It’s hard to remember a time before Elisabeth Moss was June Osborne. Honestly, try it. Before the red cloaks and the soul-crushing close-ups became a staple of Hulu’s streaming dominance, she was the secretary-turned-copywriter on Mad Men. But since 2017, the cast of The Handmaid's Tale has redefined what it means to be an ensemble in a prestige drama. They don't just act; they endure. As we crawl toward the sixth and final season—delayed by strikes, scheduling nightmares, and the sheer weight of its own production—the landscape of Gilead has changed. Some faces are gone. Some are unrecognizable. Others are just waiting for the axe to drop.
You’ve probably noticed how the show shifted. It started as a literal adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, but it morphed into this sprawling, messy, deeply polarizing exploration of trauma and power. The actors have had to carry that weight.
The Pillars: Elisabeth Moss and the Burden of June
Elisabeth Moss isn't just the lead. She’s the engine. By now, her face is basically a map of Gilead’s sins. People joke about the "June Stare"—those extreme, uncomfortable close-ups where she looks directly into your soul—but it’s become the show’s visual language. Moss also directs now. She’s transitioned from a performer into a sort of guardian of the show’s brutalist aesthetic.
Her performance has changed significantly. In Season 1, June was a victim trying to survive. By Season 5, she’s a radicalized war criminal living in a Toronto basement. It’s a polarizing arc. Some fans find her "plot armor" frustrating—how many times can one person escape a firing squad?—but Moss keeps it grounded in a way few others could. She portrays June not as a superhero, but as a deeply damaged woman who has forgotten how to be anything other than a soldier.
Then there’s Yvonne Strahovski. If Moss is the engine, Strahovski’s Serena Joy Waterford is the friction.
It is genuinely impressive how Strahovski makes you pity a woman who helped build a fascist regime. Serena is arguably the most complex character on television. She’s a villain, a mother, a victim of the very system she designed, and a survivor. The chemistry between Moss and Strahovski is the real heart of the show. It’s not a friendship; it’s a symbiotic haunting. When they were stuck in that barn together in Season 5, it felt like the series finally admitted that these two women are two sides of the same coin.
The Defectors and the Departed
We have to talk about Alexis Bledel.
Her departure as Emily (Ofglen) was a shock. One day she was a series regular, and the next, a brief line of dialogue explained she’d gone back into Gilead to fight. It felt hollow. Bledel won an Emmy for her work in Season 1, specifically for that haunting scene in the van. Her absence left a hole in the cast of The Handmaid's Tale that the writers struggled to fill. Emily represented the intellectual cost of Gilead—the scientist stripped of her life and forced into the colonies.
And then there’s Joseph Fiennes.
Fred Waterford’s death at the end of Season 4 was the catharsis the audience needed, but it changed the show's chemistry. Fiennes played Fred with a specific kind of "mediocre man" evil. He wasn't a mustache-twirling villain; he was a weak man who liked the feeling of power. Without him, the show lost its primary personification of the Patriarchy, forcing the narrative to look inward at the women left behind.
The Survival of Aunt Lydia and Janine
Ann Dowd is a force of nature. Period.
Her portrayal of Aunt Lydia Clements is a masterclass in cognitive dissonance. She beats these women, she loves them, she terrorizes them, and she believes she is saving them. Interestingly, Dowd is the bridge to the future. If you’ve read Atwood’s sequel, The Testaments, you know Lydia’s story doesn't end here. The show has slowly been planting the seeds for Lydia’s "redemption"—or at least her pivot—by showing her growing distaste for the more sadistic Commanders like Lawrence.
Janine, played by Madeline Brewer, remains the show’s moral compass. Or maybe its punching bag.
It’s actually hard to watch Janine sometimes. She’s lost an eye, a child, and her sanity, yet she retains this fragile, heartbreaking optimism. Brewer’s performance is often overshadowed by the "big" scenes from Moss or Strahovski, but she provides the necessary vulnerability that reminds us why Gilead is so horrifying. It’s not just the hangings; it’s the breaking of people like Janine.
The Men of the North: Max Minghella and O-T Fagbenle
The "Team Nick" vs. "Team Luke" debate is sort of the Twilight of the dystopian world.
Max Minghella plays Nick Blaine with such intense stillness that you sometimes forget he’s there until he moves the entire plot forward with a whisper. He’s the "Eye" who fell in love, the soldier for Gilead who is secretly a double agent for June. His role has become increasingly isolated. He’s stuck in the belly of the beast, married to a girl he doesn't love, trying to protect a woman who is hundreds of miles away.
O-T Fagbenle’s Luke Bankole has a much harder job.
He has to play the "normal" person. While June was being tortured and leadings revolutions, Luke was in Canada, doing paperwork and raising a baby that wasn't his. Fans are often hard on Luke because he isn't "action-oriented" enough, but Fagbenle plays the frustration of helplessness perfectly. Season 5 finally gave him some teeth, especially in those final moments on the train platform.
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New Blood and the Changing Guard
Bradley Whitford as Commander Lawrence was the best thing to happen to the cast of The Handmaid's Tale in later seasons.
He brought a snarky, nihilistic energy that the show desperately needed to break up the misery. Lawrence is the architect who realized his house was built on a graveyard and decided to just stay inside and drink scotch. He’s neither a hero nor a villain, which makes him the most realistic person in the room. He’s a man who values logic over morality, and Whitford plays that ambiguity with a terrifying charm.
We also saw the rise of Genevieve Angelson as Mrs. Wheeler in the Toronto arc. She represented a new kind of threat: the "Gilead fan-girl." It was a chilling look at how the ideology of the Red Center could spread beyond the borders, proving that you don't need a Wall to build a prison.
Supporting Players Who Make the World Real
- Samira Wiley (Moira): She’s been underutilized lately, which is a shame. Moira is the grounding force for the refugees. Her journey from the "Jezebels" club to a social worker in Canada is the most successful recovery arc in the show.
- Amanda Brugel (Rita): Every time Rita is on screen, you feel the weight of what she saw in the Waterford house. She’s the observer.
- Ever Carradine (Naomi Putnam/Lydia’s foil): Her transition from a grieving widow to Lawrence’s new wife is a grim reminder of how women in Gilead must constantly trade their autonomy for safety.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Cast
There is a common misconception that the actors are as miserable as their characters. Actually, the behind-the-scenes footage usually shows the opposite. Moss and Dowd are known for being incredibly lighthearted between takes. You have to be. You can't live in that headspace 12 hours a day without some kind of release valve.
Another mistake? Thinking the cast is "done" with the story. While many shows fizzle out by Season 6, the core group—Moss, Strahovski, Dowd, and Whitford—have stayed deeply invested in the creative direction. They aren't just showing up for a paycheck; they are trying to stick the landing on a story that has become a cultural touchstone.
The Reality of Season 6
So, what’s next?
The final season has to resolve the June and Serena saga. They are currently on a train to nowhere together. It’s the ultimate "odd couple" setup, but with much higher stakes and more potential for murder. We know that The Testaments is in development, which means Aunt Lydia is safe. We also know that the "New Gilead" is rising, and characters like Lawrence are likely to face the consequences of trying to "reform" a monster.
Expect to see more of the younger cast. Hannah (Agnes), played by Jordana Blake, is no longer a little girl. She’s becoming a woman in Gilead, and her perspective will likely be the bridge to the spin-off series.
Moving Forward: How to Revisit the Story
If you’re looking to prep for the final season, don't just re-watch the show. The cast of The Handmaid's Tale brings more nuance when you understand the context of their performances.
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- Read The Testaments: It changes how you view Ann Dowd’s performance as Lydia. You start seeing the "double game" she’s playing much earlier than the scripts explicitly state.
- Watch the Interviews: Elisabeth Moss has done several deep dives into her directorial process for Season 4 and 5. It explains why the show looks the way it does—those long, lingering shots are intentional choices to mimic the feeling of being trapped.
- Follow the Newcomers: Keep an eye on the smaller roles in the Toronto scenes. The show is pivoting toward the idea that "Gilead is within you," and the performances of the Canadian supporters are key to that shift.
The show has never been easy to watch. It’s brutal, it’s slow, and it’s often infuriating. But the cast has remained remarkably consistent in their excellence. Whether you love June or you’re tired of her, you can’t deny that Elisabeth Moss and her cohorts have created one of the most vivid, terrifying worlds in television history. We’re almost at the end of the road. Let's see who makes it out alive.