June and Hannah Ending, Explained

[This story contains MAJOR spoilers from The Handmaid’s Tale series finale, titled “The Handmaid’s Tale.”]

The Handmaid’s Story‘s creator Bruce Miller all the time knew how he was going to finish the sequence. A key location element modified alongside the way in which and he didn’t know what number of seasons it might take to get there, or that Margaret Atwood would write a sequel novel in 2019. However he knew that when the present reached its ending, June’s story would circle again to the place it started, however with new perspective.

“That is undoubtedly not a narrative the place you get what you need more often than not — or the place June will get what she desires. It’s a narrative about tips on how to dwell with the issues you possibly can’t get,” Miller explains to The Hollywood Reporter concerning the sequence finale.

The 2017 pilot of the Emmy-winning Hulu sequence had launched viewers to Elisabeth Moss as June, the lady readers first met as Offred in Atwood’s best-selling 1985 novel of the identical title. The pilot flashed again to June being separated from her husband Luke (O-T Fagbenle) and daughter Hannah (Jordana Blake) earlier than reintroducing her as a handmaid, sporting a crimson cloak and white bonnet, whereas sitting in a windowsill within the dwelling of Gilead Commander Fred (Joseph Fiennes) and his spouse, Serena Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski).

Viewers who listened rigorously may hear a click on earlier than June then mentioned in voiceover: “A chair. A desk. A lamp. There’s a window with white curtains, and the glass is shatterproof, however it isn’t working away they’re afraid of. A handmaid wouldn’t get far. … My title is Offred. I had one other title, however it’s forbidden now. So many issues are forbidden now.”

Now with the sequence finale that started streaming on Tuesday, viewers perceive that clicking sound was a tape recorder and that voiceover was a present-day June. Within the sequence ender, aptly titled “The Handmaid’s Story” and written by Miller and directed by Moss, June is once more sitting in that Waterford windowsill after revisiting the stays of the Boston dwelling that burnt down halfway by the sequence. Besides now, Gilead’s occupation is over and Boston is free, and June is starting to file the story we’ve been expecting six seasons.

However which means that this story has reached its finish, and June (and viewers) didn’t get the reunion they’d been hoping for because the begin: The dystopian sequence doesn’t finish with June reuniting along with her oldest daughter, Hannah. It ends with June persevering with to battle for her.

“When [Atwood’s sequel novel] The Testaments comes out, you already know sure issues — you already know that June’s not dying, you already know [her daughter] Hannah remains to be in Gilead. There’s an entire different e-book about that story,” Miller explains of how the sequence finale units TV’s Gilead universe on its subsequent course; Miller, additionally creator of The Testaments, started engaged on that adaptation forward of the ultimate season, with Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang showrunning season six. “You respect the top of the novel and why leaving you free ends remains to be satisfying since you really feel like, ‘This lady remains to be round. She made it this far,’” he provides. “If she didn’t make it any additional, that’s okay, however what a narrative of her making it this far. It’s the story of girls by historical past.”

The finale does — reward fucking be! — ship the extremely emotional mother-daughter reunion between Janine (Madeline Brewer) and Charlotte, facilitated by a revolutionized Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) with Naomi’s (Ever Carradine) consent; whereas Serena is handed a destiny left open to interpretation, as she is as soon as once more a refugee with no dwelling for her and son Noah. After the lethal penultimate episode with the Excessive Commander deaths of Nick (Max Minghella), Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) and Wharton (Josh Charles), the finale up to date viewers that Gilead will proceed to fall throughout the once-United States and that June might be among the many resistance, preventing undercover till she will get Hannah out. Luke vows to do the identical.

Following up on The Hollywood Reporter‘s oral historical past on the blazing success of the sequence and the way it will launch The Testaments, THR spoke with Miller and Moss in separate conversations edited beneath about how they delivered a passable but life like ending to the beloved, well timed saga whereas additionally organising the sequel sequence, which is at present in manufacturing. In that close to future, Aunt Lydia is the starring character and Chase Infiniti performs Agnes, which we all know is the Gilead title given to Hannah, June’s daughter.

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Bruce, you latterly informed me that it is a story about dwelling with what folks can’t get and the way they survive. Earlier than Margaret Atwood got here to you along with her plan to put in writing sequel novel The Testaments, had been you planning on reuniting June (Moss) with daughter Hannah? Or did that appear like an excessive amount of of a neat ending for this world?

BRUCE MILLER It felt prefer it was tying it an excessive amount of in a bow. Given the place we began with June, that appeared like an entire different part of her life. This present was about June and her daughter and her husband and the way she misplaced all the pieces, and the way she has regularly been pulling a variety of that again collectively. It’s The Handmaid’s Story, not Hannah’s Story. It’s targeted on June’s journey from handmaidness to freedom. The query of how she rebuilds her household felt like an entire different step, which we’re seeing is much more difficult than simply, “Let’s all go to Alaska.”

We spent the season with June at first considering, “I can mud off my fingers and say, ‘I’m carried out.’” [If she stayed in Alaska with her mom and daughter Holly], that’s what that will appear like: The neat ending. But it surely didn’t find yourself like that. June threw herself again in — she couldn’t stroll away from her daughter, Hannah. I believe they are saying it within the e-book: There’s loads of tales from individuals who get their children again. These are the one-in-a-million tales we all the time inform. I need to inform the story concerning the 999,000 individuals who don’t get their children again. They should undergo life and dwell, and it’s not straightforward. June is an efficient instance of somebody who doesn’t ever take the simple means out, however that is as arduous as issues get on this planet and also you see what that does to any individual.

When Margaret mentioned, “I’m writing The Testaments and this will affect what you do on The Handmaid’s Story,” she informed me that she gave you a really small no-kill listing: Aunt Lydia, and June’s two daughters, Hannah and Nichole/Holly.

MILLER Sure, a really small one. Lydia is a fucking cat. She has 900 lives, which is strictly how these folks survived in these type of regimes by being excellent at stepping barely out of the way in which when the shit begins to fall. Ann [Dowd] has taken that character in so many various instructions and proven us doorways to elements of her previous and character that we haven’t opened but. Aunt Lydia [by the end of The Handmaid’s Tale] is simply beginning to understand that perhaps Gilead was mendacity to her, and perhaps it isn’t simply her “particular women” who should be free. Ann has constructed that slowly, rigorously in a plausible means over time. Margaret and her are great pals. It’s an incredible pleasure to have the ability to proceed that character [in The Testaments]. Should you take a look at what occurred simply on this final season — Lydia’s on the finish of a rope after which she’s again already in energy by the top, which is completely her!

Margaret got here to me as quickly as she was having the inkling [of writing The Testaments], so it was very early for me to get the knowledge. She let me know because the creator of the world that issues could be shifting a little bit below my toes. The present went previous the e-book, The Handmaid’s Story. So I used to be making an attempt to provide you with an ending that match effectively and definitely I used to be enjoying with a variety of the issues that she talked about doing in The Testaments. However that is known as The Handmaid’s Story. It’s not June’s Story. It’s her time as a handmaid. And on the finish, the ultimate episode is that she’s not a handmaid anymore in any means, form or type. She’s no person’s handmaid: She’s Onjune.

ELISABETH MOSS I didn’t have the duty of writing [the ending], however I perceive and I’m conscious that that was the largest problem: The Testaments has Hannah not get out. That was undoubtedly one thing we might have performed with for the top of Handmaid’s; June perhaps getting her out. However we needed to transfer in the direction of the sequel that had been written. Now, I don’t suppose that was a nasty factor. However was it the factor that was most likely most current? Yeah, I might say so.

Lizzie [Moss goes by “Lizzie”], do you know after season three that due to The Testaments [which released in 2019] that this present was going to finish in another way?

MOSS It was earlier than I learn it, as a result of I spoke to Bruce about it. Then I learn it and it was undoubtedly like, “In order that gained’t be our ending.”

Bruce, you’ve gotten informed me you all the time knew how the sequence would finish. So, had you all the time imagined the ultimate scene can be June saying these phrases that started her story? Was that in your preliminary pitch for a way you wished to adapt the sequence?

MILLER Sure, it was in my pitch as a result of it’s actually the story of the e-book. It was how you consider her as a personality from the start. What’s that voiceover? The place’s it coming from? From the start, I used to be considering, “So what we’re watching is that this field of tapes that somebody discovered, simply dramatized.” But it surely’s this field of her story, her story of being a handmaid. So I mentioned that what I actually wished to do was that once you get to the top, you’re feeling such as you understood what you simply noticed and what it was as a full piece. I’m hoping that it felt satisfying as an ending for this story.

MOSS What I related to with June firstly was the identical factor I related with on the very finish. She has this high quality of desirous to survive, not solely as herself, however to create a greater future particularly her youngsters but in addition for the following technology. That’s her aim in life. I noticed that in episode one, in that first script. I bear in mind calling my mother and telling her that. And it’s the identical factor within the final scene.

For no matter motive, I’m not a stranger to doing work that one way or the other finally ends up changing into part of the zeitgeist or changing into related in a really current means. These aren’t selections that I’m essentially making on objective. I’ve simply gravitated in the direction of materials that’s, for me, private. This story was private and my job is to inform the private facet of issues, the human facet of issues. When it then goes out into the world and turns into political or one thing on such a bigger scale, I’m grateful and moved by that.

Lizzie, once we spoke firstly of the ultimate season, you mentioned this ending was true to Bruce’s imaginative and prescient, however that the placement shifted. Now I perceive why the placement was so vital.

MOSS The unique thought was that June would perhaps go to that cabin within the woods [that Luke and June hid out in near the border] from [a flashback in] season one, episode seven. June, Luke and Hannah had been making pancakes — we name that the “pancake episode.” Initially, the thought was that June was going to return there. And really, earlier than we began taking pictures, we established that cabin was nonetheless there. However then Bruce wrote a unique location, and I believe it’s so significantly better.

Initially, it was written that June goes and sits on the entrance steps of the Waterford home. And I mentioned, “I need her to go inside. I believe it might be a lot extra highly effective if she goes into that room.” So I talked to Bruce and requested, “Can we go inside the home?” And he mentioned, sure. He beloved it, and so he wrote it so June goes inside the home.

MILLER I actually wished the ending to be June again and type of reclaiming Boston. That previous neighborhood was taken away from her, so reclaiming it and going again there may be the top of that a part of her story. She’s again in the identical place, however in a really completely different place.

Within the e-book, she information [the tale] in a cabin in Maine and buries it within the floor. Lizzie and I had talked about that and we may have carried out that right here, along with her going again into Gilead on the finish. However a lot of the present had a way of place and was so related to Boston. Seeing her stroll again by these streets and people locations now as a free individual is one thing that, as Alexis Bledel’s character says, was inconceivable. And look, it occurred. So we must always regulate what’s attainable and what’s inconceivable.

I perceive the finale scripts had been redacted for the solid, who had been solely aware of their elements within the episode. Did you, as director, shut the set when filming this closing scene to maintain it below wraps?

MOSS I did shut the set. To not maintain it secret, however principally as a result of I wanted the set to be a really quiet area that day. Once you’re taking pictures the ultimate scene of a present, it tends to draw some consideration. So it was truly me as a director defending my actor, who’s me. I wanted to have the ability to do my job that day, which was a really troublesome job of ending a sequence as an actor and pulling off that closing second. So I closed the set for that motive. I additionally closed the set for the ultimate scene contained in the aircraft in episode 9 [Whitford and Minghella’s final scene before Lawrence and Nick’s deaths].

MILLER It was an enormous factor to rebuild this [Waterford house] set. You must make a dedication to the belongings you really need, and for Lizzie as director and me as a author and each of us as govt producers, this was one of many issues. Budgets are shrinking in Hollywood; our present isn’t any exception. Once you get to the top of a present, you don’t have cash flying round, so we needed to be cautious with what we deliberate as a result of we weren’t going to have the ability to decide something up afterwards. So we thought very lengthy and arduous from the start of the episode to verify we protected that. You cut back the fee by giving [production designer Elisabeth Williams and her team] a lot of lead time. However that they had a variety of enjoyable constructing the home interiors once more. [The hallway to her room] goes up and down — there’s a step up after which a step down. It seems like a [claustrophobic] funhouse staircase.

I can’t consider one other director who filmed themselves within the closing scene of a long-running sequence.

MOSS That’s a great query. That will be a enjoyable reality to search out out. However this solid, this crew has made me a greater director. They made me a greater actor. They made me a greater producer. That submit group made me higher at what I do due to them. Each time I’ve been speaking with [season six showrunners] Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang I inform them how I miss collaborating with them. I don’t see why we couldn’t in some unspecified time in the future come again and do one thing. What’s so nice concerning the panorama now could be that we may do one thing in just a few years if we wished to. There’s nothing saying we will’t. There are not any guidelines anymore. However I do suppose the place we finish it’s proper. They did a superb job of wrapping it up.

MILLER Lizzie did such an incredible job. In these final couple of episodes, she pulled out new parts of her efficiency as June. It’s superb to do this, six seasons in. That scene along with her and Serena [where June forgives her in the finale] is a few of the greatest work [she and Yvonne have] carried out.

It was very pure [for Lizzie to direct and act in the final episode], I believe as a result of we had been speaking about it for a very long time. You’d think about it being a really inner scenario, however she was as communicative with the crew as she all the time is. It was a gaggle effort so for Lizzie, it was that collective expertise she loves. I believe there’s only a few folks you possibly can evaluate to, simply on the quantity that the present rests on them. Along with directing and being an govt producer who’s ingrained with the present — creatively, she works on so many various ranges — I believe it makes it simpler in that closing scene. Each Lizzie and I we’re actually assured about it. We knew what it was going to be. I wasn’t even there. I used to be very joyful for her to do it on her personal. I knew she’d get it proper, and he or she did.

Lizzie, had been you listening to your self [from the pilot] as you had been saying your closing strains?

MOSS I spotted about 10 minutes earlier than we shot it that I wished to be sure that after I was talking the ultimate voiceover it matched the unique voiceover from episode one. I wasn’t certain if I wished to do this or not, however I spotted that I wanted to match my mouth to [the pilot words]. We’re organising the ultimate shot of the sequence, and I went on the Hulu app on my telephone to episode one, and I simply performed it over and over and over and memorized it within the cadence that I mentioned it. I informed our script supervisor that I can’t get one phrase fallacious. This must be word-perfect. Then we did it, and it matches virtually completely. There’s a slight cadence change, when my physique’s going again and I lean ahead, that we had been in a position to repair in submit. However what’s within the finale is my voiceover from 9 years in the past.

Bruce all the time informed us this present was June’s story, so she survives. Even nonetheless, the viewers wasn’t certain she’d make it by. I rewatched the pilot and figuring out what you simply mentioned, that’s wild and really meta.

MOSS Oh, that’s superior. [Using the pilot voiceover] is an concept that I had and I didn’t know if it might work, after which it ended up working and it’s so cool as a result of there’s one thing barely disconnected about it that’s actually fascinating. I believe virtually subconsciously as an viewers member, you’re feeling the meta nature of it, particularly when she says, “My title is Offred.” And the [tape recording click] is within the pilot. After the door slams, you hear the clicking.

MILLER The press of the recording firstly, we put within the pilot. So we have now been serious about this specific second since then.

I additionally don’t know that there’s one other IP that bought a sequel halfway by, which then tasked the present with touchdown the aircraft however conserving the world open.

MILLER That’s the important thing right here. I’m going to should beg some flexibility. More often than not, once you’re adapting a e-book, the one that wrote it’s not persevering with the books. Generally they’re with Recreation of Thrones. However more often than not, it was a e-book written up to now. On this case, there are nice issues about having Margaret round that outweigh the issue of her having the ability to change her world a little bit bit when she desires to. After all she will be able to do this.

However I believe the way in which to have a look at The Testaments is that The Testaments e-book is a sequel to The Handmaid’s Story e-book, and there are issues which can be completely different between that and the present; timeline issues that find yourself mattering since you need it to be constant inside the TV world. So [as creator of The Testaments], I’m making an attempt to make a sequel to the TV present The Handmaid’s Story and make that work cleanly. There are issues that really contradict from the e-book to the TV present, however every adaptation must be its personal factor.

You left June — and in addition Luke, and certain Rita (Amanda Brugel) and Moira (Samira Wiley) — nonetheless on the market within the ether of this TV universe preventing in opposition to Gilead. Moss is an govt producer on The Testaments, however there’s no phrase about an onscreen function. What would you say to people who find themselves hoping June will present up in The Testaments?

MILLER That’s a great factor to hope for. I hope she reveals up there, too. She’s nonetheless doing her job, nonetheless doing what she was doing in The Handmaid’s Story. Luke and Moira are nonetheless on the market someplace, ringing the bell to get Hannah again. The great thing about having watched The Handmaid’s Story is that you simply perceive there’s this large operation of people who find themselves on the market who care and who’re risking themselves to get to reunite with their youngsters. The folks in The Testaments present don’t really feel that. However from experiencing Handmaid’s, you already know there’s this entire operation. So is June influencing The Testaments? Completely. She’s on the market. She’s making an attempt to get Hannah again. Will we see her? I might like to see her. I like Lizzie Moss, she’s superior! She’s very concerned behind the scenes.

MOSS You’re simply going to have to observe the present. [Moss is currently filming the forthcoming Apple series Imperfect Women.] I gained’t be there [on set of The Testaments], which is completely different as a producer. However I can’t not be fingers on. I don’t know tips on how to do it some other means. And it definitely feels fingers on, given the quantity of emails!

So if we weren’t going to get Hannah again, did you all the time know you had been going to offer Janine Charlotte again? Thanks for that!

MILLER Oh, my gosh. Sure. One of many issues I all the time thought is that little lady seems a lot like her. We had talked from the start, and a variety of it was about constructing Naomi and Janine to the purpose the place that will occur. Constructing to the place Naomi is aware of the one factor about Janine is that Janine is absolutely powerful, which she must know when she’s [giving her daughter back]. Hear, I hope June does get Hannah again. However I’m hoping that individuals really feel like that is the ending to Janine’s story [that she deserves]. The truth that I’m not going to have the ability to work with or see Maddie Brewer every single day is inconceivable to say out loud.

MOSS Ever wasn’t in that scene initially, and I requested if she may very well be there. I actually wished her to be part of it. I felt that it was actually vital that Naomi is the one who fingers Charlotte over to Janine. I felt like that was a narrative for Ever and for that character that wanted to be her ending within the present. That Janine scene simply kills me.

May there be a spot for Janine within the background battle in The Testaments?

MILLER I might be thrilled. I believe it is best to think about that every one these individuals are within the background nonetheless preventing to avoid wasting these women you see in The Testaments. Preventing, preventing, preventing. As calm as it is going to appear in Gilead, as candy and human and exquisite as Gilead is in The Testaments, you already know that there are folks pounding on the partitions from the skin — and also you’ve met these folks.

One character who is probably not in that battle is Serena. I perceive you had a unique ending for her than the one which we noticed.

MILLER I don’t imagine “what folks deserve” and all that stuff, however I wished to kill her. As a result of I believe she was such a horrible individual and being lifeless on the facet of the highway utterly anonymously [after she was pushed from the train in the beginning of the season] would have been a becoming finish. I needed to be satisfied to not throw her off that prepare, together with the child.

Wow.

MOSS Bruce did inform me his ideas and he informed me that he was toying with sure issues. I’m not the author, and I respect the function of the author very a lot. So he informed me what he was considering and I believed, “Okay, that’s fascinating. Wow, that will be type of loopy if she didn’t make it.” However in my coronary heart, I actually wished to see her survive as a result of I’m Serena’s largest fan. I’m her largest supporter and defender. I need her to dwell. I simply suppose she deserves that, and I believe Noah [her son] deserves that.

MILLER If it was Eva Braun and it was Hitler’s child, what would you do? I don’t suppose anyone would hesitate. However I like what we ended up doing as a result of what I actually wished for many of the characters is to get precisely what they wished and see what occurred. June bought a ton of what she wished and a ton of stuff she didn’t anticipate, together with Emily[‘s return], together with reuniting with Luke, who she thought was lifeless firstly of the present. Serena’s story actually seems like the top of Serena’s story, that she is somebody who’s by no means going to confess that she did fallacious. However you possibly can see how holding onto the phantasm that she did proper is getting very, very troublesome. I like Serena. I like her to the purpose the place I’m a lot extra mad at her as a result of she ought to know higher.

However to see June forgive her in the long run felt prefer it gave the viewers permission to just accept that as effectively.

MOSS That scene additionally kills me. I believe it’s lovely. I couldn’t learn [Serena’s ending] with out crying. I can’t watch it with out crying. Yvonne’s efficiency is magnificent. Every single one in every of these actors is on the prime of their fucking sport this season. And she or he did it in a single take. That entire speech when she’s speaking to the newborn. I get chills speaking about it.

MILLER Circling again to their performances and the brand new issues all of them introduced out within the closing episode, all of them did distinctive work. It’s unfathomable that they’d have these moments that you simply actually really feel are utterly new and see completely different sides of the characters on the final minute.

MOSS Yvonne had the concept she wished to get to this place of acceptance and place of peace on the finish. It could have been very straightforward to chop that scene shorter, however once we had been within the edit I protected it as a result of Yvonne wished her character to search out peace. You see this peace on her face the place she realizes Noah is all she wants. That’s all Serena ever wished: Having a child. I believe her ending is my favourite ending within the sequence. It’s so good.

Did Alexis Bledel [who left the series after season four] want convincing to return again or was she excited when she bought the decision from you?

MILLER We had been each thrilled that it’d work out. I believe she was actually excited once we talked. The one factor that was arduous was the logistics to get her up for the time we would have liked. However no, it was not arduous in any respect, and it wasn’t arduous to determine to attempt to see if she was going to be accessible. It was nice having her again that day — besides she cried and hugged folks each 4 toes, it appeared emotionally troublesome! But it surely was great to see her and Lizzie get proper again into it in any case that point. It’s like watching the fucking Yankees bullpen every single day with these guys. They’re so good.

MOSS Bruce talked to me about bringing her again some time in the past, earlier than there was even a top level view or script. I believe I mentioned to him on the time, “You understand now that you simply’ve informed me that, we have now to do it.” It’s not the simplest factor on this planet to name an actor and be like, “Are you able to come again for this one episode?” They’re busy. However I used to be like, “She has to do it.” I get very keen about this stuff! And she or he wished to do it from the start. She didn’t want convincing in any respect. My first official scene on day one [on set] was with Alexis. So it meant lots to get to work along with her once more. (Bledel spoke to THR about her return.)

Had been there characters alongside the way in which who you thought of killing however let dwell?

MILLER No, I don’t actually give it some thought that means. I believe, do they find yourself in some place the place they’d die or not? By definition, the handmaid informed this story. She needed to dwell to the top, so the story is about her dodging explosions and stuff. That’s a part of the story. However the different folks — I don’t ever need to kill anyone, however I do know that if I used to be on this group of individuals and Janine died, I might by no means get well. if Janine died and Alma [Nina Kiri] died, I might by no means get well. TV folks die willy nilly. When folks in your life die, it adjustments you. I don’t know that June can be the identical June if these folks would have all been killed off. One of many causes these individuals are in her reminiscences is as a result of they didn’t die.

MOSS I hope folks see the positivity [in the ending]. The ultimate piece of music that performs over the credit is so hopeful. The piece of music [we chose] is from season 4, when June tells Luke that she’s pregnant. It’s a lot concerning the future and the longer term being brighter, and the following technology having a greater likelihood. So the ultimate choice that we made on the sequence is concerning the future.

Does that imply we must always discover hope in June and Luke’s closing dialog? As a result of it was ambiguous.

MOSS Sure. I don’t suppose I used to be so ambiguous! I undoubtedly felt like there was hope in that future after I was standing there with him. We had this concept to play it like they had been flirting with one another, like that they had crushes on one another. Like, did they virtually return to the start? There’s such a round nature to the finale and completely I believe there’s a variety of hope for the 2 of them. However I believe they should type of begin once more.

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The Handmaid’s Story is now streaming all episodes on Hulu. Learn THR’s complete oral historical past on the sequence and mini oral historical past on the penultimate episode.