‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Will Aunt Lydia Return for Season 3?
Spoiler Warning! This article contains important plot points from season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale.
When we last saw Ann Dowd’s Aunt Lydia, she could barely move and she was lying at the bottom of a flight of stairs, having been stabbed in the back, beaten and kicked by Emily (Alexis Bledel). Emily finally lost her temper after too much torture for one person to handle during season two finale of The Handmaid’s Tale. The Martha of her house yells at her, asking what she’s done. She also cries out for somebody to call an ambulance. This leaves Aunt Lydia’s fate in suspense. Did the ambulance save her life? Did she succumb to her injuries? Is it the end of Aunt Lydia, the stern caretaker, babysitter and “matron” for the handmaids?
During an interview with The Daily Beast, the actress confirmed that she will indeed, be back. When Dowd was asked whether Aunt Lydia survived the attack, she said, “I think I’m allowed to say that yes she will. She does survive it.” She also revealed that the showrunner Bruce Miller personally confirmed to her that Aunt Lydia would survive.
During another recent interview, Warren Littlefield, the executive producer, also made a similar admission. She explained that before giving the final script to Dowd, they told her that she was not dead but it was going to be a pretty brutal scene. That is was.
Aside from the fate of Aunt Lydia, we also need to know if Emily will make it out of Gilead with the baby, and what will happen to June (Elizabeth Moss) now that she’s made the decision to stay, risking her life to take back her first baby girl, Hannah. On these topics, Dowd reveals she is just as clueless as we are.
“I don’t have any inkling of what will happen,” she says. “If you’re to ask an actor, what would you like to see happen?—you know, we’re full of ideas and thank god it’s not in my hands. Because I’m not qualified. So I don’t know.”
Dowd expressed that she loved the direction the production team was taking her character towards, and she was looking forward to seeing where that was. “As to hopes for her, you always wish she spends more time with different characters and all of that.” She said.
So there you have it, we haven’t seen the last of Aunt Lydia’s maddening strictness and low tolerance for shenanigans. Perhaps we will now be able to get a bit more insight on what makes her so loyal to the cause. She seems to live and breathe the values of Gilead, without hesitation, and we want to know why. We will be waiting for season 3 with our heads shaking at June’s sudden decision, but once season 3 drops, we’ll be glued to the tragedy yet again.
Dowd is the winner of the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Emmy in 2017 and has been nominated again this year.
You can catch her in The Handmaid’s Tale season 2, streaming now on Hulu!
Micajah McGregor, Editor in Chief of FanFest.com and renowned entertainment journalist, graduated from USC with a focus on Journalism and Film Studies. With an MBA from The Wharton School, he began his career at “PopCulture Pulse” and has been instrumental in shaping FanFest into a prime entertainment news source. Known for his financial analysis of celebrity net worths, Micajah received the ‘Digital Editor of the Year’ award in 2018. He’s also an active blogger, sharing his passion for superhero films and ’90s TV. Contact him at [email protected] for engaging entertainment insights.
