‘We’ve Been Lied To’ (Exclusive)

While walking the red carpet at PaleyFest LA for a farewell salute to his television series The Handmaid’s Tale, the 65-year-old actor warned viewers not to ignore what’s currently happening around them in real life.

“I was thinking about this yesterday,” Whitford told TooFab exclusively. “This show started at a time in 2016, when the idea of Dobbs being overturned was absurd. We’ve been lied to by the members of the Supreme Court who perjured themselves when they said it was settled law.”

Whitford — a passionate Democrat who spoke during a Harris/Walz rally in 2024 — is referring to the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, despite emphasizing it was settled precedent under oath. After the reversal, total abortion bans went into effect in 12 US states and limited access to the procedure in another seven.

“Now, we are living in a world where, last year — this is not a made up statistic from a pinko lefty guy from Hollywood — last year, now this year it’s more, last year there were 64,000 pregnant rape victims in the United States with no access to the health care that they deserve,” Whitford continued.

“These are people who were raped by their drunk uncles. It’s literally a Handmaid’s episode,” he added.

As for what Whitford wants audience members to take from the show, amid today’s political climate — he said the series is “a call to action.”

“I want people to take what is so inspiring about [Elisabeth Moss‘ character] June, the understanding that despair is a luxury our children cannot afford and that, action is the antidote to despair,” he continued. “And don’t expect a world where democracy is inevitable and where greed disappears and where misogyny isn’t a part of the right-wing white Christian nationalist agenda. Don’t expect that and keep fighting and let it be a call to action.”

Whitford stars as Commander Joseph Lawrence in the series, which explores themes of powerless women in a patriarchal society, loss of female individuality and the suppression of reproductive rights in a fictional state known as the Republic of Gilead — all of which Whitford’s character helped create.

The series is coming to an end, with its finale season beginning in April. Looking back at what the show’s cast and crew have created, Whitford is “proud.”

“It’s been an amazing thing working with Lizzie again,” he said, gushing about Moss, who also directs episodes, being at the helm of the series. “Her leadership throughout this thing has been amazing. And the joy of kind of reconnecting with her and being inspired by her. She makes fun of method actors because that’s not the way she works. But there was an incredible sort of … method acting, in the way that she really took agency over the storytelling in the show and that was a real joy to behold.”

Moss leads the series as June Osbourne, the main protagonist of the Hulu series, who risks her life to rescue children and other individuals from the oppressive regime of Gilead. Impressively, Moss has been weaving in and out of character to sit in the director’s chair over a few episodes in the past and is the director for four in the final season.

“I’ve never seen anybody work this hard. She’s doing Sophie’s Choice, the series. It’s insane. Emotionally. And she’s directing how many? Four out of ten? It’s insane. It’s completely insane. I’ve never seen anything like it,” he recalled of his time on set for Season 6.

“She is the most committed storyteller. It clearly nourishes her. But I’ve never seen anybody work that hard,” he told TooFab exclusively.

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 begins on Hulu on April 8, 2025 with the first three episodes premiering that day.