“We need to get our baby back! She’s our leader!” Amanda Brugel exclaimed as she chatted with us at a FYC event ahead of the finale of The Handmaid’s Tale season three. Fans watched in combined delight and horror as Amanda’s character Rita makes it out of Gilead, along with dozens of children, escaping to Canada, thanks to the heroics of her friend, handmaid June, played by Elisabeth Moss. However, not only does June not make it onto the plane, but in the final moments of the escape, she is shot by an officer and left for dead in the forest. But if you ask Amanda, season four should be about not only seeing June survive, but about her being saved by all the people she’s helped get out of Gilead. “Absolutely, I’m hoping that’s where my storyline is going to go in season 4,” Amanda said, “trying to get her back or trying to team up with Luke and everyone else in Canada to somehow get her back.”
In truth, this elaborate plan of June’s to save all the children of Gilead might not have been possible without Rita’s help last season. Fans will recall that Rita enlisted a network of Marthas to smuggle June and her baby Nicole out of Gilead in the dead of night, finally revealing herself to be part of a widespread rebellion. Though June decides not to flee to save her other daughter, Hannah, it’s Rita’s bravery that inspired June to challenge the system and do some of her own heroics. “Watching her grow into the hero that Rita always knew she was, it was a beautiful moment,” Amanda said of the season long arc for June and Rita. “It’s like cheering on your best friend from afar and your best friend taking that role and embracing it.”
As for what else she hopes happen in season four, Amanda has it out for the Waterfords, who got a taste of their own medicine in season 3 after they are arrested for crimes against humanity in Canada. But Amanda is looking for them to suffer even more. “I hoping really hoping to see a real ‘come to Jesus’ moment for Fred and Serena,” Amanda said. “I’m really hoping to see them get their due. It’s been 3 years of them just being horrific people. I’m hoping it’s a season where they get punished.” That all sounds good, but what Rita fans are really hoping for is to finally see a flashback episode for the Martha. There are so many unanswered questions about her past and her fallen son — and if the writers just hit up Amanda, it sounds like she has it all pretty much worked out!
“There’s a lot of beautiful people on the show and they really take their time and are quite delicate with how they roll out the story, which I think is smart,” Amanda said “I believe Rita was powerful, she’s very smart — I think she might’ve been a lawyer or at least someone who had to have empathy, being calculated about how she moved around the world. I think that she’s educated. I’d love to see a flashback where she was the head of some fortune 500 company. Something where she wears heels and a cute dress.” Fingers crossed for season 4!
The Handmaid’s Tale’s complete third season is streaming now on Hulu.