'The Handmaid's Tale' Star Reacts to That Shocking Death in the Dramatic Season 4 Finale

SPOILER ALERT – Do not continue reading if you don’t want to know what happened on the latest episode of The Handmaid’s Tale.

The fourth season of the Hulu series has focused on Elizabeth Moss‘ character June Osborne as she strikes back against Gilead as a fierce rebel leader.

The season finale, “The Wilderness,” aired last night and now one of the stars of the series is speaking out about the brutal death that took place during the episode.

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Fans watched as June and her fellow handmaids got their revenge against Commander Fred Waterford, played by Joseph Fiennes, after he repeatedly assaulted and tortured the women of Gilead for years.

The actor spoke with Deadline about his character’s death, telling the outlet, “The Handmaid’s Tale has taught me so much. But I can’t wait to sit back and enjoy this show from another perspective.”

As for whether this was how he pictured the death of Commander Waterford, Joseph said, “Bruce [showrunner, Miller] knew, like Margaret Atwood knew, that it was alluded to somewhere in the book that a certain Fred Waterford would get his comeuppance via a Salvaging, but when and by whom it didn’t explicitly say.

“So, I always knew somehow it was going to be introduced into the narrative, and Bruce very kindly at the end of each season, we’d have a coffee and a chat about how things are going or where things might go again,” he continued. “I remember it was end of season 2, he very kindly said, ‘Hey, listen, just a heads-up that the time for the commander might be up around about next season.’

“That was at the end of season 2, and then I was furiously reading through all the episodes as we were shooting season 3, and nothing happened. I was like, ‘Bruce, what’s going on?’ And then we had a catch-up, and he said, ‘No, I think season 4.’ So, very kindly, he kept me a year more than I thought I was due to stay, but I kind of had an inkling early on,” he said.

Joseph also reflected on what his character’s death means for the show.

“It’s paradoxical, and I think Lizzie’s, or rather, June’s need for justice and revenge is fascinating. It’s something we as the audience need. It’s a certain catharsis because he’s going to get off free, but the paradox is that she becomes a product of the thing that she wants to extinguish.”

He continued, “Well, I love the way that Bruce introduced another theme into the narrative, which is that actually, in revenge, we have to find closure and forgiveness.

“There’s got to be a sense of pity at the kind of, the banality of evil, and I love that June is cognizant of her rage and cognizant that she will lose her higher spiritual self to this urge, this need to kill. It’s confounding and it’s confusing.”

Click here to learn about another chilling character who was added to season 4!