{"id":672363,"date":"2025-05-29T21:46:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T18:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-handmaids-tale-star-madeline-brewer-on-janines-final-scene-i-was-inconsolable\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T21:46:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T18:46:07","slug":"the-handmaids-tale-star-madeline-brewer-on-janines-final-scene-i-was-inconsolable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-handmaids-tale-star-madeline-brewer-on-janines-final-scene-i-was-inconsolable\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Handmaid\u2019s Tale\u2019 Star Madeline Brewer on Janine\u2019s Final Scene: \u201cI Was Inconsolable\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t[This story contains major spoilers from\u00a0The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em>\u00a0series<\/a> finale, titled \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale.\u201d]<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tNow that The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em> has finished telling its tale, Madeline Brewer can react to Janine\u2019s ending.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe final episode had the tricky task of ending June\u2019s (Elisabeth Moss) story while also setting up Hulu\u2019s Gilead TV universe with the forthcoming sequel series, The Testaments<\/em>. Margaret Atwood\u2018s follow-up story to her 1985 Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em> novel focuses on June\u2019s daughter, Hannah, who has been renamed Agnes in Gilead. The Testaments<\/em> sequel novel, which published in 2019, influenced how series creator Bruce Miller and co-showrunners Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang could end the series: The show couldn\u2019t end with June getting Hannah back, because Hannah is still in Gilead in The Testaments<\/em>. But the writers did deliver another blessed mother-daughter reunion.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the series finale \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale,\u201d written by Miller and directed by Moss, Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) brokers an exchange to return baby Angela (real name Charlotte) to her birth mother, Janine. Angela\u2019s Gilead mother, Naomi (Ever Carradine), is present and consensually gives the child back to Janine after Janine has also been rescued herself from Gilead captivity and returned to June. Janine\u2019s baby was heart-wrenchingly taken away from her when she birthed her as a handmaid back in season one.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen speaking to Brewer about Janine\u2019s ending, she says she was \u201cinconsolable\u201d when she watched the scene for the first time. Looking back to some of her first days on set playing Janine, she remembers feeling about the dystopian saga back in season one, \u201cI can\u2019t believe that we get to tell this story. I can\u2019t believe that we get to be the ones to bring it onto a screen this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNow that she has her ending, Brewer unpacks her time on the series with The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> below and imagines what Janine and daughter Charlotte might look like in the future \u2014 even if that may not be shown on The Testaments.<\/em> <\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tLooking back at the sixth episode of this final season, Janine predicted the ending of the series when she was arguing with Aunt Lydia at Jezebel\u2019s.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWhen I say \u201cwe\u2019re going to burn this place to the ground,\u201d right?<\/p>\n

\n\tYes. Janine tells Lydia that Gilead is going to crumble and the only way she can make things right between them is if Lydia gets Charlotte back: \u201cI want Charlotte, you stole her from me.\u201d Did you know how the series was going to end when you filmed that episode?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tNo. I didn\u2019t know that when we were shooting that episode \u2014 we hadn\u2019t read the finale yet. I thought Janine was just trying to dig at Lydia a bit. Because by that point, Janine knew what June and Moira were planning [with the Mayday attack on Jezebel\u2019s]. But I don\u2019t think Janine was operating under what would have been a delusion thinking that she would get her daughter back.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tJanine (Madeline Brewer) with daughter Charlotte in the series finale.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/Steve Wilkie<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tSo when you then read the finale, how did you react to seeing that Janine actually does get Charlotte back, with Lydia\u2019s help?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI was relieved, but also app<\/a>reciative of our writers. It\u2019s not a ton of fanfare. Naomi [Ever Carradine] makes this incredibly difficult decision, and Lydia looks after Janine until the very final moment. I thought it was so beautiful. I\u2019m so satisfied with the ending for Janine. It could have gone a lot of different ways and it\u2019s all she\u2019s ever wanted. There is so much love between June and Janine \u2014 I always call them \u201cJanune\u201d! <\/p>\n

\n\tJanine is like June\u2019s surrogate daughter; June is also always fighting to get Janine back. Have you begun to picture what Janine\u2019s life could look like from here. Would she join the resistance fight? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI think she\u2019d get involved with Mayday in some way, but I don\u2019t think that it would ever be in a way where she would have to leave her daughter. If she stays in Canada, I see Janine doing refugee support. Or working with people who have been handmaids and reintegrating them into this society. And Lawrence said her daughter was a genius, so there could be big things ahead for Charlotte!<\/p>\n

\n\tYou and I have spoken throughout the seasons and even in season four you were aware that Janine could die at any point in the show. Janine\u2019s been put through so much \u2014 arguably more than any character. So to see that she gets this happy ending, one that June can\u2019t get yet\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tRight.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt felt so deserved. How did it feel for you throughout the process, since you never know what they had planned for Janine? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI had my hopes. But I don\u2019t think I really, truly hoped for anything because I couldn\u2019t even imagine. That\u2019s also not my job (laughs) [to write the show], but it\u2019s the same reason why I never made too many decisions about Janine\u2019s life before. I had hoped eventually we would flash back and I didn\u2019t want what I decided to conflict with what they wrote. So I didn\u2019t want to make too many decisions. I wanted it in ways to surprise me.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd it did. I watched Janine\u2019s final scene with Charlotte in ADR [automated dialogue replacement<\/em>]. I was inconsolable. Not even because it\u2019s over or because it felt so happy, or sad. But because I\u2019m so proud of her. I\u2019m just so proud of Janine for always being herself and not letting them take the fire away from her. And for being a good friend and a good mom and a good person.<\/p>\n

\n\tI was actually told by one of our writers a few years ago, \u201cListen, I don\u2019t think we\u2019re ever going to kill you. That\u2019s not the ending we want her to have.\u201d I always felt that [if they did kill Janine] that I understand how story structure works and it might be necessary. But I also felt really honored that they wanted to see Janine through to the end.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe know that Lydia makes a big change because of The Testaments<\/em> book \u2014 she becomes someone who tries for redemption herself. How much do you think Lydia\u2019s relationship with Janine motivated her to see the light, particularly in this final season where Janine is pushing her to confront what she\u2019s done and Lydia\u2019s been listening in a new way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI think it could only truly be Janine who would change Lydia\u2019s mind fully because of their relationship. Even in episode three when she first came to Jezebel\u2019s and Janine\u2019s like, \u201cThat\u2019s OfKyle. These are your girls. They lied to you. What were you thinking? You just went on believing them. Why do you believe these men?\u201d And that especially shows in episode eight [when they confront her at the Red Center]. We positioned it as June would be in there first and then I\u2019d come in as the final plea; the ringer to really tug at Lydia\u2019s heart. I think there is some redemption for Aunt Lydia, at least in my eyes. She makes sure that Janine gets her daughter back. That\u2019s the ultimate promise for her.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo Lydia is working undercover and has some relationship with Tuello (Sam Jaeger) and the good guys. Do you think this sets up Janine to have a role in The Testaments<\/em> sequel series? Is that anything you have had conversations about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tNo, I haven\u2019t. I don\u2019t think that Bruce [Miller, creator of both The Handmaid\u2019s Tale <\/em>and The Testaments<\/em>] has closed the book on that conversation. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s closing the book on any of those conversations [with the characters], because I think in his eyes if they\u2019re in Canada, why not? But also, I love my ending with Aunt Lydia. I don\u2019t know that I need another one, but I\u2019m not ruling it out either, of course.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tElisabeth Moss (right) directing Madeline Brewer for Janine\u2019s final scene.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tI want to see Janine raising Charlotte. I want to see her be a mom.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI know. I just don\u2019t want to wear an eye patch anymore! I\u2019m so tired. There were so many times when I was shooting You<\/em> [Brewer starred in the final season of the Netflix series<\/em>, which filmed before the final season of Handmaid\u2019s<\/em>] where they\u2019d call \u201cAction\u201d and I\u2019d be like, \u201cOh, shit. I\u2019m missing something.\u201d I thought I needed my eye patch on. <\/p>\n

\n\tDid you keep your eye patch? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI do have my eye patch. There were two we tried out, but then we ended up just sticking to the one because it fit perfectly and worked really well. So by the end there was just the one, and I have that.<\/p>\n

\n\tJanine lost her eye in the pilot. So you\u2019ve been wearing that eye patch from the very beginning, for nearly a decade.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI knew that she would lose one eye when I auditioned. Janine is in the book with one eye. In the show, I arrive at the Red Center and that night, they take my eye out. But my first day on set I didn\u2019t have an eye, because we shoot out of order. And I actually didn\u2019t film on my first day, because there was so much to shoot that we didn\u2019t get to it. But I remember I was wearing a gigantic silicone pregnant belly [watching] that scene when all the handmaids kill an Eye. They bring out this guy who was an Eye who raped a girl and Lydia tasks the handmaids with basically beating him to death. There were so many handmaids. Still to this day, seeing a sea of red robes walking in twos is jarring. It\u2019s eerie and uncomfortable, but also beautiful the way those robes move and to see an army \u2014 we obviously didn\u2019t know at the time that this [final season] would see them becoming an army of handmaids.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe discussed the timeliness of the series for THR<\/em>\u2018s oral history on The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em>. Looking back, have you felt thrust into political activism because of how much the show has resonated ever since it first launched in 2017?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tAbsolutely. I think we all felt a sense of duty to become more politically active and involved and vocal. Then, you hire someone like Bradley Whitford [who came on in season two as Lawrence]. He\u2019s someone who spoke in Michigan in the final stages of the election in support of Kamala. He\u2019s so very active. But [the rest of us] ultimately we\u2019re actors. We\u2019re creating a television show for entertainment. We\u2019re not politicians. We\u2019re not activists as a career; we are entertainers.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut when you work on a show for that many years and live inside the body of these characters \u2014 you want to fight for them. We partnered with places that are doing the real work to help us tell real stories, like Planned Parenthood. Janine, in her season four flashback, went to a crisis pregnancy center. Crisis pregnancy centers exist. They\u2019re all over the country and are there to bait and switch scared and vulnerable women, people who are pregnant and looking into their options. They are there to shame them and try and convince them to keep a pregnancy that they might not want. In researching these centers, I did feel a sense of duty to talk about them and to tell people: This exists. This is not made up. So, you can\u2019t help it.<\/p>\n

\n\tWell thank you, because if we weren\u2019t going to see June get her daughter Hannah back, we needed to see this ending with Janine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYou needed Charlotte, at least!<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale finale is now streaming on Hulu. Read THR\u2019s\u00a0series oral history, and finale explainers on June and Serena\u2019s endings, as well as Alexis Bledel\u2019s return.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This story contains major spoilers from\u00a0The Handmaid\u2019s Tale\u00a0series finale, titled \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale.\u201d] Now that The Handmaid\u2019s Tale has finished telling its tale, Madeline Brewer can react to Janine\u2019s ending. The final episode had the tricky task of ending June\u2019s (Elisabeth Moss) story while also setting up Hulu\u2019s Gilead TV universe with the forthcoming sequel…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":672365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tht_506_sg_01119rt-1.jpg?w=1440&h=810&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[81390,103563,12570,136042,103565,26458,133115],"class_list":["post-672363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-ann-dowd","tag-bruce-miller","tag-elisabeth-moss","tag-madeline-brewer","tag-margaret-atwood","tag-the-handmaids-tale","tag-the-testaments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}