Elisabeth Moss Reveals June's The Testaments Comeback Was Years in the Making

So, you know how when a 'final' season of a big show airs, the usual routine is – everyone says a tearful goodbye, the actors dash off to new gigs, and that's sort of that? The Handmaid's Tale apparently fancied a different approach. Not only did Hulu quietly plan a direct sequel, The Testaments, but the team kept one of the biggest returning-cast secrets I've seen in ages. Even though any sensible fan was screaming 'Is Elisabeth Moss coming back as June?' from the rooftops, official word stayed locked up until launch day.

With the big finale now out in the wild, Moss herself is finally free to chat about all this cloak-and-dagger. And as it turns out, her return wasn't some last-minute scramble – she knew for years she was coming back and just had to keep schtum.

All Along: Moss Knew

Moss told The Hollywood Reporter that she and showrunner Bruce Miller were miles ahead with their planning:

'We didn’t officially know how Handmaid’s was going to end from Bruce and his writers room until while we were shooting that final season. But there was an idea. I had known for years from [creator] Bruce [Miller] that June wasn’t going to get Hannah out [at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale]. I knew that’s what was going to happen. And then Margaret Atwood wrote the sequel, and Hannah didn’t get out. We were like, "Okay, cool. That’s confirmed." So I knew for a while that wasn’t going to happen.'

To translate that, the rough endgame of June's story was in place well before most fans had put the pieces together. Moss says she'd known from Bruce that June was never going to manage to rescue Hannah (her daughter) during Handmaid’s itself – and then, of course, Atwood's book The Testaments doubled down on that path.

The team had to play it painfully close to the chest – even the call sheets were kept vague to head off leaks. Apparently, the main frustration for Moss wasn’t about secret scripts or hiding in trailers – it was simply not being able to reassure fans that June's 'ending' in Handmaid's was never meant to be the real end.

'It was difficult at times to not be able to tell the fans, "Guys, it’s okay. June’s story is so not over. The Handmaid’s ending isn’t really even an ending." It was hard not to be able to share that, but I knew and Bruce knew that June’s story was not just going to continue in a way of her being in one scene [of The Testaments]. We knew that I was going to have multiple episodes, and that there was going to be an arc and a larger plan for June with The Testaments.'

How June Fits In

If you thought June might flit in for a single cameo and fade out, that’s not the way they’ve gone at all. In The Testaments, she takes on the mentor role for Daisy (Lucy Halliday), who starts out as a regular Canadian teenager and then gets swept into the world of resistance spying. At the same time, the story tracks Agnes (Chase Infiniti), a girl brought up inside Gilead. By the finale, Daisy is revealing the truth about Agnes’s mother – and in a move that’ll likely get people talking (or shouting at their TVs), the finale closes with Agnes scribbling the name 'Hannah.' Still, for all that, yet again, no mother-daughter reunion on screen.

Moss openly admits she totally gets why fans want June and Hannah to finally find each other, and she wants it herself – as long as it makes sense for the story, instead of just ticking a box.

Quick Facts: How The Testaments Unfolds

• The Testaments picks up years on from Handmaid's, after the fallout of Gilead.
• Agnes: Raised within Gilead, wrestling with the faith and control that entails.
• Daisy: A Canadian teen who gets drawn into the fight as a resistance agent.
• June (Elisabeth Moss): Central mentor figure and still fighting; appears in multiple episodes, not just a token cameo.
• The writers' room is still working out the arc for season two, so Moss couldn’t shed light on whether June’s role grows or changes – but, she says, as long as Gilead exists, don’t expect June to give up.

One small marvel: for a show with this kind of following, word of Moss's return never leaked – either from set or via the trades, which in this business is about as rare as hen’s teeth.

The bottom line is, this wasn't something cooked up at the last minute for press buzz or panic. Moss, Miller, and the key people had their eyes on the bigger picture of June’s story for a long while. For now, the actual end for June, Hannah, and Gilead is still to come – the writers are keeping that secret for a bit yet.