The Testaments executive producer on decision to bring back June: 'We were very careful'

Ahead of The Testaments, it was confirmed Elisabeth Moss would return for The Handmaid's Tale sequel as an executive producer, but there was no word on whether we'd be reunited with June Osborne herself.

When we last saw her at the end of season 6, she'd been working with Mayday and had returned to the Waterford house, where she pulled out a tape recorder and began to tell her story. But whether she'd appear in the follow-up series – which revolves around teenagers Agnes, the daughter of a high-ranking Gilead commander, and new arrival Daisy, from Canada, as they navigate Aunt Lydia's elite preparatory school for future wives – remained to be seen.

"I couldn't tell you if I was," Moss said recently (via Entertainment Weekly) when asked if June would be making an appearance. "It's been really cool. [Producing] means I didn't have to say goodbye to the world, which I was very happy about."

But of course it's no great surprise that the character does indeed return for The Testaments (which is one of many departures from Margaret Atwood's novel) – appearing briefly at the end of episode 1, and more prominently in episode 3, opposite Daisy.

After her parents are murdered by Gilead operatives, June takes Daisy to a safe house, where she reveals the truth about her past: she was born in Gilead, and the couple she believed were her biological parents – both part of the resistance – had adopted her after she was smuggled out.

Having June take centre stage in such a pivotal moment, rather than simply giving viewers a fleeting glimpse, was a deliberate choice – one that show creator Bruce Miller discussed in a recent interview with Radio Times.

"Well, the first thing you have to realise is 'we' decided to include her. 'We' includes Elisabeth Moss," he explained. "Elizabeth Moss has been our creative partner on this from the beginning. She was a producer on The Handmaid’s Tale, she's an executive producer on this. So it was her decision as well.

"And I think that, in a very practical, personal way, she [June] is such an important character to all of us and to Elisabeth. If there was any way to have her come back, I think we all would appreciate that. So that was part of it."

Miller also said that when he began communicating with Margaret Atwood about The Testaments, around 2018, "she talked about what the role of June would be in that world".

"And so it ended up in the book a little bit, but I was certainly thinking all the way along that The Testaments is a story told from different points of view, and those characters are connected to some of the characters in The Handmaid’s Tale," he continued.

"Although we're not in any way trying to do season 7 of The Handmaid's Tale, they get a little fun out of it – the overarching idea that there's a June out there for all of us, someone watching out for us, is comforting in a world like The Testaments."

But their desire to bring June back was as much about serving the story as it was about meeting their own needs, with executive producer Warren Littlefield describing Moss as "our crack – we are addicted to her".

"But we also understood that we had to have something new in The Testaments that could stand on its own," he explained. "And so we were very careful, as Bruce said, in collaboration with Lizzie – do we want a little June? We want a taste of June, but The Testaments must stand on its own.

"So we were mindful not to go there too often, but to take advantage of that presence, that backstory, what she means to this world. In many ways, this is us letting go, but as a partner."

"Slowly and poorly," laughed Miller.

"Yeah – but as a producing partner, we got a lot of Lizzie," added Littlefield, while Miller emphasised that she's "as much a partner on this show as we are".

Read more:

• The Testaments exec producer reveals they can't always give fans what they want
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"Which is very helpful, especially considering she's not just an actor who originated one of the roles a long time ago," he said.

"She's been a director on this show and kind of stamping the visual style since the third or fourth season, so it's undeniable that she's at the centre of it… she's our show."

Having Moss on hand was also the "biggest, biggest help... because she's an encyclopaedia for everything Gilead," said Chase Infiniti, who plays Agnes, the daughter of a high-ranking commander who attends Aunt Lydia's academy for future wives.

"And so trust we made use of that resource," she continued. "We would ask her so many questions, so she made herself so readily available to all of the girls in in the show and even especially the two of us [Lucy Halliday, who plays Daisy, a convert from Canada who is enrolled at Aunt Lydia's school].

"We felt very grateful to even have her be there for us."

Halliday described Moss's presence as "reassuring... because she is emblematic of The Handmaid’s Tale".

"For us stepping into this world, we don't want to screw up what has already been loved. So to have Elizabeth Moss essentially giving us a thumbs up and being like, 'Okay, you've got this,' was really reassuring.

"Like, 'Okay, we know what we're doing, and we've been approved by the God of The Handmaid’s Tale.'"

The Testaments is out now on Disney+ in the UK.

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