‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 4: Samira Wiley Knows Her Dream Ending for Moira Likely Won’t Happen
In The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4, Samira Wiley’s Moira Strand has carved out a relatively peaceful life for herself. The last thing she’s missing is June. But Moira realizes in episode 6 her peace won’t be as easy to maintain as she hoped. In a recent interview, Wiley revealed her dream ending for Moira. But she’s also acutely aware of how Gilead can change your best laid plans even after you’ve escaped its clutches.
[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4.]
What happens to Moira in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 4?
In The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4, Moira is raising Nichole, June and Nick’s daughter, with June’s husband, Luke. Her girlfriend, Oona, does humanitarian work that Moira sometimes helps with (more on that later). And she’s found purpose helping children from Gilead assimilate to Canada.
All thing’s considered, Moira feels safe in her life post-Gilead. But it’s taken a long time for her to get to that place — both physically and emotionally. And she still grapples with the guilt of escaping Gilead without June in season 1. In a trailer for season 4, Moira says she can’t rest until everyone enslaved by Gilead is free.
“From the beginning I was prepared to do whatever it takes to make it through and make it out,” she says. “But even though I escaped, I realized that until we all made it out, I’ll never be free from Gilead.”
Samira Wiley wants Moira and June to go back to normal in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
Moira’s advocacy in Canada leads to her going to Chicago on a humanitarian mission with Oona. They travel by boat from Canada to the war zone to provide aid, arriving when Gilead bombs the city. In one of the biggest plot twists of the season, Moira finds June among the debris and helps her flee to Canada.
Getting June out of Gilead was always Moira’s goal, she just never had a good opportunity. When she finally does, Moira can’t believe June doesn’t want to take the out while she can. (June can’t stomach leaving without Hannah.) The tense conversations on the boat to Canada make Moira realize rescuing June was never going to be the final solution to anything.
Wiley told Elle her dreams for Moira’s ending now that she and June are reunited. She said:
“I think Moira is really yearning for her friend and who her friend was and what their relationship was. She’s not ready to let that go. She’s built something so beautiful with Luke and with Nichole, and she’s ready for June to fit right back into that. She wants a normal life, a life where she can put Gilead behind her and find joy and have an easy relationship with her girlfriend. Everything has been so hard for her, and for everyone who has gone through Gilead. She’s just yearning for something to be easy. That’s what I want for Moira, and I think that’s what Moira wants for herself.”
Gilead will affect Moira and June’s friendship from afar
Everyone who survives Gilead deserves a peaceful life afterwards. But Wiley and Moira both know too well how Gilead can still mess with your life long after you’ve escaped it.
“Things are always being thrown at them,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “And they’re having to roll with the punches and figure it out. That’s what June’s entire journey has been — she has a plan, and it gets messed up by Gilead.”
In future episodes, Gilead’s pervasive presence in all of their lives will continue to affect Moira and June’s relationship in a “really painful” way, Wiley told Elle. This will make Moira’s dream for peace all the more difficult. But Wiley already knew Gilead would have this effect. Hopefully, Wiley’s dreams for Moira will come true. Only time will tell what will become of Gilead and everyone in it.
