‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Elisabeth Moss Thinks It Will Be Hard for June and Luke to Return to Their Marriage
After nearly a decade apart, June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) and Luke Bankole (O-T Fagbenle) finally reunited in The Handmaid’s Tale. Season 4 episode 6 of the show, titled “Vows,” ended with the two in a loving embrace.
While fans have waited and hoped for June to make her way back to Luke, Moss does not think the two will ever be able to truly reacclimate to how things were before Gilead.
[Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for season 4 episode 6 of The Handmaid’s Tale.]
June and Luke have both changed in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
By the time June managed to escape Gilead with the help of her friend Moira Strand (Samira Wiley), June and Luke have been separated for several years. Their young daughter Hannah (Jordana Blake) is also still in Gilead.
While in Gilead, June fell in love with Nick Blaine (Max Minghella), and together the two had a daughter. Luke took on the responsibility of raising their daughter Nichole while they remained in Canada. When he and June reunite, he has settled into the role of Nichole’s surrogate father.
In an interview with Forbes, Moss revealed that she thinks it will be difficult for June and Luke to have a marriage like they did before, saying:
“I mean, I don’t want to spoil anything but I do think that she and Nick have a connection from what they’ve been through in Gilead that is very difficult to replicate. She loves Luke very much but she’s not the same woman she was when she married him and it’s going to be very hard to go back to that. I think the only thing that she’s truly focusing on now is the safety of her children and getting Hannah back to her father.”
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is realistic about reunions
June and Luke’s reunion in season 4 of The Handmaid’s Tale proved to be incredibly emotional. Even though many fans of the show have hoped for Luke and June to go back to how things were, Moss made an effort to show that the characters’ reunion was not “perfect.”
“The biggest thing for me about her going to Canada and her reunion with Luke is that it couldn’t be perfect,” Moss said in an interview with TVLine. “It couldn’t be like everything was all of a sudden OK.”
Moss told TVLine that while the reunion was a moment of happiness, June has a long road ahead of her.
She continued, “I mean, the reunion with Luke… like breaks me every time, it’s so sweet… and then there’s the truth of it and there’s the honesty of it which is that this person has been through a lot and has changed forever.”
Luke and June have challenges ahead of them
Over the next few episodes, fans of The Handmaid’s Tale will see June attempt to have a normal life in Canada. According to Moss, this will be easier said than done.
“… it was very important to me that her assimilation back into society was not an easy one, because I just don’t think that would have been an honest story,” she told TVLine.
Fagbenle also spoke to TVLine about June and Luke’s future, and he revealed that his character will struggle to be there for June despite his good intentions.
“For Luke, it’s just hard when you don’t understand what’s going on for another person,” he said. “I think it’s more about the frustration and helplessness of his ignorance rather than, you know, resentment.”
New episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale premiere every Wednesday on Hulu.
