The Handmaid’s Tale has become one of the most gripping and emotionally charged shows on television, and its cast delivers some of the most powerful performances you’ll see on screen. Amanda Brugel and Madeline Brewer—two of the series’ standout stars—share what it’s like to dive into the show’s darkest moments, how they prepare emotionally, and why Madeline chooses not to read full scripts.
In the interview, they talk about how they approach emotionally heavy scenes, the surprising way they handle watching themselves on screen, and even the one song that helps them tap into the right headspace.
With this being the last season, did you guys devour each script as you got them to find out what was going to happen?
Amanda Brugel: I’m the opposite of her answer where yes, I did read the scripts.
Madeline Brewer: I don’t read them. I read what I need to know. But, for example, I don’t actually ever interact with you after season three.
Amanda Brugel: No, we only had like two scenes together in the whole show.
Madeline Brewer: So, I don’t really need to read what’s going on with Rita because I get to watch it. So, I read what I need to know and then I watch the show as it comes out with everybody else. It’s actually fun because I get to be a fan and a participant at the same time.
Do you guys like watching yourself?
Amanda Brugel: No.
Madeline Brewer: I mean, a little. Well, I don’t like whenever actors are like, ‘I hate watching myself,’ but I’m like, ‘Oh, that turned out like, cool. I’m glad.’
Amanda Brugel: When I watch it, I don’t ever crap on myself. Do you know what it is? I always play such a strange character… I don’t want to do something where if I don’t like the way I look, I alter it or my ego gets involved or I try to angle myself differently. So, I try not to watch it for that because a girl has an ego.
There’s a line in the sand between all of us as a cast. There’s the cast that will run to the monitors to watch their takes, I won’t name drop the people, but there are some. And then there are those of us that will hide under furniture to not watch and so I’m in the not watch.
Madeline Brewer: I can’t watch it in the process. I can watch it at the end. I can watch it when it’s finished and there’s nothing I can do about it.
Things in the show have taken a dark turn and they’re getting even darker now. What’s your experience playing those dark scenes? Are you the type of actors who can turn it on and off and just walk away from it?
Madeline Brewer: I think it depends on the scene for me. There was a scene this season that I had to go home and I needed some time. I think it’s like episode seven or seven, eight? I needed some time and that rarely happens for me, where it’s like my whole body is ignited because, you know, as an actor, your body doesn’t know what’s real and what’s fake. It just knows what it knows, what it is experiencing.
But it’s not often because we crack jokes and we have a good time.
Amanda Brugel: And a lot of us rely on music. And because I’ve relied on the same song for the last eight years, that as soon as I hear it, my sense memory in my body can immediately start to cry or feel sorrow. And I think it’s from my own life but it’s also the sorrow of this character. It’s strange. And if I hear the song on other TV shows, I get angry that they’re playing my song, but also I feel like I do in the moment. It’s like it’s a great memory trick.
Can you tell me what the song is?
Amanda Brugel: It’s Max Richter, On the Nature of Daylight.
