For the past eight years, Elisabeth Moss has fronted The Handmaid's Tale as the titular handmaid, June Osbourne (Offred). 66 episodes later, the longstanding dystopian drama came to an end when the season six finale debuted on May 27, for US audiences (UK viewers will have to wait a while longer to reach the final episode).
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Now Moss is finally parting ways with a character that she has spent the majority of her thirties playing - the Californian actor recently shared the valuable life lessons that she has learned from playing such a strong willed character.
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In an interview with Variety, Moss discussed how becoming a mother to her first child in 2024 altered her approach to taking on the role of June. 'I cannot believe the difference this final season [now being a mother], and I had no idea that was going to happen. I can’t watch certain scenes. When a person used to come up to me and say, "I just had a baby, and I can’t watch the show," I had a little judgment, like, "Oh, God, get over it." Now, I totally get it. There are concepts I can’t think about; there are articles I can’t read in the news.'
Further into the interview, the actor discussed how it wasn't only being a parent that shaped her changing view of the show, but also that her move to being an executive producer and director has changed things
Ultimately, Moss said, one of the biggest changes she has seen is her newfound appreciation for portraying characters on screen. 'I have more respect for acting than I did before,' she explained.
'When I first started directing, I was very much like, I’m going to be a visual person. The first thing I learned on my first episode is that the performance is the only thing that matters. I love acting so much, but I don’t overthink it; frankly, I don’t put a lot of thinking into it at all. It’s very important to me, but it’s not serious. So, realising that nothing mattered except the performance was a revelation for me.'
While Moss may have made her exit as June in The Handmaid's Tale in what was a fairly bittersweet ending, all roads lead to her character's potential revival in the upcoming sequel, The Testaments, where viewers may see June continue to fight against the Gileadean regime.
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