Elisabeth Moss’ Pregnancy Interview May Have Spoiled June’s Ending in The Handmaid’s Tale
The Handmaid’s Tale, the show based on the best-selling novel by Margaret Atwood, is returning for the sixth and final season on Hulu. The series, which stars Elisabeth Moss, is set in Gilead, a totalitarian society in what used to be the United States of America, which treats women as property of the state. It’s a scary concept, and yet, since the moment the show was first announced, it has become a fan favorite.
One of the show’s most important concepts is fertility, environmental disasters, and the plummeting birth rate. In this dystopian society that sees a world on the brink of extinction, the few women who remain who are still able to get pregnant are forced into what is basically sexual servitude. Moss plays one of these women, Offred, and one of the biggest questions fans asked about Moss going into the final season of the show was whether the actress has kids in real life.
So, was Elisabeth Moss pregnant while filming The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6? Does she have kids in real life? And, if she does, how much of what her character goes through did Moss get from personal experience?
Was Elisabeth Moss pregnant while filming The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6?
No, Moss was not pregnant while filming The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6. She gave birth sometime in 2024, though there are no specifics about when exactly she gave birth or the name of the baby, which reports indicate is a girl. She likely gave birth right before the show started filming, as she announced her pregnancy in January 2024, and the show started filming in September 2024. The actress did share that she was “so fortunate” to have her newborn on set while she was filming the final season of the show in Vancouver.
“So many parents cannot,” Moss said during PaleyFest LA on March 26. “Any of us who had the privilege of being able to bring our kids or see our kids at work, we would every single time be like, ‘Aren’t we lucky to get to do that?'”
Moss also shared how meaningful it was to be able to have a kid, considering the story the show was telling in The Handmaid’s Tale and how much of the show is about infertility and about women’s struggles to have kids and to keep those kids. “This coming together of art and life that was undoubtedly, incredibly meaningful,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. “I’m really glad that I got to have this last season playing June with a little bit more of a visceral emotional experience of some of the things that June is talking about or fighting for.” This all feels like it could tie to June’s final goal of reuniting with her daughter, which has been her goal all along. Perhaps a tiny spoiler?
For Moss, it was a “beautiful synergy” and something that aligned so much with the story that was being told that she shared, “I’m really happy that I got to have that experience.”
Ironically, in The Handmaid’s Tale book, June and her daughter Hannah do not reunite—but the story ends with an epilogue that explains the story is being told as part of a symposium on Gileadean Studies in 2195, which hints at a reunion in the future for the two, even if we don’t see it. This is likely because their reunion will take place in The Testaments, the sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, which Hulu has also bought the rights to.
Moss was previously married to Fred Armisen from 2009 to 2011. She has not publicly shared the identity of her baby’s father. When her pregnancy was first announced, she’d told Business Insider that, “I think it’ll be a whole new added perspective to life,” adding, “I’m sure I’ll be bringing that to June and to the show.”
Now, it’s time to see just how she did.
