'The Handmaid's Tale' star recalls reaction to 'The Testament' casting

Amanda Brugel plays Rita in The Handmaid’s Tale. However, little does she know that her character will appear in the sequel The Testaments.

In a chat with THR, she was asked about her casting in the upcoming series and whether she knows it.

"No," she said. "I found out from my fiancee’s brother-in-law, and I started crying. I had to go to the bathroom to pull myself together!"

"I have two copies of The Testaments, but I have the page ripped out with that dedication framed in my washroom," the actress said.

It was a coincidence, Amanda said, when she wrote a thesis on Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel, focusing on the character Rita, which she later played in the Hulu-adapted show.

In the interview, the star reflected on her 1996 college thesis. "I immediately fell in love with the book when I was 14 in a class for Canadian literature." 

She continued, "I loved how Margaret wrote female protagonists. I wrote a series of short stories, and in grade 10, I won a small scholarship to start applying for universities."

The actress added, "When I went to university, I went to theater school, and I didn’t know if I wanted to be a writer or actor."

"To get into the writing program, you had to submit a thesis of what you thought your writing career would be."

"I chose to write it on The Handmaid’s Tale, but specifically on Rita, and I got a full scholarship to the York University writing program. That was in 1996," Amanda concluded.

In the meantime, work on The Testament has started from April.