The Testaments' Surprise Guest Weighs In: 'This Is The Handmaid's Tale World — How Could We Not Have [Spoiler] In It?'

This post contains spoilers from "The Testaments" Episodes 1-3. Proceed accordingly.

Under her eye!

Those who streamed "The Testaments" three-episode premiere Wednesday got a major, unannounced blast from the past when "The Handmaid's Tale" heroine June Osborne, played by Elisabeth Moss, showed up in Episodes 1 and 3.

Hulu's "The Testaments" is based on Margaret Atwood's 2019 sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale" and takes place in Gilead after the events of the original series. The story focuses on several characters, including a commander's daughter named Agnes (Chase Infiniti), an undercover Mayday operative named Daisy (Lucy Halliday), and Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd, returning to the role for which she won an Emmy). (Read a full premiere recap.)

Moss is an executive producer on the series, but her reprisal of June was kept under wraps until the series' debut.

"It's definitely one of those things that we really embraced, and it wasn't even that much of a conversation, like, should we or shouldn't we put June in the show," Moss tells TVLine. "It was like: We're doing 'The Testaments.' This is 'The Handmaid's Tale' world. How can we not have June in it?"

At the end of the first hour, June stands in Daisy's parents' thrift shop and smiles as she watches the teen enter. In Episode 3, she appears after Daisy's parents are murdered by Gilead operatives. June informs the traumatized teen that her parents weren't her biological parents, and that her biological parents had gotten her out of Gilead when she was a baby.

June then sets up Daisy with other Mayday operatives who will help her with the next steps of her journey, and bids her goodbye with this assurance: "You are never alone. Mayday's got you. We've always had you, from the beginning. Don't let the bastards grind you down, OK?"

Though the sequel novel is set more than a decade after the events of Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale," the television adaptation narrows that gap, which supports June's involvement, Moss adds.

"Where the resistance is at is obviously a little different than in the book, because it's not 15 years ahead," she says. ("The Testaments" time jump is roughly four years.) "So you're going to have to have June. Like, where'd she go? She's leading the resistance. Obviously, she's very active. So it would be really hard to have that part of the show without the person who is spearheading that."

"The Testaments" creator/showrunner Bruce Miller, who also ran "The Handmaid's Tale," says June's inclusion in "The Testaments" was a no-brainer. "Her story isn't finished at the end of 'Handmaid's.' There are certain things she has accomplished, and certain things she has not accomplished," he explains. "Moving forward, her story has more story to continue... I think that it would be weird not to show this other character that we know."

That said, Moss makes it clear that the sequel series' focus remains on Aunt Lydia and the girls. "June's not in the show as, 'Oh, we're gonna go and tell the June story,'" she says. "She's there to service and support the main characters of 'The Testaments.'"

"Handmaid's" wrapped production in February 2025. Moss shot her "Testaments" scenes that April.

"Quite honestly, getting to play her again, even after just a couple of months, it was dreamy," Moss says. "There's something so comforting about it."

Miller describes Moss' time in front of the camera as "magical," adding that she was surrounded by fans.

"All the young actors on this show grew up on 'Handmaid's,' and they idolize her," he says, smiling. "Just having her come and do a scene was surreal on a million levels for these girls."