Yes, Aunt Lydia has a significant soft spot for Janine, stemming from a complex mix of maternal instinct, guilt over past abuse (like removing her eye), and a fascination with Janine's childlike, resilient spirit that resists Gilead's control, seeing her as both a challenge and a way to validate her own role as a savior, especially after Janine's behavior with Esther.
Lydia does have a soft spot for Janine, due to her having her eye removed. And I do know about her future in regards to The Testaments.
The actress in real life has Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. While this is of course true, in the book Serena is an older woman who walks with a cane. I thought they were just incorporating this into another character until I read about the actress having EDS.
Janine (Ofwarren):
During her time at the Red Center, which is where the handmaids receive training, Janine confronts Aunt Lydia with some vulgar language and is punished by having her right eye removed. After this happens, Janine suffers a mental breakdown and later tries to commit suicide.
It is heavily implied that Lydia suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), due to her being able to shift rapidly between treating the Handmaids as subhuman and genuinely caring about them in a way that the rest of Gilead does not.
In that locker room Nick begged her to be like him - to play along so she could survive in Gilead. Eden would not and she went to her death finding freedom in her heart. Nick would continue to play along, never finding the courage to leave Gilead and follow his heart.
The actress, Ann Dowd, has a condition that causes a quivering chin in real life, but it's also incorporated into the character of Aunt Lydia to add depth and convey her inner turmoil, especially under the stressful circumstances she faces in Gilead.
Early Janine often comes across as childlike, fragile, even “unhinged,” especially after the trauma of losing her eye, the Putnams, and the bridge scene with her baby. But that presentation isn't who she is — it's who she becomes to survive.
she has clearly been shown to have bipolar disorder that gilead doesn't really allow her to medicate and SHE IS STILL ONE OF THE MOST REASONABLE CHARACTERS. it's so interesting to me how she clearly still holds love for joseph, but she misses the old him.
We later learn that Angela, despite being a seemingly healthy baby, is a “shredder” and does not live much past her birth. Janine is distraught by this and the trauma finally, finally takes its toll on her mental wellbeing – which is made abundantly clear at the “Particicution”.
Carey Cox, who plays Rose Blaine, has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. They incorporated her disability into her character and wrote it so Rose has congenital hip dysplasia. That's why she walks with a cane and is either sitting down or in a wheelchair in some episodes.
Holly Osborne, temporarily named Nichole Waterford, and Nichole Holly Osborne, is the biological daughter of Nick Blaine and June Osborne. She was initially named Holly by her mother when giving birth (after her maternal grandmother) and renamed Nichole by the Waterfords.
She's embarrassed that she lost control in front of the commanders and wives. If she had lost control in the kitchen or where the handmaid's were gathered, she probably wouldn't have stopped or cried. Yes. The Wives and the Commanders were staring at her like she was a child that threw a tantrum in the grocery store.
Unfortunately, the finale didn't reunite June with her daughter, and instead, her fight to save Hannah (Jordana Blake) from Gilead is still ongoing when the curtains close.
In secret, Aunt Lydia despises Gilead and becomes a mole supplying critical information to the Mayday resistance organization. It seems that earlier in the novel, she has been one of the aunts in charge of Offred's facility, along with Aunt Elizabeth, and she seems to be one of the most instructive of the aunts.
Nick Blaine
June early on discovers that Nick is an Eye, a spy for Gilead. He is eventually promoted to the rank of Commander and briefly sent to the war front in Chicago.
Aubrey Plaza and I talk about our work on INGRID GOES WEST— a lesson in creating substance to a person with borderline personality disorder. The importance in finding the “why” a character does what they do.
She reports that Lawrence has sent Cora away since "he doesn't like liars”.
I think it's because Janine is simple minded and almost acts like a child. She has this childlike innocence about her at times and it kind of tugs on your heartstrings. Aunt Lydia likes that about her. Remember before things “changed” Aunt Lydia was a school teacher so she had a special place in her heart for children.
She was being raped over and over, abused, disfigured and had her baby snatched away straight from her womb. She was that tough smart lady at the beginning until it was abused out of her if I remember correctly.
Life in Gilead
It is rumoured that the real father of Janine's baby is not Commander Warren, but her doctor, due to Warren's infertility, and Warren's Wife secretly arranged this to get a child. Janine goes into labour and Offred, Ofglen and several other Handmaids attend the birth to support her.
Aunt Lydia, excited about the prospect of a new child, goes and rings the bell.
#4: Pursing Your Lips
This is an indication of tension and may indicate frustration or disapproval. Pursed lips are a classic sign of anger, including when it is suppressed. Pursed lips can also indicate a person who is thinking and deciding between possible options.
The Testaments, a spinoff of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale, is coming out in 2026. Hulu recently shared the first look at the new series, starring Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia, One Battle After Another breakout star Chase Infiniti as Agnes/Hannah, and Lucy Halliday as Daisy.