Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s ‘The Testaments’ picks up the story of Gilead, shifting the focus from June and the Handmaids to the young girls who are trapped in the system that was built to enslave them. While Mayday and its fight against the oppressive regime remain a major plot point, the show focuses on the story of two girls: Agnes and Daisy. While Agnes was raised in Gilead, prepared to become a Commander’s wife and to perform her duty of birthing children, Daisy came to Gilead willingly as a Pearl Girl. Over the course of the season, their stories intertwine, and the connection between them deepens as well. However, there is another major connection they share, though neither is yet aware of it. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Agnes and Daisy’s Connection with June in the Show Differs From the Book
‘The Testaments’ is an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s book of the same name, which served as the sequel to her ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’ on which Hulu’s six-season show of the same name was based. The books span 15 years, but the show significantly reduces this time difference. From the finale of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale‘ Season 6 to the premiere of ‘The Testaments’ Season 1, only four years or so have passed. This means many aspects of the book have been changed, including the age difference between Agnes and Daisy. In the books, there is a ten-year difference between them, which means that by the time Daisy arrives in Gilead as a Pearl Girl, Agnes has already moved on to the next phase of her life, working as a Martha.
In the show, this age-difference is reduced to nothing. Agnes and Daisy are presented as quite similar in age, which, in turn, changes another important detail about them. In the book, Agnes is revealed to be Hannah, Offred’s daughter with her husband, Luke, who was taken away from them when Gilead came into power. The show carries this detail forward. At the end of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 6, June discovered that her daughter, Hannah, was now under the care of the MacKenzie family, who lived in DC because of Commander MacKenzie’s importance to the regime. With Boston freed, the rebel forces now have their sights set on Maryland. When the show ends, the fight is just beginning, and June is yet to be reunited with her daughter.
In ‘The Testaments,’ Agnes is revealed to be the child being raised by the MacKenzie family, which confirms that she is Hannah. However, so much has happened and so much time has passed by now that she seems to have forgotten everything about her birth mother. She has no idea who June is, and, having been raised in Gilead, her whole life has been shaped that way. Another interesting thing that happens in the book is the revelation that Daisy is actually Baby Nicole, later suspected to be the daughter of Offred and Nick, who was smuggled out of Gilead but raised by different parents because Gilead wanted her back. The show seems to have given her a similar backstory, but the compact timeline means key details about her have been changed.
Daisy’s Backstory Has Been Significantly Changed for the Show
The fifteen-year gap between Atwood’s novels, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘The Testaments,’ means that June’s daughter, Baby Nicole, has the opportunity to grow into a teenager before her life comes crashing down on her. The show, however, does not have that luxury. At the end of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 6, we find June’s daughter, Nicole, with her grandma. While June will continue fighting for the rebellion, helping Mayday dismantle Gilead brick by brick, her mother will take her young daughter to Boston to raise her in the new America, built upon the ashes of Gilead, which grows weaker by the day. With only a four-year gap, Nicole remains too young to be brought into the mix as an undercover spy.
Moreover, the books don’t establish June, who remains Offred, as a significant rebellion leader. She remains more of a shadow that looms over the stories of the two young girls. She remains an entirely unattached figure. In the show, however, she is basically Mayday. She is heavily involved with the organization’s work, which is why it wouldn’t make sense for her to send her second daughter behind enemy lines when she has yet to get back her first daughter. In the show, June is more of a handler for Daisy, and while there is a chance she knows who Daisy’s real parents are and what happened to them, it’s likely she is not Baby Nicole. This means that Agnes and Daisy are each other’s half-sisters, unlike in the book. Still, June remains a strong connective tissue as she is Agnes’ birth mother and Daisy’s handler, but that is the extent of their connection.
Read More: The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 Finale Recap and Ending Explained
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