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‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Elisabeth Moss Gives Her Take On The Shocking Season 2 Finale

By Regan Brown
Published on: 15:30 PST, Jul 14, 2018

Warning: This article contains spoilers from the Season 2 finale of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Hulu released the Season 2 finale episode of its Emmy Award winning show The Handmaid’s Tale on Wednesday, and as fans probably anticipated, it was shocking with the unexpected twist at the end. Elisabeth Moss, who portrays the heroine, Offred/June, recently sat down with the Hollywood Reporter to explain why the episode needed to end the way it did.

Offred is delivered with the opportunity to finally escape the horrors of Gilead with her daughter, Nichole/Holly, for good, which she takes. However, in an unforeseen shocking turn of events, Offred hands her baby girl over to fellow handmaid Emily, played by Emmy-winning actress Alexis Bledel, and then slams the door to the car carrying them both shut without her in it. She watches the car disappear into the night before pulling the hood of her red cape over her head, turning around and walking away.

As to be expected, a lot of fans were blindsided by Offred’s move and are now left with confusion as to why Offred would suddenly make the last-minute decision to stay in Gilead after she spent all of Season 2 swearing up and down she and her baby would both get out.

According to Moss, who was just recently nominated for an Emmy for the second year in a row, there are two reasons as to why she believes Offred choosing to stay was the right move and her other daughter, Hannah, has a lot to do with it.

“Hannah is the first one. It’s as simple as that. She cannot leave her daughter there,” she says. “She doesn’t know if she can get back in if she leaves,” Moss adds.

Offred was granted her escape from Rita, the Waterford’s Martha, and that is how she learns of the resistance that has slowly been building within Gilead. The Marthas aren’t the only ones involved as Emily was granted her chance of freedom by her own commander and the wives of Gilead, led by Serena, played by Emmy nominated actress Yvonne Strahovski, just took a stand against their husbands who are all on the Gilead council.

According to Moss, these were definitive factors in her character’s decision to stay as she now realizes she’s no longer alone in the fight and now realizes that what’s happening is “bigger than her” and her two daughters.

“She is staying to fight to save all the children of Gilead. It’s bigger than her now. It’s bigger than her and Holly and Hannah. She has an army, and she’s going to fight back.”

According to Moss, Offred has been deeply changed by the life that was forced on her and rightfully so; it’s because of this that she believes her character is the perfect choice for “the one who should lead the resistance.”

“She has become stronger, smarter, braver. She has learned a lot. She has experienced indescribable physical and emotional pain. She has changed forever, and not necessarily for the better, but in a way that she needs to have changed to be able to lead the resistance. She has hardened. She’s gotten very tough. She’s maybe colder. But that’s what she needs to be.”

When handing her baby girl over to Emily, Offred tells her friend to call the infant Nichole, which is what Serena named her, rather than Holly, which is what Offred named her when she was born. Moss explains that it was her character’s way of showing her love for Serena, as fans will remember that Serena let Offred take Nichole because in the end, she knew there was no way Nichole could live a happy life in Gilead.

“It’s a show of love for Serena and a thank you for what Serena did in letting June get her out. It’s June’s baby, but it’s June’s way of acknowledging Serena’s true love for that child.”

All of Season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale is now available to watch on Hulu. Season 3 of the show is expected to premiere sometime in 2019.

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