was that these are wives in training, so they aren’t quite [teal] yet, but they aren’t the little, baby pink colors we’ve seen in previous seasons.” Kavanagh was tasked with dressing the 500 extras who were on hand for the state funeral, which they filmed with five cameras across two days: “It was like Zero Dark Thirty call times,” she adds, “a massive, massive undertaking.”
June witnesses the heart-breaking moment while in Canada, as she and husband Luke (O-T Fagbenle) look on in shock as Serena stands smirking next to their daughter on a Time Square-sized screen. One color missing from the Canada color scheme, Kavanagh reveals, is the Gilead color of red.
“Something I did do this season very quietly and without smacking anyone in the face was that I started omitting red from Canada. I didn’t have any red,” she shares. “Some really eagle-eyed fans have been figuring that out, and that was to keep that [strength] of when we go back to Gilead of what has become so iconic and synonymous with the whole show, the handmaid red robes and white wings.”
That smirk, as viewers came to see, would come full circle in the season finale. After a tumultuous season that would see June and Serena connecting in more ways than they ever could have expected, they find one another again in the final moment of the season. Both of them are now on the run with their young children in tow, having boarded a train for Gilead refugees that they and viewers are only told is heading West. And their final look to one another left much to be desired.
“Do you have a diaper?” asks Serena in a friendly tone, as June’s range of facial expressions lands on a smirk — echoing the look Serena had given her to start the season.
“Lizzie [Moss] talks brilliantly about how Gilead is still inside of June, and that’s what she’s battling. It’s not June versus Serena, it’s June versus Offred,” says Daley, who credits the visual emotion of the show to both “Kubrick-espe wide shots with symmetry” and the close-ups, via hand-held cameras, on June’s face. “I think that’s why people connect so strongly to her character.”
Moss also directed the finale, which was written by showrunner Bruce Miller, and under her direction, Taylor says his star wanted the score to be a romantic one. “She wanted it to feel like two long-lost soulmates are finally reunited on the train leaving the frontline,” he says of treating the scene like June was going to see lover Nick (Max Minghella). “Because now it’s them; Nick is locked up [Luke sacrifices himself] and they’re on a train going who knows where. We never know. That was really fun and it’s such a great note from Lizzie.”
With production on the sixth and final season on hold amid the writers strike, the Handmaid’s Tale team shares their interpretations for how June’s final look could propel her and Serena’s journey forward whenever they get off that train.
“I think she’s resigned to the fact like, ‘Fine, I guess we’re going to do this together. I keep trying to get away from you and here you are, against all odds. Fine, let’s go blow up the world,’” says Taylor. Kavanagh adds, “I think she is recognizing that Serena is a fighter the same way she is, and that maybe Serena now really understands why June has been so unabashedly relentless in getting Hannah back.”
Daley praises the “layers of subtext” as June slightly lifts an eyebrow to say, “I’ve got your number but let’s see where this goes,” she says, sharing that she and Moss were inspired by horror films in the 50-minute tension build-up to the final optimistic moment. “I’m so proud of that [last shot]. It’s lifting up and rising up. Where are these two women going and how are they going to get on and relate to each other? … I think it sets up next season, whatever happens, who knows, brilliantly.”
This edition of THR Presents is sponsored by Hulu.
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