Under her eye: The blessings of Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia in 'The Handmaid's Tale'

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This nonfiction contains spoilers for Season 6, Episode 8, of “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

When Margaret Atwood began reasoning astir writing a sequel to her iconic caller “The Handmaid’s Tale,” she gave Bruce Miller, creator of the Hulu adaptation, a abbreviated “do-not-kill list.”

On apical of that database was Aunt Lydia, the ruthless zealot successful complaint of the handmaids, played truthful powerfully by Ann Dowd.

The writer had crushed to beryllium worried. This was determination astir the extremity of Season 2, erstwhile Emily (Alexis Bledel) had stabbed Aunt Lydia successful the backmost and pushed her down the stairs and “you didn’t cognize if she was going to get up,” Miller said.

Aunt Lydia survived the attack, of course; she was excessively important a quality to suffer astatine that point. But, Miller said, that helium didn’t cognize the semipermanent arc of the quality astatine the clip oregon “where I wanted her to onshore specifically.”

When “The Testaments” came retired successful 2019, it became wide that Aunt Lydia had to onshore not conscionable connected her feet but dramatically changed. In the novel, she is simply a cardinal fig successful the events that volition yet pb to Gilead’s destruction.

It is virtually unheard of for a palmy tv adaptation to person an unexpected infusion of archetypal material, ne'er caput from specified an esteemed novelist arsenic Atwood, midstream. “The Testaments” doesn’t conscionable further the communicative of Gilead and its inhabitants; it fills successful a batch of backstory, peculiarly that of Aunt Lydia, who is simply a precise antithetic quality from the 1 viewers person loved to hatred for six seasons.

A pistillate successful acheronian covering stands successful beforehand of a radical of women successful reddish robes and achromatic bonnets.

“It’s similar Shakespeare comes to beingness and writes ‘Hamlet II’ oregon something,” Miller said. “But,” helium said, “it didn’t alteration spine of the character. Aunt Lydia ever believed successful the ideals of Gilead, adjacent erstwhile Gilead did not unrecorded up to those ideals. She didn’t permission Gilead truthful overmuch arsenic Gilead near her.”

Which meant her travel passim the remainder of the bid had to beryllium 1 of reluctant but relentless revelation.

After years of attempting to work, overtly and covertly, wrong what she has dilatory conceded is an imperfect system, Aunt Lydia is, by this last season, a shadiness of her erstwhile self. The value of self-justification (not to notation beingness successful Gilead) has near her a shrunken, limping and affectional wreck until Episode 8, which dropped Tuesday, erstwhile she yet surrenders to the truth.

Catching her series-long nemesis June (Elisabeth Moss) alongside Moira (Samira Wiley) arsenic they hole to motorboat the handmaids connected a nighttime onslaught of their rapists/commanders, Aunt Lydia indispensable yet judge the horrific world of her relation successful Gilead. She lets them spell astir their vengeful concern and crumbles to the floor.

“June and Aunt Lydia are bound unneurotic now,” Dowd said. “June is precise calm, conscionable ‘Here’s the story, and you knew each on what was going on.’ The walls wholly crumble, and [Lydia] is looking astatine Janine [Madeline Brewer] — ‘Please, God, forgive me, forgive me.’”

It is an tremendous and risky pivot, for the quality and the story; if viewers don’t judge this scene, they volition beryllium hard-pressed to judge the Aunt Lydia of “The Testaments.” But, arsenic usual, the penning and the formed deliver, peculiarly Dowd who makes the tectonic displacement consciousness thoroughly authentic and earned.

“That’s what Ann Dowd does truthful spectacularly,” Miller said. “To beryllium the aforesaid quality astatine the halfway adjacent arsenic she’s buffeted by change. She’s holding the assemblage truthful cautiously by the manus that you don’t adjacent recognize that immoderate of the steps are benignant of crazy, implicit left-turns.”

A pistillate successful a achromatic top, skirt and riding boots stands against a brownish backdrop.

Miller is adapting “The Testaments,” which precocious began accumulation successful Canada, and Aunt Lydia is the lone character, speech from June, to marque the modulation from “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

Her journey, successful some the novels and onscreen, is simply a unsocial one.

In Atwood’s archetypal novel, she exists lone done the viewpoint of June and astir often arsenic the root of aphorisms. “Aunt Lydia says” is simply a communicative drumbeat, existing to some explicate Gilead’s precepts and underline the irony of a spiritual devotion that manifests itself done intersexual slavery. Other aunts are described arsenic carrying cattle prods and committing random acts of violence, but Aunt Lydia mostly talks.

Not truthful successful the series, successful which she is introduced arsenic a floridly speaking zealot, yes, but besides a brutal vessel of a woman, regularly threatening and striking her charges. Early connected successful the series, she punishes a then-mouthy Janine by having her close oculus removed. Emily’s execution effort comes aft Aunt Lydia forces her to get a clitoridectomy for being a sex traitor — a lesbian.

“She starts retired arsenic a wall, beardown and tall,” Dowd said. “So definite and self-righteous. She believes she’s doing precisely the close thing. She knows what she’s doing, and adjacent though it whitethorn wounded her girls, they person got to change. Her relation is to assistance them and her mode of helping them is to instrumentality beardown and sometimes achy approaches.”

The 69-year-old histrion is simply a soft-spoken, kindly woman, fixed to addressing those astir her arsenic “sweetheart” and “sweet girl,” who seems astir arsenic acold from Lydia arsenic a idiosyncratic tin get portion inactive maintaining the pistillate form.

“People person asked me, ‘How did you get to that place? Did you person walk a batch of clip getting to that acheronian place?’” Dowd said of her character’s monstrousness. “The existent reply is I can’t get determination accelerated enough. I mean, that’s a fantastic role, written beautifully.”

A pistillate with brownish hairsbreadth past her shoulders successful a achromatic apical and necklace lasting successful beforehand of a sheer reddish curtain.

As an actor, Dowd relished portraying the black-and-white content strategy of aboriginal Aunt Lydia — successful those archetypal days connected set, she would locomotion among the handmaid extras, slamming her cattle prod down connected desks and barking instructions. “We didn’t support that,” she said, “but I loved learning what Lydia would bash if she could. ‘Eyes guardant dears, we are not sitting comfortably successful a people room.’”

“Of course,” she added, “we had the luxury of leaving it each down connected set.”

For Miller, Aunt Lydia didn’t truly travel live until helium saw Dowd play her. “It’s the large feedback loop of television. You constitute precise spare material; Ann adds truthful much, the manager adds truthful overmuch that it turns retired antithetic than you expected,” helium said. “My Aunt Lydia connected the leafage is scary but not arsenic scary arsenic Ann. You privation that feedback truthful you tin support adjusting the character.”

As Lydia began to person doubts, the relation became much challenging. “But it would beryllium precise unusual if she did not change. And fortunately, I emotion her. I ne'er got sick of her, ever appreciated her journey,” Dowd said.

Not that she’s seen it. Dowd said she doesn’t ticker the amusement and has lone seen a fewer episodes astatine assorted premiere events.

“I don’t ticker it due to the fact that I’ve done it,” she said. “I find I’ve go rather captious of myself and I find that boring. I privation to spot the amusement and bask it erstwhile the clip comes. I don’t privation to beryllium judging myself, ‘Oh what were you thinking?’ It takes you close retired of the story.”

She besides doesn’t cognize precisely what happens successful the bid finale, which was directed by Moss. “They redacted it,” Dowd said. “I cognize my bit, but there’s large questions for me. I mightiness ticker [Episode] 10; I would emotion to cognize however it ends.”

For Dowd, Lydia’s translation yet hinges connected her disfigurement of Janine. “From that constituent on, she feels liable for her, and it grows into a beauteous love,” she said. “And what does emotion do? It crumbles the wall.”

Heading into accumulation of “The Testaments,” she had lone work 3 of the scripts and Aunt Lydia is not successful each of them; they’re focusing connected the younger formed members.

But the alteration Aunt Lydia experiences successful Episode 8 is profound and lasting, Dowd said. “Her content successful God, the value of that remains powerful,” she said. “Without women, who tin bring distant God’s children? Who volition populate the satellite truthful his divine beingness tin beryllium multiplied? Only these girls. A woman’s role, Lydia believes, is to rise these children. But to beryllium raped by these commanders? No.”

A pistillate successful acheronian covering and a caput covering looks to her side. She stands adjacent a table; a transverse is seen successful the background.

Dowd was thrilled, and surprised, by the relation Aunt Lydia plays successful Atwood’s sequel, which similar “Handmaid’s,” is presented arsenic a bid of humanities documents. She has met Atwood connected respective occasions but was not privy to her thinking. “It’s surely a affable relationship. You judge close distant that she’s superb and there’s nary mode you’re going to drawback up,” Dowd said. “She’s beauteous and funny, and I precise overmuch enjoyed spending clip with her.”

For the audiobook of “The Testaments,” Dowd work Aunt Lydia’s portion, which she said helped her recognize the quality much deeply. “Lydia learns precise rapidly what she has to do,” Dowd said. “And she doesn’t privation to beryllium immoderate aunt; she wants to beryllium the aunt successful charge. She’s not taking a backmost seat.”

As “The Handmaid’s Tale” comes to an end, some Dowd and Miller are stuck betwixt sorrow and excitement. Though they volition proceed moving together, on with Moss and immoderate unit members, they already miss the “Handmaid’s” cast.

“So overmuch of it was being portion of an ensemble,” Dowd said. “I loved that. Bruce Miller’s No. 1 regularisation was everyone got on with others. And Lizzie Moss, the halfway of each this, main quality and manager — she’s fantastic, calved to bash it, loves work, a agleam spirit, ne'er tired.”

She besides misses Brewer, with whom she shared truthful galore important scenes, and admires her quality to play a relation with lone the usage of 1 eye.

“My saccharine girl; we person a precise affable and lukewarm relationship,” Dowd said. “ I don’t cognize however she pulled that off, successful presumption of balance.”

For Miller, “The Testaments” offers 2 evident challenges: to unrecorded up to the occurrence of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and make a creaseless modulation betwixt the 2 novels.

“There are going to beryllium things that don’t enactment up,” Miller said, “and that’s the mode it’s going to be. It was initially precise challenging, but I conscionable thought ‘just accommodate the book.’ [Atwood] had liked what I was doing with the show, I deliberation that was progressive successful her being excited to constitute much astir it.

“Now,” helium said, “I’m trying to marque ‘The Testaments’ beauteous and absorbing and besides comic and entertaining successful its absurd and horrible way. I emotion the satellite precise much, moving with Margaret and Lizzie and the radical of young women — I would happily walk the adjacent decennary penning things for them to say.”

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