Why Was Nick Missing From 'The Handmaid's Tale' Finale?
[Spoilers for The Handmaid's Tale season 3, finale ahead.]
The Handmaid's Tale season finale delivered in a lot of ways. Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) finally got what was coming to her in a very snakelike move from Fred (Joseph Fiennes). June (Elisabeth Moss) saved over 52 children from Gilead's oppressive regime, actually sprinkling in some hope on top of all this monotonous torture. Even Janine (Madeline Brewer) seemed happy, despite missing the plane to find June. But one thing was still left unanswered, which has been weighing on the entire back-half of the third season, where—and I cannot stress this enough—is Nick?
Ever since Serena Joy dropped the bomb that Nick was keeping a lot of important info from June in episode six, we've been left with a Max Minghella shaped hole in our hearts.
"When Nick’s gone, he’s truly gone for June, because it’s not like she can look on the Internet or call," Showrunner Bruce Miller told Harper's Bazaar. "It’s like he was plucked off the face of the earth, and in the novel that was such a strong feeling, that he kind of disappeared." Okay, fine, I get that. But Emily and Moira and Luke have no access to June either, and we get to check in on them (though not nearly enough).
Turns out, that's not the whole story. Max took time away from his girlfriend Elle Fanning to shoot a few scenes for season three (post-ominous train ride) that ended up getting cut from the series.
"We just don’t have the real estate in the show," Bruce said. "I feel like shit when I have to cut that stuff, but sometimes you have to make those decisions when you're trying to make a good TV show overall." You should feel bad, Bruce! Instead we got an entire episode in a headache-inducing fluorescent hospital room and a full scene of hotel turn-down service!
At least there's always season four.
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