Ann Dowd is without doubt one of the greatest, underrated actresses working proper now. She has expertise with each style however is commonly solid as chilly and stoic characters—very like her position as Aunt Lydia in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

Season 4 noticed a reckoning for a number of characters, together with Lydia. When viewers final see her character, she’s rerunning the Red Center. As the present goes into its fifth season, Lydia will play a serious position in Hulu’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s Testaments (sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale), Dowd states, “There are a lot of ways that Lydia is shifting, and they’re powerful.”

Dowd spoke with THR, and she or he doesn’t go into a lot element however did learn the ebook and is wanting ahead to persevering with the story. “It’s a fantastic novel, it’s brilliant. I’ve listened to the audiobook, which I loved, and I’m very much looking forward to it. It takes place 15 years later, after the end of Handmaids. For anyone who hasn’t yet read it, I’ll remain cryptic.”

The actress additionally discusses how roles like this could take an emotional toll when you maintain on to them for too lengthy. “Can you imagine staying in that world? No, you’d go mad,” she says. “When scenes are particularly emotional or challenging, of course, it will stay with you until you let it gently go. But we don’t take it home because, at the end of the day, the consequences don’t come home with us.”

Over time, she’s gotten higher at letting go of a efficiency as soon as she’s executed with work. “And that’s something that I think happens naturally over time, where you just get a little better at saying goodnight. Plus, the days are long; you’re tired!”

G/O Media could get a fee

For extra, be sure you’re following us on our Instagram @io9dotcom.