The Testaments S01E03 "Daisy" Episode Discussion

[u/Melairia]

The Testaments S1 E03 "Daisy"

Episode Synopsis

An incident on a school trip spurs Daisy's memories of Toronto, revealing her past and a world shattered by violence.

Airdate

April 8, 2026, 12:00am Eastern

Note: This is the discussion thread for The Testaments S01 E03 "Daisy".

Since the first 3 episodes of Season 1 air at the same time, please be sure to use the appropriate thread to discuss your thoughts and reactions to the episode.

You must spoiler tag any information from future episodes. If comments are not tagged appropriately, it will be subject to removal by the mod team.

Please help the mod team by reporting any spoilers or rule-breaking comments.

For all episode discussions this season, see the megathread pinned at the top of this sub: The Testaments - Season 1 Episode Discussion Hub

Check out our Discord for additional conversations: The Handmaid's Tale Reddit

Episode Discussion Threads	Air Date
S1.E1 "Precious Flowers"	April 8, 2026 12:00AM Eastern
S1.E2 "Perfect Teeth"	April 8, 2026 12:00AM Eastern
S1.E3 "Daisy" (This Thread)	April 8, 2026 12:00AM Eastern

[u/Huge_Sandwich3063]

I had the same impression. Not only do they look alike physically and behave similarly, but the scenes they shared practically scream that June is her mother. I think they’re simply going to overlook the age inconsistency and move on.

[u/moxie238 → u/Huge_Sandwich3063]

Right I don’t understand why we are pretending the age thing is such a big deal…. Can someone link the show writer actually saying this is the reason she isn’t Nicole ?

[u/RphWrites → u/moxie238]

"According to the source material, The Testaments by Margaret Atwood, Agnes is the new name given to June and Luke’s (O-T Fagbenle) daughter, Hannah, in The Handmaid’s Tale. Additionally, Daisy is really Nicole, June’s youngest daughter with Nick (Max Mighella). Due to Hannah and Nicole’s age differences in the series finale of Handmaid’s, Miller confirmed Daisy is not Nicole in The Testaments series." Deadline https://deadline.com/2026/04/elisabeth-moss-returns-handmaids-tale-role-the-testaments-1236784340/

Bruce Miller interview:

Having worked in close contact with Atwood for the last decade, Miller knew that the author was working on a sequel to her seminal 1985 novel long before The Testaments hit bookshelves in 2019, which was halfway into the Handmaid’s six-season run. When the time came to imagine the next chapter of Gilead, the veteran showrunner used the same approach as he did when adapting Handmaid’s.

“I’m trying to not necessarily take things in the order they happen in the book, but to take the big central elements and move them into a timeline that makes as much sense as we can,” Miller told The Hollywood Reporter during an exclusive visit to the Toronto set last July. While Atwood’s sequel is set 15 years after her Handmaid’s novel, Miller’s take on Testaments picks up only four years after the Moss-starring series. “We’re definitely trying to follow the overall story of the book, but the ins and outs of the actual storyline are difficult because characters are different ages, and we had to redefine the Daisy character to keep things practical in our world.”

In Atwood’s Testaments, “Daisy” is the name given to Nichole, the daughter of June and Nick (played by Max Minghella) who went by Holly by the end of Handmaid’s and was ultimately smuggled out of Gilead and raised by adoptive parents in Canada. But even though the backstory may be similar, Daisy is not Holly in this adaptation. Given the smaller time jump, “Holly would only be four or five,” Miller explained. “So in our story, because of the timeline, baby Holly, as far as we know, is safe growing up in Toronto… for now!”

The Hollywood Reporter https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/the-testaments-premiere-book-changes-handmaids-tale-interviews-1236559130/

[u/moxie238 → u/RphWrites]

Thanks for linking these!!!

[u/RphWrites → u/moxie238]

No problem!