One of The Handmaid's Tale’s longest-standing cast members, Samira Wiley, won’t be returning for the series’ recently-announced sequel The Testaments.
Speaking to Parade at the season 6 premiere party, Wiley said, “I’m not gonna tease and say ‘maybe’ or nothing. Nope. I am done with it. I am done with the trauma. I am. I mean it. Margaret Atwood, the way she writes these characters, the depth to all of it, I feel like I have played my part and my story is done.”
When asked if she felt traumatized filming the show, Wiley, who has played Moira throughout the series, also admitted that she relied on various different techniques to separate herself from her character and the dystopia of Gilead.
“I had to learn some techniques—meditation and mindfulness and all of those things—to consciously take myself out of the world of Gilead,” she said, later adding, “I often tell people who binge-watch the show like, please take care of your mental health.”
The sixth season, which premiered on Hulu today, picks up where the fifth season left off two and a half years ago: with June and Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) aboard a refugee train heading for Alaska or Hawaii—anywhere but the inhospitable terrain of Toronto or Boston.
According to the official synopsis, in season 6, June’s “unyielding spirit and determination pull her back into the fight to take down Gilead. Luke (O.T. Fagbenle) and Moira (Samira Wiley) join the resistance. Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) tries to reform Gilead while Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) and Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) reckon with what they have wrought, and Nick (Max Minghella) faces challenging tests of character.
“This final chapter of June’s journey highlights the importance of hope, courage, solidarity, and resilience in the pursuit of justice and freedom.”
Watch The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu
