‘The Testaments’ Star on That Violent Penultimate Episode: “She Spirals. I Didn’t Even Recognize Her”

[This story contains major spoilers from the penultimate episode of The Testaments, “Marat Sade.”]

When The Testaments began, Bruce Miller — the creator of The Handmaid’s Tale sequel series — told us “there’s nothing in the world as powerful as a 14-year-old girl.” The penultimate episode has certainly bore that theory out.

In “Marat Sade,” the hour that leads into next week’s finale, Becca, played by Mattea Conforti, takes justice into her own hands, just as the Plums (the teens in training to marry Commanders) have been trained to do by the Aunts of Gilead. After she finds out that her father (Randal Edwards) sexually assaulted her best friend Agnes (Chase Infiniti), along with more of her friends, she stabs her father to death while he’s taking a bath. She runs to Agnes to tell her what she’s done — an action that proves how her feelings for Agnes are much deeper than just a friend. But when Agnes tells her parents, the Eyes come and take Becca away.

“A lot of the reason why she ends up doing what she does is for Agnes; for the love that she has for her and as a way to protect her,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter of Becca and Agnes’ relationship. “She spirals. I don’t even recognize that version of Becca anymore [when she shows up to Agnes’ house].”

Below, Conforti dives into the violence of the episode while discussing how they approached Becca’s feelings for Agnes differently than in Margaret Atwood‘s book on which the show is based. She also reacts to the season two renewal and teases next week’s finale leaving lingering questions.

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So it was just announced that The Testaments is coming back for season two!

I’m so excited. I’ve been waiting for them to release [the news] and I’m so happy.

How long have you known you were officially coming back?

I literally found out a few days ago. There were whispers. I was asking if there’s going to be a season two. They were like, “Maybe, we don’t know yet.” And then they finally told us a few days ago.

It’s not a surprise, given the intentions and expectations going into a Handmaid’s Tale sequel series. Something I spoke with your creator Bruce Miller and executive producer Warren Littlefield about when the show launched was setting up season two and beyond, and building out more of the Gilead universe. Were you as a cast feeling confident when making the show that you would have a multi-season series?

I think we all knew this show was so powerful while we were filming it. You could definitely feel that within the scenes, but I don’t think anybody really expected how much love and support we were all going to truly receive. It’s been so amazing and so appreciated.

I remember finishing up the finale and I was like, “I have to know what happens next. I want a season two… I need to know.” There are so many cliffhangers and so many open-ended questions that I have. But I don’t think I realized how amazing everything was truly going to be until the show came out.

Especially with a weekly drop and this show being able to build an audience, what has it been like to be in this mega-franchise, with fans approaching you or seeing the reaction online?

It’s been really surreal. I’m on TikTok and Instagram, and it’s kind of strange. On my For You page, I’m scrolling, and I just see an edit of myself, or I see videos of the show. Even people approaching me on the street — I was hanging out with the girls [on the cast] in New York last week, and people were coming up to us. It’s never happened to me before, and it’s so amazing. I love it all, and I have so much love for our fans. There would be a show without them, so it’s so appreciated.

Onto this week’s wild episode… Becca’s feelings for Agnes (played by Chase Infiniti in the series) were more explicit in the book than they have been in the show, until now. Her actions make her feelings clear to everyone — to viewers, and to Agnes. What were your conversations like with Bruce Miller about how you wanted to treat her feelings differently in the show?

When I first arrived to Canada, I sat down with Bruce and with [director] Mike Barker about how we wanted to portray a different element offered into Gilead; this different role Gilead hasn’t really seen or had a character play out and offer that new perspective. They wanted to show how much love Becca can divide up in different categories. She has so much strong platonic love for Agnes, but also so many strong feelings romantically for Agnes. We really wanted to show that when you’re a young adolescent, and you have these strong emotions, that it could be either one.

There’s constant tension and constant buzz all around. We wanted to have that play and progress throughout the whole season, and eventually lead to her tipping point, which we saw in this episode. A lot of the reason why she ends up doing what she does is for Agnes; for the love that she has for her and as a way to protect her.

Right. There’s being a good friend, and then there’s protecting someone you love. Do you feel like that was what made Becca snap and kill her father — finding out that he assaulted Agnes?

I think so. Initially, when Daisy [Lucy Halliday] tells Becca, there’s already those initial feelings of jealousy and envy with Daisy and her relationship with Agnes. So it’s easy for Becca to take out her frustration on Daisy. We know what Daisy’s saying isn’t true [she lied about Dr. Grove touching her], but even if it were true, I don’t think Becca would have trusted Daisy’s word.

But Becca has so much love for Agnes. Everything she says is bible to her. She trusts her with her whole heart. So when she finds that out [that her dad touched Agnes], it’s earth shattering. But also, a reason why Becca does what she does is because this is what the Aunts have been teaching them for so long, that this is the right course of action and the right punishment for what sins these men commit.

We saw the hanging bodies in episode one. That was the punishment for what they deserved from touching a girl. So this, in a way, is the right act of justice and right thing to do to protect Agnes and also to protect Gilead.

It is interesting that in a world where rape is commonplace that this is so un-rattling to these girls. Do they not really understand what life is like as a handmaid, and how their fathers and soon-to-be husbands rape the handmaids?

Right. They don’t, because they are the most godly girls Gilead has. They are the group of girls responsible for becoming that divine mother figure and wife to these commanders. Even if they were aware of what the men do to handmaids, unfortunately, that’s the treatment that the handmaids receive. They’re not being held to the same caliber. So it wouldn’t be perceived abnormally, really. It’s moreso when these girls are harmed before they’re married that it makes them ungodly or unworthy of becoming this divine mother figure for these men to have one day.

Do you think in this moment when she kills her father that Becca was having a mental break? Or was this her acting on her belief, as you said, that it’s an eye for an eye?

I think it’s both. She’s been so confused about what or where her place is in Gilead, and when she finds this out, I feel like this is her calling for purpose, and where she’s going to make her mark and show the Aunts that she belongs here. She is having a bit of a mental spiral and breakdown because this is her father. You have to strip away everything Gilead preaches and really focus on the relationships she has with each person in this situation. She spirals. We see that when she even shows up to Agnes’ house after, and says, “I did this for you,” and when she’s in the bath. I don’t even recognize that version of Becca anymore.

What was it like to get into the headspace for this episode and what was it like to come out of it for you?

It was intense. I didn’t read the script at first because we were filming a bunch of episodes at once, but then we got episode nine and people were texting me, “Did you read it?” When I read it, as an actor, I’m so happy to have that challenge and be able to put myself in a place where I’ve never gone before. It was easy to get into a bit of a mentally insane state just because we were working so many hours late into the night in a confined dark studio. I wanted to leave set those days exhausted, because I wanted to give it my all. I wanted to know that I showed up to set and gave it my 110 percent, and I’m leaving fatigued and not leaving questioning if I should have done more.

But getting out of that mindset, I slept a lot. My family was visiting me a lot during that episode and I spent a lot of time with the girls too, outside of set.

There’s this moment of betrayal at the end of the episode when Becca realizes that the Eyes are coming for her. In that moment, she doesn’t know Agnes didn’t call the Eyes, and is maybe thinking Agnes participated in that. In this final moment, is she feeling like her love is not reciprocated and how heartbroken is she?

She’s confused, you know? She really believes her and Agnes are going to run away, and she showed Agnes her love for her and what she’s willing to do for Agnes. Agnes says, “Yes, I’ll run away with you. We’ll make this work,” and Becca truly, truly believes her. What’s really hard about that situation is that Agnes is just doing what she believes is the right thing to do. She genuinely wants Becca to receive some help because she is not okay, and not in a great mental state. But it’s really Agnes’ father, Commander MacKenzie, who calls the eyes. Agnes isn’t aware. I think Becca knows that Agnes didn’t call the Eyes. I think she genuinely thinks she’s going to go see a doctor, which is why she’s calling out to Agnes still. But I think regardless, even if Agnes had called the eyes, Becca would still call out to Agnes because she has so much love for her and she’s her person.

What can you say about the consequences that will come for Becca in the finale? And how did her fate surprise you, was it what you would have expected?

It’s Gilead. You can’t trust anybody in Gilead. We know that. We know that Gilead isn’t a happy place. It’s not a great place. There are so many hardships that underlie a lot of situations and scenarios. So we can expect to see the Gilead that we know and have known since The Handmaid’s Tale. I just want Becca to find some peace, eventually.

How would you say this changes her relationship with Agnes after this moment?

Becca is obviously very confused, and thrown off by the course of the past 24 hours. But Agnes is the kind of person where, in Becca’s mind, she can do no wrong. And if she could do that whole series of events over to protect her, I genuinely think Becca would because Agnes is her girl. She would protect her no matter what.

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The Testaments releases its season finale next week on Wednesday, May 27.