Every ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Easter Egg in ‘The Testaments’ (So Far)

Kelli Boyle April 14, 2026, 2:59 pm

The Testaments has references to The Handmaid’s Tale baked into every scene, given that it’s a spinoff of the Emmy-winning Hulu drama. But there are deliberate Easter eggs included in the new series as early as the opening scene. Did you catch them all?

Here, we’re breaking down every time The Testaments has referenced, or even featured, a memorable character or moment from The Handmaid’s Tale so far. Warning: Spoilers for The Testaments Episodes 1-3 ahead.

“Radio Free America”

The American resistance against Gilead set up a secret radio station in The Handmaid’s Tale that sent updates on the rebellion to Americans still trapped in Gilead. The radio station is heard in the opening seconds of The Testaments. As text onscreen gives updates on Mayday’s rebellion and details about the girls in Gilead who are destined to “change history,” messages on from Mayday and the American military are heard.

TV Insider was first to report that Stephen Colbert plays the voice of the “Radio Free America” announcer. The Late Show host’s casting as a comforting voice is a nod to when Oprah Winfrey played the announcer in The Handmaid’s Tale Season 2 Episode 11, “Holly.”

Mark Tuello

Disney / Steve Wilkie

Sam Jaeger‘s voice is one of the first things viewers hear on the radio in the opening scene. Tuello was with the American military and the CIA. He helped lead the liberation of Boston in The Handmaid’s Tale‘s final season and helped Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) get out of Gilead and into a refugee camp in Canada with her son, Noah. The radio message in The Testaments reveals that he’s still alive and fighting to take down Gilead and restore the United States government.

June Osborne

Disney / Steve Wilkie

Elisabeth Moss reprises her Emmy-winning role in Episodes 1-3, but she’s heard on the radio in the opening scene before she’s seen onscreen. Moss’ cameo was kept secret until the first three episodes of The Testaments came out on Wednesday, April 8. The radio message reveals June is still with Mayday, and viewers get more updates on that front in Episode 3 during flashbacks with Daisy (Lucy Halliday ).

Agnes MacKenzie’s Parents

Fans of The Handmaid’s Tale know that Agnes MacKenzie (Chase Infiniti) is really Hannah Bankole, June and Luke’s (O-T Fagbenle) daughter. Agnes seems to have no recollection of her biological parents in The Testaments so far. In the first episode, she revealed that her Gilead mother, Mrs. MacKenzie (who was a character in The Handmaid’s Tale), died, and her Gilead father was remarried to Paula (Amy Seimetz).

Aunt Lydia’s Gilead History

Disney

The Testaments is set about four years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale series finale. Ann Dowd‘s Aunt Lydia is back, and she’s been elevated to an even higher position in Gilead since we last saw her. There’s now a school named after her, and there’s a statue of Lydia in the entryway that the students leave tributes to every morning before classes begin.

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Lydia was honored with the school and the statue because of her contributions to Gilead, including the changes she ushered in when holding corrupt commanders accountable in the final season of The Handmaid’s Tale. She was nearly executed by Gilead for dissenting and helping June and the other rebel handmaids escape to carry out their commanders murder plot, but Lydia was eventually exonerated, and her reputation was restored.

The Liberation of Boston

Gilead’s loss of control of Boston, as well as its ongoing war with what’s left of the American military, is mentioned briefly in The Testaments, but subtly and not with enough information to clue the girls at the Aunt Lydia School in to what’s really going on. The girls do know what Mayday is and that there is a network of Mayday agents moving in secret in Gilead.