Aunt Lydia has always been one of Janine and now Esther, too. Her regret is rising to the surface and, as she begins to see Gilead for what it truly is, Aunt Lydia will face a tough choice - uphold the status quo or break from it and do what's right for the women she's supposedly taking care of.
Aunt Lydia's future in The Handmaid's Tale is a complicated one - her role in Margaret Atwood's sequel novel, The Testaments, reveals how the fascist Christian regime has changed her, and how season 5 begins to lay the groundwork for that change. Dowd has already expressed her wish to be involved in the sequel show, which was recently announced by Hulu, but how Aunt Lydia gets there is just as important as her inevitable end.
Screen Rant sat down with Dowd to discuss The Handmaid's Tale season 5, including playing such a complicated character, the most rewarding part of Aunt Lydia's season 5 journey, and more.
Ann Dowd Talks The Handmaid's Tale
I think the evolution of Aunt Lydia has been such an interesting one, this season more than ever. We see her begin to change into the Aunt Lydia we kind of know from the books. So what was the most exciting or rewarding part of exploring her this season?
Ann Dowd: I would say every single thing you've just said. Every scene challenging as one hopes. Exciting and wow. How is she going to behave in this? What's going to happen? It's been a really thrilling season.
So much remains mysterious about her, but she's becoming more of a guardian over these women than ever before. How do you kind of find the shades of good in someone who, on paper like Lydia, seems so villainous?
Ann Dowd: Well, that's a good thing about when you're an actor, you have to follow the basic rule. The basic rule is don't judge because we know in a relationship or friendship, the minute we sense somebody's judging us, it's like, get out my room. I don't want to be with you. Why should I? And so I love to be reminded when I start to think, oh, no, no, nobody is entirely evil. Nobody. People come to be who they are for a reason. For many reasons.
I would say a lot of it when it comes to choosing violent behavior or not seeing what's in front of you comes from hurt from a childhood or whatever where you just had to shut those doors and keep your life on a narrow lane. And that's how you're safe. I think her devotion to God is real. I think what she thought Gilead was, it's becoming clear that it isn't. And so now what? And that's the journey for her that I find tremendously exciting. And it's a slow one, which makes it believable, doesn't it? It's not, she's not Eckhart Tolle - she didn't almost kill herself, and then suddenly she's in the present, and life changes. That's a prophet. Lydia's not that. It's going to be slow. It's going to be painful. But I believe she'll get there.
Without getting into spoilers, what happens with Esther this season and Lydia's response to it - do you think she's almost trying to make up or avoid repeating the same mistakes she may have made in the past with Janine and the other Handmaids?
Ann Dowd: I think her eyes are opening, and I think she is looking in the past. I think she always regretted taking Janine's eye. I think she thought to herself, you acted out of anger, and you know better. And that will never work. That's not what you're here to do with these girls. You're here to bring them into the light, and sometimes it's going to take some... Again, I don't think she could ever do now what she did. I think it's very hard, like all of us when I think of when I've treated people unkindly, let alone taken an eye or tortured them. It's painful to go back there and think what was I thinking? Why? I think you just got to live with that. And to her credit. She's not shutting down. She's staying there and moving forward. That's hard.
The Handmaid's Tale Season 5 Synopsis
June faces consequences for killing Commander Waterford while struggling to redefine her identity and purpose. The widowed Serena attempts to raise her profile in Toronto as Gilead’s influence creeps into Canada. Commander Lawrence works with Nick and Aunt Lydia as he tries to reform Gilead and rise in power. June, Luke and Moira fight Gilead from a distance as they continue their mission to save and reunite with Hannah.
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The Handmaid's Tale airs new episodes every Wednesday on Hulu.