‘Testament’ boss talks about casting Stephen Colbert and Chase Infinity

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for the first three episodes of “Testament,” now available on Hulu.

Bruce Miller dives back into the world of Gilead. And he has an old friend with him.

Miller, the Emmy Award-winning creator of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” now plays the same role on “The Testaments,” following a very different corner of Margaret Atwood’s theocratic world. But as the first three episodes of the series make clear, even though we’re no longer following the Handmaids, Rebel June, played by Elisabeth Moss, remains central to the case, helping bring down another corner of the regime as a Mayday spy.

“The Testes” is a television spin-off based on a literary spin-off. After Miller’s The Handmaid’s Tale debuted on Hulu in 2017, Atwood, the author of the original 1985 novel, knew she wanted to continue her story. Her books and series center around three characters in Gilead’s education system. Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd), once a domineering figure in the lives of the kidnapped sex slaves known as the Handmaids, now heads a school for “Plums,” the teenage daughters of Gilead’s elite. Among these teens is Agnes (Chase Infinity from One Battle After Another), who was raised to be a true believer in the teachings of Gilead from the time she was rehomed as a child. However, she is plagued by growing doubts and questions about her mother’s true identity. (Summary hints point us to the conclusion that Agnes is actually June’s missing daughter Hannah, captured, renamed, and indoctrinated.) Then, entering the compound as a double agent is Daisy (Lucy Halliday), a Canadian who poses as a refugee to Gilead in order to destroy it from within.

While the early episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale focused on June’s frustration, confusion, and anger, Testaments splits that attention between these three characters, but still leaves room for some of that old anger to play out in June’s cameos in the first and third episodes. Miller spoke at length about the three-episode premiere, including the decision to bring back June, Aunt Lydia’s evolving loyalties, and how producing a “Handmaids” spinoff in an once again turbulent political climate colored the storytelling.

Last year, I was lucky enough to interview Elisabeth Moss before the finale of The Handmaid’s Tale. I was watching the final episode and we talked about how our options for writing the finale were somewhat limited based on what happened in the novel “The Testes.” That means that in that timeline, June won’t be reunited with her daughter Hannah. To what extent did you feel an obligation to follow what Margaret Atwood wrote?

Since it is an adaptation, there is no obligation to follow it. The lesson I learned from “The Handmaid’s Tale” is that if you have a question about putting something in the book that you don’t really understand, you should put it in the show. That’s the most interesting thing and what I didn’t quite understand. In other words, it’s not out of loyalty to Margaret. It’s out of loyalty to the narrator behind the book. When in doubt, stay with Margaret.

So I tried very hard on The Testes to not make any changes unless necessary. Because of the timeline, we had to make some changes in terms of who was which character, and that was very difficult. (Teenage double agent) Daisy is not Nicole (June’s biological second daughter) as she is in the book, because the timing just wasn’t right.

I would like to talk about June coming back. It’s not just a one-shot cameo in the premiere – she’s there for the entire third episode. What made you decide you weren’t tired of this character?

On a very basic level, Lizzy has been my creative partner since the beginning of this process. It’s weird to do that without having her as a producing partner.

But as we near the end of The Handmaid’s Tale, June has won many victories, done incredible things, and lost much. But some threads come undone. Will she feel safe somewhere, whether her daughter is with her or somewhere else? In the novel, June is pulling the strings off-screen.

But you’ve seen “The Handmaid’s Tale,” so you know what it means to act like she is and how hard it is for her to put up with it. And when Agnes starts to see June, you’ll know what that means. That could mean she gets into big trouble.

Given how much the fight over Hannah has defined June’s identity, will we see more of her as the series continues?

Some of it is practical, considering Lizzie’s busy schedule. I’d like to see more of her, but this character is under so much pressure in this story that I think we have a chance to show her. Or even if you can’t show her because you can’t have her, you can feel it through Daisy and Agnes.

A “will” should live on its own. You don’t have to watch “The Handmaid’s Tale” at all. I also want June to become a character who accumulates all the things she has seen and done so far. She knows how old Agnes is and knows that what she is trying to do is completely different than when she was trying to catch her and run away.

Yes, if she had been able to save Hannah when she was a child, she could have returned to being Hannah’s mother. But now she will be dealing with a teenager who has been indoctrinated with Gilead politics for most of her life.

We see it in Daisy as well. It took Daisy a long time to realize that the girls weren’t hit on the head or injected with Gilead. They have taken their time and taught it in the kindest and best way. And that’s coupled with some good things. That ties in with their loyalty to each other and the fact that they have a really strong moral compass, whether it’s pointing in the right direction or not. It’s interesting that Daisy thinks of them as boobs. Not really. They’re 15-year-old girls trying to figure out how to integrate Gilead into a real-life 15-year-old’s worldview, which is ruining Gilead. They’re not adopting Gilead, they’re adapting Gilead.

It will be interesting to see Ann Dowd return as Aunt Lydia. Especially considering that by the end of The Handmaid’s Tale Aunt Lydia was dissatisfied with the Gilead government. What did bringing that character back open up?

The dual role that Lydia plays – both encouraging rebellion and keeping everything under control – is just who Lydia is. She wants change to suit her convenience. When we see her at the end of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” we start to see the cracks that maybe she wants to change the government. As we approach her in “The Will,” Lydia is slowly, methodically, and carefully trying to change Gilead. And she thinks another group of men might be better.

The girls who think she is using them as pawns are trying to run her over. They don’t think, “Let’s reform this place and make it a little bit better.” They’re saying, “These guys might as well hang on the end of a rope.” Lydia plans a rebellion with a small “r,” but is unaware that she is (facing) soldiers with a capital “S.”

It’s interesting that “The Handmaid’s Tale” goes so far beyond what it covers. I don’t think there are any handmaids in this drama.

There are handmaidens in Agnes’ world, but strangely, Agnes and her friends think they are creepy. they never speak. I can’t see their faces. They walk in pairs. It’s scary.

But the politics of sexuality remain the same. It’s just a different type of sex slave. They are building them in different ways. they stole them. They’re trying to build these. And they will fail on both fronts. They failed at the Handmaids and nearly destroyed the entire country. And here they feel, “Oh, these are girls who grew up in Gilead. We can indoctrinate them, and they’ll be very happy in bondage.” That’s just a comically arrogant view of what it means to be 15 years old.

The first season of “The Handmaid’s Tale” was released in the early days of Donald Trump’s presidency, but it was produced before the presidential election and is understandably based on material written before that. However, the novel “Testament” was written during his presidency, and the series was created after Roe v. Wade was defeated. Has this changed your approach?

I wish I remembered season 1. The big difference for me was that in this time of hardship and narcissistic governance, these young women were wonderful and full of positive energy, building a whole new version of life, not just a better version of what the patriarchy left behind. A very different approach than today would be to look at the young women who grew up under the Trump administration and how vibrant, smart, driven, and uninhibited they are.

It affects you because it wasn’t there before. This allowed us to identify a unique figure in Gilead. They only remember Gilead. Here are the first generation of women who grew up under Trump. Was it his misogyny that kept them there? no.

It’s a crazy coincidence that Chase Infinity, who epitomized the fighting spirit of her generation in last year’s One Battle After Another, stars in this movie.

She has an air of her generation. She is a very intelligent woman and very conscious of who she is and what she is doing. She’s also a little older. She’s a little more confident. Some of the cast members are 18 or 19 years old. She is 25 years old, but she is different in that she is ready for that moment. I think she sees young girls as a different generation. She’s special.

In the original series, one of the voices of Radio Free Boston was Oprah Winfrey. In “Testament,” Daisy listens to a similar radio host played by Stephen Colbert. I’ve always wondered, in this world, is that the real Oprah? Is it the real Stephen Colbert? Are they present as supporters of the resistance?

Both actors asked me if they were playing themselves or the DJ. My feeling is that if you had Radio Free America, you would choose Oprah. So I think she’s Oprah. And I think Stephen Colbert. They hired Stephen Colbert to be the voice of Radio Free Boston because of who he is. I think he is the perfect voice for American freedom for many reasons. Our list was only one person long.

This interview has been edited and condensed.