‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Sequel ‘The Testaments’ Gets Major Update

Hulu’s highly anticipated The Handmaid’s Tale spinoff The Testaments has found its Daisy. Lucy Halliday has joined the cast of the upcoming series, based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name, as one of the show’s three protagonists opposite Chase Infiniti’s Agnes and Ann Dowd’s Aunt Lydia, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Monday.

Halliday’s Daisy is described as “a Canadian teenager whose life is turned upside down when she learns of her connection to the Republic of Gilead.” She is one of the main characters of the show and Atwood’s novel, which picks up 15 years after the events of Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale and is narrated by three women with ties to Gilead – Aunt Lydia, Agnes, and Daisy.

In the books, Agnes, who lives in Gilead, and Daisy smuggle incriminating information about Gilead’s regime out of the country, while Aunt Lydia serves as a mole supplying critical information to the Mayday resistance organization.

Halliday’s casting as Daisy comes on the heels of her breakout role as Lois Jackson in Blue Jean, which earned her a Scottish BAFTA and a British Independent Film Award nomination. She also recently finished filming California Schemin’ with James McAvoy. Reacting to her Testaments casting, she wrote on Instagram, “off to gilead i go,” teasing that her character “is one seriously cool mf.”

No further casting for the show has been announced at this time, but there is hope that Elisabeth Moss will reprise her role as June Osbourne, who has risen to become a figure of resistance in Gilead. In the books, June is Agnes’ mother, while in the show, Agnes is the name given to her oldest daughter Hannah, portrayed by Jordana Blake, under Gilead rule.

Created by Bruce Miller, the spinoff series has been in development since 2022, with Deadline reporting in February that the show is nearing a series greenlight. Miller also executive produces alongside fellow Handmaid’s Tale executive producer Warren Littlefiend, who said in December that they were moving “full speed ahead” on The Testaments. Filming is set to begin in Toronto at the end of March, per previous reports.

The show does not currently have a premiere date, but is set to air sometime after The Handmaid’s Tale wraps its sixth and final season. Set to debut on April 8, “in the final season, June’s unyielding spirit and determination pull her back into the fight to take down Gilead. Luke and Moira join the resistance, Serena tries to reform Gilead, while Commander Lawrence and Aunt Lydia reckon with what they have wrought, and Nick faces challenging tests of character.”