The Handmaid’s Tale Team Teases What’s up Next in Season Two

At a For Your Consideration event Thursday night, Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale team discussed what fans should expect from forthcoming episodes. The show has just five episodes left before season two is up, and so far they’ve covered everything from homophobic world-building to game-changing explosions, but, according to Bruce Miller, Elisabeth Moss and other creatives, the craziest is yet to come.

At the event, Moss told Variety that, while her matriarchal overseer Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) could never covert to the light side, she was still beholden to June:

There’s no way that Serena can just turn into a resistance fighter, that’s just not the reality. But what we’ve always connected on, Yvonne and I, is the idea of there are these two women, polar opposites in this world, and they’re both unhappy, and they’re both not satisfied and they’re both victims in a lot of ways. And finding ways they can connect about that, obviously the big thing that connects them is the child growing inside June, which is my child, but also in a way, Serena’s.

According to showrunner Miller and executive producer Warren Littlefield, June will have her baby before the season is finished.

For her part, Strahovski spoke about her fictional husband’s new domestic violence arc, hinting that the Fred/Serena beating scene from episode eight is the first of several. ” … That was one of those days, the beating scene, where people were just like ‘Ugh, this is too much, we quit,’” Strahovski said. “It was that day, and many more to come that you’ll all see.”

It looks like The Handmaid’s Tale season two, which has already drawn some criticism for its unceasing bleakness, will continue its dark streak in episodes to come. If, like its own crew, you’re tempted to quit the show, you’re not alone. Even Moss said her plucky protagonist June was unique in her ability to keep fighting the good fight: ”[I’m] surprised she didn’t give up sooner.”