Hulu’s adaptation of The Testaments, Margaret Atwood’s sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, has done an impressive job of differentiating itself from its predecessor without losing the story’s beating heart. For starters, The Testaments has yet to feature a single Handmaid, though they’ve been alluded to in passing. Aunt Lydia is still a major player, but she no longer oversees the Handmaids.

This story instead focuses on the rituals and lifestyles of soon-to-be Wives, and, in doing so, takes an unexpected approach to its characters. With the likes of Rita, Moira, Luke, and Janine, The Handmaid’s Tale had a roster of heroes to root for, but the show was undeniably led by Elisabeth Moss’s June Osborne.

From beginning to end, June was completely unwavering in her commitment to rebellion. She was consistently willing to put herself in danger, remaining at the forefront of efforts to contest Gilead’s authority. The Testament‘s cast of characters isn’t nearly so brazen or cut and dry, despite one of them being June’s daughter, Hannah.

Hannah, living in Gilead as Agnes, is a meek, prim and proper girl who, by and large, follows directions and is a model Gilead citizen. Interestingly, her crush on her Guardian, Garth, does parallel June’s affair with Nick, though the similar circumstances only further underscore how different they really are.

There’s an innocence and a complete lack of rebellion in Agnes’ feelings for Garth. She dreams of falling in love, but even in her wildest fantasies, she dreams of doing it in Gilead. The Testaments‘ rebellious streak comes instead from Daisy, the other half of the show’s dual protagonists, who balks at Agnes’ complete subservience to Gilead’s way of life.

Agnes’ Differences To June Make The Testaments Worth Doing

Hannah had been built up throughout The Handmaid’s Tale as an almost mythical figure as June fought for years to even get a glimpse of her. Expectations as to what she would really be like were further heightened with the casting of Chase Infiniti, who starred in One Battle After Another as a teen with a fiercely rebellious spirit not unlike June’s.

Yet The Handmaid’s Tale had a full, satisfying life under June’s leadership, and it would have been a mistake to attempt to fill Elisabeth Moss’s impossible shoes with more of the same. The Testaments is a different show with something new to say, and it established this immediately by subverting every expectation of Hannah’s personality.

Agnes’ Naïveté Is The True Horror Of The Testaments

Agnes’s character does more for The Testaments than simply take viewers by surprise. The Handmaid’s Tale depicted a brand-new Gilead populated with people whose old lives were still fresh on their minds. June and every other Handmaid, Martha, and even Wife knew exactly what had been taken from them, and this drove their pursuit of freedom.

The Testaments depicts the next generation of Gilead, one that has been completely indoctrinated to the point of not even being able to comprehend their own lack of freedom. Agnes was born in and has memories of a pre-Gilead world, but they have been totally stripped away, and she can no longer wrap her mind around even the most mundane elements of the outside world.

Agnes’s desires are simple, her world is small, her fear of authority is massive, and this is true of all her peers. Her state of mind gives the story’s wider mission urgency as she demonstrates just how quickly free will can fade. The longer Gilead exists, the more difficult it will be to fight, as it erases memories of life before its existence and strips its citizens of the ability to want anything more than the life it provides.

The Testaments Knows June Is Irreplaceable

Agnes is timid, but that’s not to say that The Testaments ​​​​​​doesn’t have its fair share of rebellion. Daisy fills that need, giving deadpan reactions to the more outrageous elements of Gilead that are, in true Handmaid’s fashion, equal parts comedic and sobering. Daisy is following in June’s footsteps much more than Agnes is, but The Testaments still let Daisy off the hook as a full-fledged June replacement.

In the wake of The Handmaid’s Tale‘s popularity and Elisabeth Moss’s award-winning performance, June has become an icon synonymous with the show itself. To avoid having to meet an impossible standard of its own making, The Testaments made June just as much of a symbol in her own world as she has become in ours. To Daisy, her deceased parents, and many others, June is a legend.

By eliminating the possibility that anyone could be just like her, The Testaments gave Daisy and the rest of the characters the freedom to be their own people, with their own story, and their own legacy. This, in turn, makes The Testaments necessary as it unfolds a story that we haven’t seen before.

What Could Finally Push Agnes To Truly Rebel?

In episode 7, “Commitment,” Agnes worries that she doesn’t have a personality. Yet, despite the essential brainwashing she’s experienced, she does. She has friends that she cares about and supports, and while she has a naive, schoolgirl quality, she also understands the realities of her world. She’s a full-throated participant of Gilead’s barbaric rituals, but also knew not to blame Becka for marrying her crush.

Beneath the practiced obedience, Agnes also embodies the thick skin that Gilead attempts to stoke and harness in its “girls.” In episode 8, “Broken,” Agnes demonstrated both the scope of her weakness and her potential for growth. Agnes failed to stand beside Hulda in speaking out against Dr. Grove, in her own words, using Hulda as a “canary in the coal mine.”

However, while Agnes knew the dangers of speaking out, her internal sense of justice was unwavering. Unlike Hulda, Agnes wasn’t convinced to shift the blame back onto herself. That feeling, and her eventual confessions to Daisy and Aunt Lydia, are the first inklings that Agnes has demonstrated that her moral code is capable of being in conflict with Gilead’s.

Throughout The Handmaid’s Tale​​​​​, June was the canary in the coal mine. In letting someone else play that role, Agnes was perhaps the most different she had ever been from her mother. Yet the experience seemed to awaken an awareness in Agnes that she had done something wrong, for the first time opening the door to question Gilead’s ways.

That door could be pushed further open, her hardened tolerance for pain and violence that Gilead instilled used for good, if the events of The Testaments manage to tap into Agnes’s deep-seated loyalty and sense of justice.

Release Date

April 8, 2026

Network

Hulu

Directors

Mike Barker

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