Interview
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: O-T Fagbenle Reveals What ‘Infuriates’ Luke About June & Nick
[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 Episode 7, “Shattered.”]
Nick (Max Minghella) has always been June’s (Elisabeth Moss) blindspot in The Handmaid’s Tale. While he’s not outright evil like the commanders around him, he doesn’t do enough to try and stop the regime. His moments of rebellion are, as Minghella has described, inspired by his desire to see June more than anything else. Having a rebel commander in the ranks is a huge help to June and Mayday’s cause, but that’s only if secrets can be trusted with him. So far, they have been. But he spilled the details about the plot to attack commanders at Jezebel’s when his father-in-law, High Commander Gabriel Wharton (Josh Charles), threatened the information out of him.
This resulted in the murder of all the women in Jezebel’s except for Janine (Madeline Brewer). It was a crushing development for June, whose decision about what to do about this love triangle with Nick and her husband, Luke (O-T Fagbenle), had long been on the back burner. However, in the seventh episode of the final season, June realized she couldn’t go back to Nick after this. She and Luke decided that they’re not just together because of their daughter, Hannah (Jordana Blake), whom they’re still trying to rescue from Gilead. They’re going to try to repair their marriage after Gilead forced them to part from each other and their child, and after June fell in love with someone else.
June’s feelings for Nick were born out of a need to survive. Luke has always understood the circumstances that led to their relationship and the birth of their daughter, Nicole. But it’s a different story in Season 6. Even in Alaska, when June unexpectedly reunited with her mother, Holly (Cherry Jones), Holly was aghast that June was in love with a “nazi.” Luke used the same word for Nick in Season 6 Episode 7, which came out May 6 on Hulu. How does Luke cope with the fact that June fell in love with someone who could justify their complacency and rise within Gilead by saying he was just following orders? (That was Nick’s reasoning in what may have been his final meeting with June.) Fagbenle explains Luke’s mindset to Swooon.
Disney / Steve Wilkie
“I’ve always found it fascinating that people have managed to overlook the context of Nick because they love that relationship and the excitement and the intimacy and the sexual tension and, quite frankly, how hot he is — let’s be honest,” Fagbenle admits.
“I think Luke being the understanding person he is, he gets that there’s distance and, guess what, there’s a novel attraction,” he continues. “How exciting is that? And sometimes when you’re away, you need support. I think he understands all the factors that go into her love for Nick, let alone them having a child together. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t infuriate him.”
Indeed, the fury was clear in the most recent episode. Moira (Samira Wiley) was shocked by the June-Nick relationship as well, but she explained to June that the origins of their relationship are “understandable” upon her return to Mayday.
June has been shaken awake by this new development with Nick, and it doesn’t seem that this is something she can come back from. And frankly, she shouldn’t. Nick is not the epitome of evil, but he’s not doing enough to stop the evil either. Origins of their relationship aside, Luke is a better match for June and her intellect. Even Minghella says so.
“He’s a really good survivor. I don’t know if he’s the smartest person in the world, and I think that that has always been there a little bit,” Minghella previously told Swooon. “That’s what he can’t offer June, which Luke can, is an intellectual connection. He doesn’t have that at all. A lot of the time he finds himself in situations because he doesn’t really have the tools to navigate this stuff. It was never taught to him.”
There are only two episodes left in The Handmaid’s Tale‘s final season. Can June and Luke’s love survive now that they’ve shifted focus back onto each other?
The Handmaid’s Tale, Tuesdays, Hulu
