Elisabeth Moss, O-T Fagbenle and Max Minghella tell TheWrap about June’s complex love triangle after that steamy kiss
While June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) and her husband Luke (O-T Fagbenle) rekindled their flame in the midst of fighting to get their daughter Hannah (Jordana Blake) back, it appears the former handmaid still has the hots for her other child’s father Nick Blaine ( Max Minghella) on “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
And after that steamy kiss between Nick and June in Episode 6, titled “Surprise,” it leaves fans wondering exactly who does June love more, Nick or Luke? Well, the cast shared their opinions on the fiery love triangle with TheWrap.
“I only think the fictional character of June could answer that question. But by the way, the answer might not be easy for that character,” Minghella told TheWrap. “I think that they offer incredibly different things to [June]. There’s a intellectualism in the relationship between Luke and June that Nick cannot offer; he doesn’t have that in him, and I imagine that’s something that’s really missing for her on some level. At the same time, he provides a security maybe that Luke doesn’t.”
Just when we thought June and Luke were locked back in after years of being torn apart, here comes Nick proposing they escape to Paris together, away from all the oppression, killings and torture still running amuck in Gilead. And for a minute — and if not for her daughter Hannah still be held captive — it looked as if June was ready to risk it all for the suave and reserved commander. She’s mostly kept it strictly business with Nick this season, but after reminiscing about their days together in love but in hiding while June was detained by the Waterfords, and after Nick told her she’s the “only good thing in his life,” which was followed by a warm embrace and heated kiss, we’re thinking June is still torn between the two men.
“I mean, it’s totally understandable on one level. You go, ‘Well, you’re split apart, and you spend a lot of time away, and you’ve been through trauma,’ and there is this person there that provides you some level of comfort and excitement and novelty and interest and love, and more than that, they have a child together that is all understandable,” Fagbenle explained to TheWrap.
But on the flip side, Fagbenle said Nick’s role as a commander and his apparent disassociation from Nicole, he and June’s daughter, makes him question how Nick’s morale and just how good a man the official would actually be to June if she were to choose him.
“I find it curious, and I imagine so does Luke, that this is a man who’s ultimately abandoned his child— he never talks about his child. He never says, ‘Hey, by the way, I’m a big ol’ commander. I’ve got a bunch of money. Here’s some money to help you’ — you never hear that,” Fagbenle explained. “What kind of man is that, you know? So what are the values of a man who manages to climb up the ranks of someone in Gilead? How do you get promoted there? How many innocent people do you have to kill or snitch on? How many missiles do you have to rain down on civilians? You know?”
He continued: “So sure, he’s a very good kisser, sure he’s very handsome. But there depends on one’s value system, what one thinks is really important in the character of your chosen loved ones.”
As viewers have seen, Luke and Nick have met and know one another very well. For the most part, Nick has honored the married couple’s relationship in spite of the strong feelings he still shares for June.
“I think it’s really interesting, and I think Nick has a tremendous amount of respect for her relationship to Luke — I’ve always tried to play it that way,” Minghella shared. “He has moments of frustration this season, but I think deep down, he understands what Luke’s been going through, and has a tremendous amount of empathy for that.”
Whether it’s Nick working undercover to help June take down Gilead or Luke giving himself up to Canadian authorities just so June can escape to Alaska, both men have proved their devotion to June, always willing to put their lives on the line if it means saving hers. The only one who truly knows what she wants is June, and Moss said there’s is no simple answer.
“I don’t think she knows who she loves more, and I think it changes all the time,” Moss told TheWrap. “I think she loves them both. I think there’s a version of Nick that she’s in love with, there’s a version of Luke that she’s in love with, whether or not those versions of those men exist anymore, you know? Luke has changed so much, and then obviously Nick changes so much this season, and has such an arc towards the dark side.”
We’re only six episodes in, so who knows how the tale will end, but Fagbenle said fans may be pleased with the outcome.
“I think [the writers] managed to create an ending for Luke and June that is both satisfying and unpredictable, and, I guess, engenders a sense of curiosity,” Fagbenle said.
