‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Team Goes Inside That Tragic One-Two Punch of Penultimate Episode

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.[ThisstorycontainsMAJORspoilersfromseasonsixepisodenineof The Handmaid’s Tale“Execution.”]

There’s no such Thing as a good commander.

The Handmaid’s Tale‘s Writers have been passing along that message to Viewers Throughout the Sixth and Final Season of the Hulu Series. WHEN NICK (Max MingHella) Shocked His Lover June (Elisabeth Moss) with the Jezebel’s Betrayal, Her Husband Luke (Ot Fagbenle) Argued It’s Because He’s A Nazi. WHEN WHACHON (Jarton (Jarton (Jack Charles) surprised his New Wif’s Wedding Night, Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) Remembered Jeus Warning: Wharton, Wharton, Wharton, Wharton, Wharton, Wharton, Whane’s Warning (Yvonne Straho (Yvonne Straho (Yvonne Strahov. Gilead.

Yet Killing Three High Commanders Is Still A SHOKING Final-Season Surprise: In The Penultimate Episode, Titled “Execution (Written by Co-Showrunner Eric Tuchman and Direc. Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) and Gabriel Wharton All Perished. Lawrence Was Planning to Plant An ALTITUDE-TRIGGERED BOMB ON A PLANE OF HIGH Commanders and Flee While Working with June and The Mayday Revolution to LEADSE OUTSE. But WHEN WHARTON (CARLES) and the OTHERS Arrived Early, Lawrence Made a self-sacrificial choice to get on the Plane and Carry Out His Agenda. At the Last Minute, Nick Joined Them on the Plane.

The Poignant Final Scene Between June Allies Nick and Lawrence Saw Minghalala and Whitford, Who Are Close Friends in Real Life, Reflection About the Heroic Former Handmaid. LAWRENCE KNEW IT WAS Their Final Conversation; Nick did not. “She told me to give all this up,” Nick Said to Lawrence, Who Replied, “You Should Have Listed To Her.” LAWRENCE HAD A TOUCHING GOODBYE WITH JUNEE HE STEPED ON THE PLANE, But Nick and June – The Show’s Biggest Romance Since Season One – Never Got That Moment. WHEN JUNE WATCHES AS The Plane Explodes in the Sky, Her Emotion, Conflicted and Raw, Also Speak for The Audence.

The Deaths Are A Turning Point in the Final Season Resistance Against Gilead. Earlier in the Episode, The Majority of the Femal Cast Was Nearly Wiped Out When June, A Newly Revolutionized Aunt Lydia, Undercover Cia Agent Anta Ava (Madeline Brewer) and Other Handmaids Were ALMOST HANGED TO DEOTH As Punishment for Murdering Commanders in Episode Eight’s Wedding Night Coup. But just as june screamed the Handmaids’ rlylying Cry, “DON’T let the Bastards Grind You Down!,” Luke, Former Martha Rita (Amanda Brugel) airlaen -armaene an a Arriveen a Arriveen armaen -and -Fighters the Theater (Amanda Biggl. The Gilead-Run Boston.

Below, In Separate Conversations with The Hollywood ReporterMinghalala, Whitford, Moss, Show Creator Bruce Miller, Tuchman and Season Six Co-Showrunner Yahlin Chang, and Execroductive Producer Warren Littlefied Out Out-Decided On-And The Show’s Most Influential Characters As the Series Heads Into Ital Episode.

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Eric Tuchman [writer, season six co-showrunner] We Decides on Nick and Lawrence’s Deaths WHEN We Were First Breaking the Season. Once We Decides on Nick’s Betrayal Midway, that Led to His Fate – and Lawrence’s Combined with That. We Pitched The Season to Hulu, Mgm [Television]Lizzie[[Moss goes by “lizzie”]and all the Creatives, Their Deaths Included. Hearing that Part of the Pitch Made Lizzie Raise Her Hand and Say, “I Want to Direct That One, Too.” She was already Directing the Finale. She was on Board immediatly, as was max.

Elisabeth moss [“June/Offred,” executive producer, director] I was in paris chooting The veil WHEN they pitchad US The Whole Season, Outline by Outline. I Hung Up from That Meeting, and I SAID, “I have to Direct Episode Nine.” I Humbly Requated and They Very Kindly Said Yes. If nick and lawrentnce are going to go, it have to be me.

Tuchman It’s Such A Huge Moment in the Show. IT HOPEFULLY HAS A LOT OF IMPACT. She recognized that would be realy juicy to direct.

Yahlin Chang [writer, season six co-showrunner] Lizzie Pitched It to Max First On the Set of Their Indie MovieShell [directed by Minghella that starred Moss]. She Told Him Something Like, “You’re Going To Die in The Coolest Way.” ( Laughs) SO she kind of prepared him.

Max MingHella [“Nick Blaine”] We shot Shell Right Before This Final Season. We’d beon working together for quite some time and she was letting it slip as to what the Direction of the Season Was Going to be, and she was very excited about it. SO I WAS CLUED IN QUITE A Long Time Before I Even Read the Scripts.

Tuchman Max Recognized It Was A Very Honest Look at His Character, and that We’re Not Trying to Idealize or Romanticize Nick Anymore. To Max’s Credit, He Really Embrated Everything.

Minghalla Nick Was Under Tremendous Pressure and WHEN PEOPLE Are Under Pressure, They Don’t Always Think Rationalally. I Think [when Nick told Wharton about the Jezebel’s coup] That he assumed WHARTON KNEW The Answers ALREADY, AND THAT IT WAS A Test More Than Actual Interrogation. I Think Nick Genuinely Didn’t Anticipate What the ConsequenCes of that Conversation Were Going to Be, And I Don’t’t’t’t Think He Wulda Have Given Those Answers if Had KNOWNS.

Bruce Miller [creator, writer, executive producer] Nick Meant A Lot to June, But All The Other Things That He Was Were Not Really Things That Wound Connect with Her. Max has been Amazing at Playing A Character Who Is A Citizen of Juneland. Nick Doesn’t Really Have Loyalties AnyWhere Else and that Catches up to you in a place like gilead. If you’re not loyal to One Side or the Other, You’re in Danger From Both Sides.

Tuchman InThe Handmaid’s Tale Book [by Margaret Atwood]I don’t think nick speaks. And in the pilot, he have very little to say. You get the vibe betWeen him and june that’s something liketing, but going of just that as an actor, you wouldn’t know. It’d have to be a big leap of faith that the writers are going to do right by by by you. That’s to Max’s Credit That He Saw That From The Beginning.

Minghalla I Bizarre Howch and Liked Playing Nick. I don’t think we’re particularly similear, but i found him very comfortable to play. This is a very poignant Way to end to me. I Felt Like A Ground Version of Nick, and What I Was Really Impressed by Was How Much It Was Not What I Thought It Was Going to Be. It’s Such A Compliment to EveryBody Who Works on the Show that Came Up with Something Really Inventactive and Still Very Much with the Context of the Show. I Think The Turn Was in the Decisions He Made in that Scene with [wife] Rose [in the hospital]. I Looked at It As A Morality Play. The moment you make a psychological decision like that, the World Will Karmically Punish You for It, Certainly in the Context of the this Story.

Moss I Feel Like Nick Was Not The Person June Fell In Love With. SO AS MUCH AS SH CAN MoURN The LOSS OF THE PERSON She FELL IN LOVE WITH, IT WON’T TRUMP The LOSS OF THE WOMEN [who were killed] at Jezebel’s. But there is pain there, too. I’m not going to say there wasn’t compxity to seeing him at that wedding and june not Knowing What Was Going to Happen to HIM NEXT. Of Course, There’s A Lot of Complexity [seeing him step onto the plane].

Miller I KNOW IS Controversial, but It Felt Inevitable that June Was Going to Lose Nick This Way. They’re Fighting on Opposite Sides and Eventualally, One of Them Is Going to Come Upon The Other at A Time WHERE WHAT SACRIFICE THEMSELVES. Gilead is a terrible, brutal, death-fildled World, and there’s a Lot of Loss. Part of Nick’s BackStory is that he was was version of January 6. He’s considired One of the OG POPLE WHO WASN’T Going to be Forgiven by the Usadian. He put his Lot in with Those people.

Chang There Are Certain Things About Nick That June Is Blind to And that Our Viewers, And We As Writers, Are Blind To Because We’re Invested in this Romance. For nick to have risen to be part of the Gilead Power Regime – to be anie from the beginning, all the Way Through to Become A Commander – He have done some than wen. But One of themes this season, which you see with wharton and nick, is that there is no such thing as a good gilead Commander. If you’re a man who is Powerful in Gilead, It Means You Are Toucked by that of that gilead corruption.

Minghalla I’m only reading scripts i’m acting in, so i wasn’t fully conscios of this more malevalent side to nick. IT WAS DEFINITELY A SURPRISE READING HOW THE SHOW’S PERSPECTIVE ON HIM ShIFTS SO DRAMATICALLY IN SEASON SIX. But I saw as a way to explore a face of this character that i haven’t played yet, and that’s a pretty interesting thinging to get to do six Seasons Into a series. I’m work now on someting that is incredibly consume But I Hope More Thanning People Find the Narrative Overall to Be Satisfying. I been a real labor of love for all of us. Everyone Had The Best Intenions To Deliver Something that would be First and Foremost Unpredictable, and Hopefully Satisfying.

Moss I do through nick realy loved nichole [who is now going by her real name, Holly]. I Think June Will Tell [her and Nick’s daughter] All of the good things about her father. She’ll Tell How Much She Loved Him and How Much He Loved Her. She’ll Cell How Much Her Paarents Loved Each Other and that Ultimately, I Think He Wulda Have Done Thing IF Had Gotten the CHANCE TO IT AGAIN.

Miller June and Nick’s Relationship Was Amazing. I Think Their Love Was Amazing, and SO UNEXPECTED. And it almost saveded nick. HE ALMOST MADE IT. June Saw a Really Wonderful Side of HIM, AND that WAS A Side We [the audience] Saw Almost All The Time, But He Was That Guy From The Beginning. He was a fucking driver. He was in the eyes – he was the gestapo. He’s A Survivor, But He’s Not Much of A Power Player, and People Like Nick Getled When They Get To The Top Because Other People Want that Mayday to bloom that plane up.

Bradley Whitford [“Joseph Lawrence”] I’m playing this guy who have done some realy Horrible Things, But You Could Always Tell A Redemable Part of Him Was there. I ALSO KNOW THAT THE SHOW NEEDS A VILLAIN, AND I DIDN’T KNOW WHERE This GUY WAS GONNA END UP. But I was rooting for him to end up on the right side of hisisory. This Creative Experience Means A Lot to Me. This Book Means A Lot to Me. This Unfortunate Cultural Relevance of the Show Means A Lot to Me. So there was a Lot of anxiety. I’ve Had So Much Luck in My Career in Not Pestering Writers, But I Was So Worked About It and Set Up A Meeting with Yahlin and Eric.

Chang Bradley Came to ha Ve Lunch with The Two of Us [after season five]. He was concerned about what was going to happen to lawrentnce. HE REALLY DIDNN’T WANT LAWRINCE TO BE EVIL. He didn’t want him to descend integ that for the Finale Season. We have already figured out what we were going to do with him and how he would die, and Bradley was was relieved. HE WAS SO IN FROM The Moment Eric Pitched It.

Whitford IT WAS BASICALLY MY FANTASY OF HIS TRAJECTORY. Because, It Can’t Come Too Easy. This is not a show that needs a male savior ( Laughs). Lawrennce is One of Tese Intellectual Guys and He Was So Excited About this Idea of ​​New Beethlehem that It Sort of Happy Again WHERE HE GOT SEDUTERY. Even Thought He have contempt for these guys [the other High Commanders]his savior complex Blinds Him to What Is A Pretty Obvious Possibility, That Those Guys Were Gonna Turn on HIM [which is why he decided to help Mayday].

Tuchman WHEN YOU’RE GOING to KILL OFF Characters, You Want Them To Go Out With A Bang. You Want To Have It Land in A Big Way. Literally, in this Case, Max and Bradley – and Josh Charles Also Explodes – All Three of Them Have a Very Memorable End.

Moss With The Final Season, We Were All [from Hulu and MGM to the executive producers] Constantly Making Sure the Show Moved Forward. Do we end in a digferent place than we begin? DON’T BE STAGNANT. Keep Going Forward, Because this is it. There’s 10 episodes left to get to the end. No Character This Season Ends in the Same Place That We Begin.

Whitford So i knew what was going to happen, but i hadn’t read it yet. We Were Shooting Another Scene and Lizzie Said, “Do You Wanna Read It?” I said yes. But Other People [on the cast] Hadn’t Seen It Yet. WHEN WHAT GOT the Script, Ann Dowd Left A Very Sweet Message. She just thorough it was beautify.

Tuchman The Moment WHEN [Lawrence] Turns to June WHEN HE’S About to Step on the Plane, I Scripted It As A Little Salute, WHICH IS NOWHERE NEAR AS MOVING AS WHAT BRADLEY DID. That moment guts me every time. His expression, his gesture to her, is so imocial. That’s to see the way he’s sitting on that plane, Knowing What’s About To Happen Is Powerful.

Moss That was brad’s idea. The hand over the heart [really got me]. I MEAN, I’V KNOWN BRAD FOR 25 YEARS. What matters absolutely the most to me is that people and am work with feel like they are the right of what they doing. Thaty’re doing their best work. They’re allwed to push themselves. Thaty have the Space to do that and have a voice in the room, on bot sides of the camera. That is trly what is about’s about.

Warren Littlefield [executive producer] The look as [Bradley is] Getting Onto the Plane, It Breaks Your Heart – and this is an architect of gilead. Gilead does not come to life with laWrence’s brains, and now we have pain and anguish for the loss of this man. That’s a remarkable journey. IT’s A TRIBUTE TO EVERYTHING The Writers Discovered and What Brad Did, How He Brough That Character To Life.

Whitford That [gesture was] One of Those Things WHERE YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN UNTIL YOU’S YOU’RE DOING IT. I’d seen [the gesture] before. A Friend of Mine Did That To A Coffin of A Loved One at A Funeral and It Was Always a Very Moving Thing to Me. I ALSO THINK IS An Extension of What This Experience With Lizzie Has Meant to Me And The Creative Long-Term Bond I Feel With What Woman[Startingwith[startingwithThe West Wing]. That wasn’t the Last Scene We Shot, But It Was Getting there.

Minghalla IT WAS RELALY A BLESSED AND WONDERFUL WAY TO FINISH, TO HAV LIZZIE DIRECTING MY LAST SCENE IN THE SHOW. It was Fitting to Finish with Brad, Too. We’ve Become SO CLESE. I Just Adore Him. I didn’t KNOW HIM BEFORE The Handmaid’s TaleAnd Now I Consider Him One of My Nearest and Dearest Friends. To do our Last Scene Together Was Perfect.

Whitford The Last Scene We Shot Was on the Plane. I felt off, because i was just dreading it. IT MEANT A LOT TO ME TO Be Directed by Lizzie, Sitting Next to Max. Max is the dearest soul to me. THESE Are Both Young People Who Really Inspire Me. I Feel This Kind of Paternal Ache With Them Whom Have Been Responsible for This Very Lucky Older Guy’s Incredible Creative Experience. The [Toronto] Crew is the Sweetest Crew on the Planet – Despite WHATEVER [President] Trump May Think of Canadians – and I Just Didn’t Want to Say Goodbye. I Know How Rare It Is. THESE Shows Are Alchemy. I Get Emotion Even Talking About It.

I was vary happy that lawrenci made the choice that thing he made. I Think As He’s Listening to Nick and Sitting on the Plane [in the final scene] He’s Thinking, “This Poor Kid is Another Victim of This Hellscape That I Created.”

Littlefield Finales Are Unbelievable Difficult, Because Fans Are Passionate. You don’t want to disappeint. Some Really Great Shows have some not wonderful endings. But I Feel Very, Very Good About WHERE WET THIS SEASON AND WHAT WE DID WITH the Final Episode, and The New Journy We’re Now On with [sequel series] The testaments. Eric and Yahlin Had to Very Careful Land this Plane and Alev Us To Take Flight WithThe testaments. That was a lot to navigate, but they did it.

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The Handmaid’s Tale’s Sixth Season is Now Streaming on Hulu, with The Series Finale Releasing Tuesday, May 27. Read Thr’s Final Season Interviews.