‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Samira Wiley Says Moira and Luke Will Have Different Reactions to June as Season 4 Continues
There is only one episode left of season 4 of The Handmaid’s Tale, and the season finale will premiere on Hulu on June 16. So far, the fourth season of the Hulu series has demonstrated how much June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) has changed due to her time in Gilead. This has made it incredibly difficult for her husband Luke Bankole (O-T Fagbenle) and her best friend Moira Strand (Samira Wiley) as she attempts to acclimate to Canada.
As fans have seen throughout the latter half of the fourth season, June often finds herself at odds with Luke and Moira. In an interview with The Wrap, Wiley hinted Luke and Moira will have different levels of acceptance when it comes to June.
[Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for season 4 episode 9 of The Handmaid’s Tale.]
June has difficulty adjusting in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
After June arrives in Canada, she has a lot of trauma to process. Because Moira lived in Gilead, she understands June’s trauma initially, and she encourages Luke to be patient with June.
By season 4 episode 8, “Testimony,” it becomes clear that Moira and June are at odds. While Moira actively tries to heal and move past Gilead, June still feels a lot of anger about what happened to her. Luke also struggles to connect with his wife after years of separation.
“I think they have to lean on each other and I imagine the late-night conversations they have about June,” Wiley told The Wrap about Moira and Luke. “Just imagining, ‘She’s different, she’s not the same.’ And the tears that come from that.”
She continued, “There’s a line that Luke says in, I believe it’s Episode 6, where she says, ‘What if I’m not what you think I am?’ And he says, ‘I’ll just love whoever you turn out to be.'”
While Luke told June that he would essentially love her no matter what, Wiley admitted to The Wrap that both Luke and Moira will have different ways of trying to uphold that promise.
“That’s really going to get challenged now because June is turning out to be someone who we don’t really recognize. I think that Luke and Moira will have two different journeys with loving whoever she turns out to be,” she said.
Moira, Luke, and June have all changed in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
Before Gilead, June and Moira were best friends. While June and Luke had a happy marriage, Moira was not entirely on board with their relationship. Luke escaped to Canada before season 1 of The Handmaid’s Tale began, and Moira escaped at the end of the first season.
Since escaping, Moira and Luke spent years living together, and in the third season they began raising June’s daughter, Nichole. When June escapes to Canada with the help of Moira, she finds herself feeling like an outsider with Luke and Moira because she has missed out on their years of bonding.
“I think about the parallels in this season versus what was happening in the first season,” Wiley told The Wrap. “I felt like Moira and June were on the same page and Luke was on the outside, simply because he was a man… They had this sisterhood and Luke was kind of on the outside. There’s this weird brother-sister kind of relationship between Moira and Luke where there was fighting between the two of them. And now it’s completely flipped.”
Moira’s devotion to June will be tested
In order to get June to Canada in season 4 episode 6, “Vows,” Moira risked an entire humanitarian mission. While Moira was originally elated to reunite with her friend, Wiley told The Wrap that Moira struggles to connect with June once she is in Canada.
“I think that in realizing day after day, week after week, since she’s been in Canada, ‘This is a completely different person and, Moira, you have created a completely different life away from her,'” Wiley said. “That’s the question: what are you willing to give up on either side? I’m not going to say too much more, but you’ll see where it goes in Episode 9 and 10 before the season is over.”
New episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale premiere on Hulu every Wednesday.
