Appearing on This Morning, Dowd said her character has "got a lot to prove" in series four.
Ann Dowd has hinted that her character on The Handmaid's Tale, Aunt Lydia, might be in trouble in the next series of the dystopian drama.
Although Dowd says that she's only read the scripts for the first two episodes - which were being filmed prior to the lockdown - she reckons that Lydia has "got a lot to prove" in season four.
Speaking to Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on This Morning, the actor revealed: "The Commanders cannot wait to place blame on anyone but themselves and Lydia of course, is front and centre to receive that blame and I’m sure she blames herself.
"How could she have missed this? She had all the signs that the girls were acting strangely. I knew that June was up to something and yes, I did not act. So yes, I think she’s got a lot to prove.”
Expanding specifically on Lydia's relationship with lead character June, played by Elisabeth Moss, Dowd said: "What I go to is our past, it is complicated. However, there is love there, I believe, and June is a fascinating creature to Lydia.
"She has tremendous strength, she drives Lydia to the point of wanting to slap her silly for her nonsense and her rudeness, and the fact that she pulled that off is extraordinary. So that’s on one side of it for Lydia and that’s the side she will keep very quiet."
She added, “I think what she wants, if I were to guess, because truly I don’t know, is to get June back into her charge. Get her right back to me and then we will see where we’ll go with this. But in the hands of the Commanders, if she goes there, what’s gonna happen?
“I’ve always been interested in when does Lydia shift her thinking about Gilead and what should really happen?”
So far there have been three critically lauded seasons of The Handmaid's Tale, with series four currently slated for release in 2021 - although production on the series was halted midway through episode 3.
The Handmaid's Tale will return for season 4. To find out what else is on with our TV Guide
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
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