Yeah.

And then obviously, getting to be a part of anything that Chase is a part of is, is so exciting and such an honor.

And it's cool.

It's for, I think it's for people who love the show, who love Handmaids, but it's also for people who've never seen Handmaids.

[laughs]

... and are working and holding down the fort, and that was, I mean, a constant inspiration every day to see how they balanced it and to see how they balanced it so beautifully and to see how they talked about the more, the harder parts as well and shared and, like ...

transplanted the action to la yeah did you have much discussion about which city's going because it really uses the la locations brilliantly so that's a kind of big element of the show of the show

yes it was originally set in the uk and um i i love working in the uk so i i have another thing that we're developing with araminta that will stay in the uk which is great yeah yeah but of course it was in the uk so we moved to america even though when we shoot in america we move everything to the uk originally it was on the east coast and then carrie washington wanted to shoot it in la her family is there there hasn't been a lot of work there the opportunity to shoot something local is really important to us and to kind of try to keep work there for those crews And it made sense creatively.

I think there was an interesting, obviously, there's a discussion of class.

And there's a very different discussion of that when you go from the United Kingdom to America.

But there still is a discussion.

And it was interesting taking it from the East Coast to the West Coast and what that brought to that.

And then, yeah, we got, you know, LA is about people going and living a different life and pretending they're someone else and, you know, kind of burying their past and their real identity.

Is there anything you're thinking?

No. [laughs]

Or anyone's friends.

Um, but that is the thing that I think I related to very much.

I have three best friends, and one of them actually lives here in the UK, and your lives go in different directions.

And hopefully you stay in touch, and usually if they're your best friend, you do.

But sometimes you don't even talk every day, and sometimes, you know, you end up doing different things than when you were 20.

If it really is a true best friend, you know how it is.

Mm.

when you were reading the book?

Yeah.

It was, the structure of it is, is very unique, and I fell in love with.

It starts with Eleanor Kerry, Washington's character, then goes to Nancy, Kate's character, and then goes to mine.

And I just, the, the fact that you got so excited about Eleanor and wanted to watch that show or read that book, and then turn the page and it said Nancy-

Is it something that you've ever really gone to him and said, "Should we think about this?" Or...

No, I haven't.

And not for any particular reason.

No. [laughs]

Or anyone's friends.

Um, but that is the thing that I think I related to very much.

I have three best friends, and one of them actually lives here in the UK.

And, um, your lives go in different directions, and hopefully you stay in touch, and usually if they're your best friend you do.

But sometimes you don't even talk every day, and sometimes, you know, you end up doing different things than when you were 20.

Um, but you, if it really is a true best friend, you know how it is.

What was it like portraying her? Because, I mean, it was, you know, that, that is a full-on role to play.

[laughs]

You know? And trying, like, to, like, make sure nobody loses their mind.

So then we had this, we had that night and that was fine.

Then we had the night where, the next night where it was just us, so it was really the people who work on the show and who have worked on the show for so long.

And I wasn't acting, and it was all just, like, bonfires and setting off a bomb and, uh, like, an explosion, and then little inserts and stuff.

And the last thing we ever shot was we burnt the cloak.

We, like, put the cloak on the fire and burnt it, and it was very intimate and it started to snow, and it was very perfect and beautiful and exactly the way I would've wanted it to end.

Mm

Six seasons later, she has done a lot of fighting, a lot of surviving.

A lot of surviving, and I think in the, I think in the, uh, interim six years, I do think that she has become more of a hero, which is really interesting to hear that quote and hear, you know, where I was coming from and what I was thinking at that time, and I was absolutely right.

And I think in the six seasons, I mean, very quickly probably in that first season, she definitely became...... not a normal person and she became a heroine and I think that...

But I also think that she became a heroine in the way that you or I would have to in those circumstances.

Rebellion.

A lot of people are living through dark times right now, and, all over the world, and we really wanted to provide something that was maybe a bit of, yeah, just lightness and hope and positivity.

Um, that's not to say, of course, we're still The Handmaid's Tale.

There's still darkness.