(Spoiler alert: Do not read on unless you’ve seen Season 1 of “The Handmaid’s Tale”)
To say that Madeline Brewer’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” character, Janine, is disturbed would probably be an understatement. She’s been through a lot.
One of the enslaved ladies in red, Janine was fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you see it) to get pregnant in Season 1 and carry a child to term. But in Janine’s attempt to steal the baby away from the parents, she was forced to hand over the infant. Now, she’s headed to the dreaded Colonies in Season 2.
Brewer told TheWrap TV reporter Jennifer Maas in a recent interview that Janine, per usual, is looking at the bright side of being banished to the yet-to-be-seen-by-viewers wastelands of Gilead. “Janine’s way of viewing the whole thing right now is her life has been spared, her baby is safe, and she’s just thankful to be alive,” Brewer said.
The actress — who said The Colonies are “somehow strangely beautiful and sad and scary and dangerous” all at once — said Janine’s optimistic outlook is status quo for the character, who is consistently trying to find the good in every situation. Even the really, really bad ones.
“It’s like episode 6 [of Season 1] and we’re all washing blood off the wall, like there had been people hanging from the wall and we’re scrubbing blood off of it, and Janine is, like, touching it with her finger and she’s, like, ‘It’s like painting,’” Brewer said. “And like really trying hard to pretend that this isn’t so f—ed up.”
“I love that the writers wrote in there that she looks at it and has a moment of realization that she’s like, ‘Oh my God.’ And she’s just like, ‘Nope! Nope! Not going there. Not going there.’ That moment was really fun to play. But also showed Janine very clearly — how desperately she wants to look for the fun and the light and the silver lining in every situation. She’s special.”
“The Handmaid’s Tale” Season 2 will be shaped by Offred/June’s (Elisabeth Moss) pregnancy and her ongoing fight to free her future child from the dystopian horrors of Gilead. In the sophomore installment, Offred and others will fight against — or succumb to — the dark truth that “Gilead is within you.”
Watch Brewer’s interview with TheWrap above.
Season 2 of “The Handmaid’s Tale” will premiere with two new episodes on April 25, with subsequent episodes released every Wednesday, on Hulu.