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, she has announced.
Speaking to Parade at the season six premiere party, Wiley said: '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.'
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When asked if she felt traumatised filming the show, Wiley, who has played Moira throughout each series of The Handmaid's Tale, 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 series, which will premiere on April 8, picks up where the fifth season, which aired two and a half years ago, left off: 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 of the series, in the sixth season of The Handmaid’s Tale, 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.'
The Handmaid's Tale season six will premiere on April 8.
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Naomi May is a seasoned culture journalist and editor with over ten years’ worth of experience in shaping stories and building digital communities. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard, where she worked across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Digital Editor at ELLE Magazine and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others. Naomi is also the host of the ELLE Collective book club.
