This article contains spoilers for season two of The Handmaid’s Tale.
The second season of The Handmaid’s Tale just scored an incredible 20 nominations for the 2018 Emmy Awards, including a Best Actress in a Drama Series nod for leading lady Elizabeth Moss (June/Offred) and Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Yvonne Strahovski (Serena).
Though the series is incredibly deserving of critical acclaim, there’s no denying this season was tough for viewers to sit through. In particular, the finale, titled ‘The Word’, has copped backlash from fans.
In a major ‘oh no what is she doing’ moment at the end of the episode, June chose to sacrifice her freedom and remain in Gilead in an attempt to rescue her daughter Hannah. In doing so, she made the tough decision to leave her newborn daughter Holly/Nicole with Emily (Alexis Bledel) as she escaped.
It was devastating for fans, who realise June will almost certainly be subjected to even greater pain in the next season of The Handmaid’s Tale.
However, creator and showrunner Bruce Miller has defended the heartbreaking finale, saying fans can expect to see the tides turn in season three.
“I think seeing June’s face at the end of the finale, she’s ready for a fight,” Miller says, per Deadline.
“So I think that’s where we’re going. June is not being captured and dragged back to Gilead, she’s choosing to go back with a mission to hopefully find a way to get her daughter Hannah back, but also to f**k things up in Gilead.”
Miller believes season three will display more triumphs for June, as she attempts to blow up Gilead from the inside, something she could not have done from the safety of Canada.
June is a woman on a mission heading in to season three of The Handmaid’s Tale.
Miller tells The Hollywood Reporter he’s happy people are frustrated by the finale.
“I like the fact that people are frustrated,” he says. “I was frustrated. You want her to make a different decision. I love the fact that June does things that we disagree with, that she’s driven by her emotions and her brain and her strategy and all of those things, but in different measure than we are.”
He rightfully points out that June could not have lived happily in Canada with one child still alive in Gilead.
“She spent the whole season regretting that she had to carry one child out and leave one child behind, and then as soon as she got to the point where that child in her belly was not in her belly anymore, and she could actually hand it off to another human, there’s an opportunity to go back and save the first one.”
June chose to leave her baby in the hands of Emily.
Season two of The Handmaid’s Tale is currently available to stream on SBS On Demand.
