Followers of The Handmaid’s Story must say goodbye to extra than simply Gilead in its sixth and last season. Samira Wiley shared why she received’t return to the collection. Learn extra inside.
Wiley, who performs June’s finest pal Moira, confirmed she won’t return for the upcoming spin-off collection The Testaments. Based on xoNecole, the actress attended the premiere occasion for Season 6 and made her stance crystal clear.
“I’m completed with it. I’m completed with the trauma,” she shared. “I really feel like I’ve performed my half and my story is completed.”
Wiley’s choice is comprehensible. Hulu’s award-winning dystopian drama, primarily based on Margaret Atwood’s novel, isn’t precisely mild viewing. Set in a totalitarian future the place fertile girls are pressured into sexual slavery to repopulate the earth, the present dives deep into oppression, resistance, and psychological torment. As highly effective because the performances are, Wiley admits the heaviness of the story took a toll on her off-screen.
To keep up her psychological well being whereas filming such intense materials, Wiley leaned into wellness practices.
“I needed to be taught some methods—meditation and mindfulness and all of these issues—to consciously take myself out of the world of Gilead,” she stated. She even issued a delicate warning to binge-watchers saying, “Please deal with your psychological well being.”
Although Wiley received’t be part of the spin-off, her character Moira lastly acquired some peace by the tip of Season 5. Her exit seems like a full-circle second. Not just for Moira, who endured unspeakable trauma, but in addition for Wiley herself, who’s been with the collection since its 2017 debut.
And whereas her chapter in Gilead is closing, Wiley’s impression stays. From her function in Orange Is the New Black to the resilience she dropped at Moira, she’s carved out an area for advanced, unapologetically actual Black girls on display.
The ultimate season of The Handmaid’s Story premiered April 8 on Hulu. As for The Testaments, which is ready 15 years after the unique occasions, a brand new story will unfold, however with out one in every of its most beloved voices.
