This story contains spoilers ahead for The Testaments. It's time to head back to Gilead — but rest assured, you've never seen it quite like this.
Over the course of six seasons, Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale adaptation told the story of June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss), a woman forced to serve as a concubine-esque "handmaid" after the United States falls to the theocratic dystopian state of Gilead. Although June eventually escapes and becomes a key member of the resistance, the battle isn't over by the time that its sequel series, The Testaments, begins.
In contrast to the grounded adult world of The Handmaid's Tale, The Testaments tells a coming-of-age story. Set against the backdrop of pastel uniforms and The Cranberries needle drops, the show follows two teenage girls (played by One Battle After Another's Chase Infiniti and Lucy Halliday) whose connection has massive implications in the battle to bring down Gilead once and for all. The Handmaid's Tale's Ann Dowd will also play a major role in the series, reprising her role as the imposing Aunt Lydia.
If you're curious about The Testaments but didn't finish The Handmaid's Tale or need a refresher, you're in luck! Below, we've rounded up everything you need to know before jumping into the new show.
The daughters of commanders attend an elite girls's school in The Testaments.
How did 'The Handmaid's Tale' end?
In the penultimate episode of The Handmaid's Tale, June, Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski), and Commander Joseph Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) conspire to sneak a bomb onto a plane full of high-ranking Commanders. It successfully explodes and kills the men on board, sparking a revolution that led to the Mayday rebels reclaiming control of Boston.
June reunites with many of her friends and family, including her mother, Holly (Cherry Jones), and younger daughter, Nichole. (Nichole is the biological daughter of June and Commander Nicholas Blame, with whom she had an affair when she was forced into being the Waterfords's handmaid.) However, by the end of the show, she is still searching for her and her ex-husband Luke's (O-T Fagbenle) daughter, Hannah, who Gilead kidnapped.
What is 'The Testaments' about?
Based on The Handmaid's Tale author Margaret Atwood's 2019 sequel novel of the same name, The Testaments follows two teenage girls growing up in Gilead: Commander's daughter Agnes (Infiniti) and newcomer Daisy (Halliday). Unbeknownst to Agnes, Daisy is actually a spy sent from Toronto, Canada, to gather information for Mayday.
Together, they attend Aunt Lydia's elite preparatory academy for girls. As the show's official synopsis teases, Agnes and Daisy's "bond becomes the catalyst that will transform their lives."
Chase Infiniti plays June Osborne's eldest daughter, Agnes, in The Testaments.
Who is Agnes in 'The Testaments?' Is Agnes June's Daughter?
Agnes is June's older daughter, Hannah. Renamed and raised within Gilead, she's now a teenager being groomed for her impending arranged marriage. Over the course of The Testaments, Agnes's friendship with the rebellious Daisy and the grim realities of her future force her to question her surroundings.
During a March 31 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments showrunner Bruce Miller said that he cast Infiniti in the role, in part, because her performance reminded him of Moss. "She was unpredictable. I didn't know what she was going to do—not in a scary way, but I just didn't have any idea what she was going to say, if she was going to go left or right," Miller explained. "It was the same thing with Elisabeth Moss; she's not volatile, but she is unpredictable."
Daisy (Lucy Halliday) is a typical teenager in Toronto before going undercover in Gilead.
Who is Daisy in 'The Testaments?' Is Daisy June's Daughter Nichole?
Daisy is a typical teenager from Toronto, Canada, who discovers that her parents were actually allies of Mayday, and is thrust into going undercover with the rebel group. In Gilead, she pretends to be a convert of the missionaries known as the Pearl Girls and relays information through various networks.
In The Testaments novel, Daisy is revealed to be June's younger daughter, Nichole. However, because The Handmaid's Tale show takes place over a different time frame, that isn't the case in the show.
Whereas the book takes place 15 years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale, Miller recently told Variety that the show is set "around three or four years after" its predecessor. Nichole is still a toddler at the end of The Handmaid's Tale series. Because of that, Miller explained, it didn't make sense to cast her as a teenager in The Testaments. "People just aren't the right ages," he said. "Nichole is not going to high school, and so we had to make changes for that."
He explained how the series justified the "practical" shifts to Daisy's character in an interview with Gold Derby. "I was very reluctant to make any changes," he said. "[Daisy] does seem a lot like the Nichole in the book, and even the way June treats her is a lot like the Nichole in the book. [But], if I was June, whether I would send in my daughter, and I think her sending in Daisy is a little easier for me to understand [now]. In that way, it took away something that always seemed like an unbelievable sacrifice."
Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) is no longer devoted to Gilead when The Testaments begins.
Is Aunt Lydia in 'The Testaments?'
Yes, Aunt Lydia will play a key role in The Testaments. The novel explains that Aunt Lydia was actually part of Mayday, having been forced to leave her career as a lawyer when the United States fell. Although The Handmaid's Tale originally portrays Aunt Lydia as a true believer in Gilead, she became disillusioned with it in later seasons. In the penultimate episode of The Handmaid's Tale, Aunt Lydia knowingly steps aside to let June and her allies plot against Gilead, setting the stage for her to fight the system from the inside in The Testaments.
"Lydia had time between The Handmaid's Tale and the beginning of The Testaments to really change and accept that she had to change who she is," Dowd told The Hollywood Reporter at The Testaments's premiere. "So we see a different side of Lydia—a softer and gentler person dealing with younger girls, still the girls that she loves who have always defined her life."
June (Elisabeth Moss) convinces Daisy (Halliday) to become an informant for Mayday.
Is June in 'The Testaments?'
In an exciting surprise, Elisabeth Moss reprises her role as June in The Testaments, despite being tight-lipped about whether she would appear on the show, in addition to her role as an executive producer.
When we last saw June in The Handmaid's Tale, she was actively working with Mayday, in hopes of reuniting with Hannah. At the end of The Testaments's first episode, she's still taking refuge in Canada. A brief shot reveals her hanging out at the store owned by Daisy's parents, and Daisy briefly passes her by.
By the third episode, June is heavily featured, as she convinces Daisy to go undercover in Gilead. Her presence is felt even off-screen throughout the season.
Miller told Deadline why it made sense for June to return to The Testaments. "I think in some ways, June is such an anchor for the character of Agnes that I don’t think you could have the story without June, even if there was no Handmaid’s Tale," he told the outlet. "Elisabeth Moss has been our creative partner since the very, very beginning, and in every way. So I think that having her as an executive producer, you feel the presence of June all the time. Fortunately, we were able to move our schedules around and do everything that we could to get her into the show a little."
He added, "Bringing back people from Handmaid’s Tale into this world to continue their story is just such a rich pleasure...I think it’s a pleasure, but it also rounds out the world in a way that you understand how you feel about Gilead because you have June there going, ‘Oh yeah, I used to feel that way too.'"