How ‘The Handmaid’s Story’ Pulled Off That Stunning Finale Reunion

In case you’ve been following io9’s protection of The Handmaid’s Tale season six, you may need caught our checklist of 5 issues viewers needed to remember about season 5. There was a protracted hole between seasons, and fairly just a few high-stakes plot threads to maintain observe of.

One of many objects on that checklist was the departure of fan-favorite character, whose absence was defined away within the season 5 premiere. We questioned if maybe that individual may return in season six, and, nicely…

Sure! Alexis Bledel’s Emily, fearless fighter and famous salted caramel ice cream fan, did certainly present up for some closure in “The Handmaid’s Story,” the sequence finale episode. In season 5, we realized she’d left her spouse and son—after a hard-fought escape to security—to return to Gilead and maintain combating.

It was an abrupt finish for a personality who’d been so vital as each a pal to June (Elisabeth Moss) in addition to to the plot of The Handmaid’s Story as an entire; it’s due to Emily that we realized about Mayday. She’s the rationale why Bradley Whitford’s Commander Lawrence entered the story. Her experiences additionally illuminated the awful life for exiles within the Colonies, in addition to the genital mutilation pressured upon ladies who refused to obey Gilead’s draconian legal guidelines.

Although the character’s absence was resulting from Bledel selecting to depart the sequence, it was tempting to think about Emily would quickly pop up once more. However she was MIA all through season 5 and all of season six till the very finish. In interviews with the Hollywood Reporter, Bledel in addition to Moss and show creator Bruce Miller mentioned how they deliberate her cameo.

“We have been each thrilled that it’d work out,” Miller informed THR. “I feel she was actually excited after we talked. The one factor that was arduous was the logistics to get her up for the time we wanted … It was great to see her and [Moss] get proper again into it in any case that point.”

Moss added, “She wished to do it from the start. She didn’t want convincing in any respect. My first official scene on day one [on set] was with Alexis. So it meant quite a bit to get to work together with her once more.”

In a separate interview with THR, Bledel mentioned returning to The Handmaid’s Story was “an instantaneous sure” as a result of “it felt proper to deliver closure to Emily’s journey and supply the viewers a way of completion … I hope viewers take away to maintain hope alive when issues appear unattainable. Even when it looks like seeds you plant couldn’t presumably develop, plant seeds of hope anyway. You by no means know; they could discover a manner.”

The Handmaid’s Story finale is now streaming on Hulu.

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