Elisabeth Moss has revealed that she had no intention of “passing the torch” to the cast of The Testaments – the sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale – saying she preferred not to influence their performances.
The actress, best known for her role as June Osborne in The Handmaid’s Tale, serves as a producer on the sequel series, which is set 15 years after the events of the original show.
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Speaking at the Vulture Fest panel on Saturday, Moss explained that she was careful not to overstep when working alongside the new cast.
“It’s a funny thing because there is a sort of sense of passing the torch (to) the next generation,” she said. “I get asked, obviously, a fair amount, like, ‘What have you taught these girls or what have you passed on?’ And I always say, for me, I didn’t want to pass the torch. I wanted them to light a new one. It was not about that at all.”
Moss praised the cast – including Chase Infiniti, Lucy Halliday and Rowan Blanchard – describing them as “professionals”.
“They know what they’re doing there. It wasn’t any different than working with (actress) Ann Dowd,” she stated. “I didn’t feel like I had to teach them anything.”
The Invisible Man actress added that she felt it was the right moment to evolve the franchise creatively.
“And, in a way, you also don’t want to mess with the freshness of it,” she shared. “That’s one of the things I think we were really excited about, was the idea that we do want something a little bit new.”
She added, “I mean, no offense to me, but we did watch (The Handmaid’s Tale) for a while, and it was great, and it’s time to maybe do something a little new.”
The first 10-episode season of The Testaments is available to watch on Hulu and Disney+, and the series has already been renewed for a second season.
