The saga of June Osborne (Elizabeth Moss) ostensibly concluded at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale season 6. Over the course of the show, we were given a front row seat as she went from imprisoned Handmaid to rebellion leader and back again, culminating in an explosive finale. June lived on, but her transformation from the traumatized woman we first met into a guerrilla fighter in her own right was complete.
[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for The Testaments episode 3.]
So, what the heck is she doing popping up in The Testaments? After a surprise cameo at the end of the first episode, June is once more a major player, albeit a distant one. All we know has been told to us via Daisy’s flashbacks to her life in Canada in Episode 3. This begs the question, what exactly has June been up to since The Handmaid’s Tale wrapped?
In many ways, The Handmaid’s Tale is really June’s tale. The original series began with the forced transition from a free woman to her new role as an oppressed Handmaid. It was through her eyes that we watched the excruciating slide into the fascist Gileadean state via flashbacks, and it was June who ultimately rose up to lead a movement of rebellion.
Meanwhile in Canada
The Season 6 finale gave the long-suffering June a moment of triumph; Gilead’s flags are burning in bonfires, Boston has been reclaimed by rebel forces, and the fascist leadership is mostly dead after a brave sacrifice by Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford). Tragically choosing to leave her daughter Nichole with her own mother, Holly, June vowed to continue the fight until all women are safe from Gilead. Urged by her mother and her on-again, off-again partner, Luke Bankole (O-T Fagbenle), June opts to tell her story in her own words, hoping to inspire others to fight back. The final episode concludes with her introducing herself by her Handmaid name, Offred, and reciting the first lines of the novel, describing her dystopian reality with removed, agonizing detail.
The Testaments has shifted its focus to a young woman, Agnes, who has never truly known a life outside of Gilead’s walls. Unbeknownst to Agnes, her birth name is Hannah Bankole, and she is the daughter of June and Luke. While June’s life was actively torn away from her, Agnes came of age completely indoctrinated by the propaganda of the regime. This gives a new angle to this well-worn story, offering a timely extension of the cautionary vision behind the original series. With the rebellious infiltrator Daisy (hinted to be June’s other daughter, Nichole) arriving to shake things up, Agnes’s journey back to her mother’s side seems to be already in motion.
The Resistance rages on
Still, if it’s true that June is still fighting the good fight, plenty of people in Gilead are still fighting the bad one. In Episode 3, we learn that June has remained active since The Handmaid’s Tale wrapped. Details are vague, but, via flashbacks told through Daisy’s eyes, she arrives to smuggle Daisy to safety when Gileadean agents kill her adoptive parents. Now, Daisy is undercover deep in the heart of Gilead, and is making a strong attempt to intertwine her life with that of Agnes. To what end? We’re not sure, but it seems pretty clear that this whole scenario has June’s name written all over it.
June has not yet been seen in the series’ present timeline, so all we know of her current whereabouts is told via Daisy’s third-party memories. We know that her words, “Don’t let the bastards grind you down,” have become a popular slogan for the resistance, with a radio announcer closing his spiel with the line and June herself repeating it to others. First uttered when she had a rope around her neck and was seconds away from being publicly hung in Episode 9 of Season 6, this rallying cry has taken on a life of its own in the world of Gilead. This gives the suggestion that, while Gilead appears to be slowly crumbling from within, the resistance is stronger than ever, and June remains a force to be reckoned with.
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