According to The Hollywood Reporter, the cast and creative team of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale united at PaleyFest LA on Wednesday in honor of the sixth and final season. The crew of the series reflected on the show’s journey, as well as teased what’s to come for the last season.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, stars of the series which includes Elisabeth Moss (The Invisible Man), Yvonne Strahovski (Stateless), Bradley Whitford (The West Wing), Ann Dowd (Compliance), Samira Wiley (The Sitter), O-T Fagbenle (Black Widow), Madeline Brewer (Hustler), Amanda Brugel (Infinity Pool), Sam Jaeger (Take Me Home) and Ever Carradine (Bubble Boy) joined executive producers Eric Tuchman (Anastasia), Yahlin Chang (Supergirl), Bruce Miller (The 100) and Warren Littlefield (Dopesick) at the Dolby Theatre. During the event, Miller noted, “It’s been a show that we started the way we wanted to start it; we’re ending it the way we want to end it.” Littlefield also commented, “and then along came our 45th president and we entered into a whole other world… We became a symbol of the resistance and a fight for human rights.”
Co-showrunner Chang said, “We really felt like we wanted this season to be a love letter to our fans. You guys have really stuck with us through thick and thin — we all know that it’s not the easiest watch, this show” and mused that after writing “some really feel-bad episodes” over the course of show, “I was like, I only want to feel-good episodes. I only want to like, end with victory and feelings of hope and triumph and uplift… this season we wanted to feel rewarding.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Whitford spoke about the ending of the series during the current political climate, saying, “It is very weird that this show started shooting in 2016; here we are, unthinkable things have happened and we’re bewildered right now.”
“We need to meet this moment, and Moss’ character June is an example of the most fundamental thing we have to remember in this moment, which is that despair’s a luxury that our children cannot afford,” he continued. “Racism is not going to go away, misogyny is not going to go away, religious hypocrisy is not going to go away.”
Littlefield echoed, “In a world that we want to just kind of walk away because it’s so very painful, don’t give up the fight. Our women are not Marvel characters, they’re ordinary women who are doing extraordinary things. And so our message is actually the war is not over, but the fight continues. That gives us hope and that’s what we’re trying to put forth. That is our legacy.”
The Handmaid’s Tale season premieres April 8 on Hulu.
