Is Elisabeth Moss in ‘The Testaments’? ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ connection explained.

Clare Mulroy, USA TODAYWed, April 8, 2026 at 5:00 PM UTC

0

Reader beware: This story contains spoilers for the first three episodes of "The Testaments" and the book by Margaret Atwood.

Fans did not see the fall of Gilead in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” but at least they’re getting more closure now.

Based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale” closed out six seasons with June (Elisabeth Moss) freed and vowing to continue her fight against the oppressive regime. But in 2019, while the show was still airing, Atwood wrote a new novel called “The Testaments.”

Now adapted for a Hulu series, “The Testaments” is set 15 years after “The Handmaid’s Tale” as Gilead begins to rot from within. Ann Dowd reprises her role as the hardened Aunt Lydia, who pairs two teenagers, Agnes (Chase Infiniti) and Daisy (Lucy Halliday), in a friendship that will change the course of history.

Also making a surprise appearance in the new series? Moss.

Lucy Halliday plays Daisy, a new Pearl Girl who comes to Gilead from Toronto.Is Elisabeth Moss in ‘The Testaments’?

At the end of the first episode of “The Testaments,” viewers are treated to a familiar blond bob in one of Daisy's flashbacks. As the camera pans, the woman is revealed to be June, keeping a watchful, if discreet, eye on Daisy. June is in Canada now. She plays a bigger role in the next two episodes as one of the Mayday operatives fighting to bring Gilead down and protect Daisy.

Daisy is first introduced in present-day Gilead as a Pearl Girl, a new recruit from an outside country. Flashbacks show Daisy’s parents, Melanie and Neil, killed in an attack by undercover Gilead agents. Daisy is taken to a hospital and questioned by what she believes is social services, only for June to swoop in and sneak her out. She evades Daisy’s questions about her identity, only sharing that she was a friend of her parents.

Later, at a diner, June reveals that Melanie and Neil aren’t Daisy’s actual parents and that Daisy was born in Gilead and smuggled out. Gilead has been desperately searching for her since. Mayday gave her to Melanie and Neil to hide her identity. A tearful June recounts the night Mayday dropped Daisy off at Melanie and Neil's, assuring her, “You were theirs in all the ways that mattered.”

Is June in ‘The Testaments’ book?

June does not appear in “The Testaments,” though there are many references to her in Atwood’s book.

Advertisement

Between the book and the show, June canonically has two daughters – one she had before Gilead with her husband, and one she conceives while she’s a Handmaid.

In the Hulu show, these daughters were named and given more of a backstory. Hannah is June’s pre-Gilead daughter with her husband Luke (O-T Fagbenle), taken from them when the country turned. In Season 2 of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” June visits her daughter at her new household and discovers she’s been renamed Agnes. She later gives birth to another daughter, Holly, whom Commander Fred Waterford and his wife Serena Joy rename Nichole. June enlists her friend Emily, another Handmaid, to smuggle Holly out of Gilead.

In the halls of Aunt Lydia's premarital preparatory academy, the finest in Gilead, Agnes is assigned to mentor a new Pearl Girl, and a fragile alliance begins.

“The Testaments” book builds off of this. Readers discover the “lost” baby – spelled Nicole in the book – is a venerated figure. Gilead residents pray for her eventual return. Her framed photograph is a symbol for the fight against Mayday.

The show may make it clear, but “The Testaments” book does everything but explicitly confirm that June is the mother of Nicole and Agnes.

Toward the end of the book, a historian is quoted as saying: “Who was the mother of these two half-sisters? We know there was a fugitive Handmaid who was an active field agent with Mayday for some years. … We have not definitively excluded this individual as the author of the ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ tapes found in the footlocker; and, according to that narrative, this individual had at least two children. But jumping to conclusions can lead us astray, so I depend on future scholars to examine the matter more closely, if possible.”

The Hulu show has already made big changes to the plot, including the timeline and characters. Time will tell whether Moss' June will clarify further in future episodes.

Biggest book-to-screen adaptations: 2026 includes 'Project Hail Mary,' 'Verity' and more

Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you’re reading at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is Elisabeth Moss in ‘The Testaments’? June's connection explained.

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”