Copying & pasting an extract from an interview with Ann Dowd in Vanity Fair, about her take on Aunt Lydia.
There are NO SPOILERS. This is UK safe.
In Dowd’s eyes, Aunt Lydia does not yearn for control for its own sake. Instead, the actress believes her strict enforcement of Gilead’s rules come from a place of insecurity. For Aunt Lydia, the rules keep everyone safe—even the handmaids who suffer as a result. “I’m sure at the root of it, there was a profound fear of losing control of herself—just a profound fear of the world falling apart, and she will not be able to bear it,” Dowd said. “I don’t know how else to explain people far to the right. The rules, the laws are just so, so strong. What are you afraid of? What do you think is gonna happen here?”
At one point during filming, Dowd recalled, Miller suggested that Aunt Lydia might have been a real teacher before the coup that created Gilead. That idea sparked all sorts of possible backstories in Dowd’s mind for her character: “Imagine spending years teaching. Did she have a baby at 13? Did she have an abortion at 13, or just plain old have sex and then, because she was raised in a religious environment, just fell apart and said to God, ‘If you save me from this, I promise for the rest of my life without exception I will honor you?’ I mean, you can imagine that, whatever contract she made, just to be allowed a second chance.”
Dowd’s Catholic upbringing has heavily informed her performance as well. She recited a specific prayer she believes defines Aunt Lydia: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will set your path straight.” In Aunt Lydia’s eyes, Dowd explained, she is suffering just as much as the handmaids. In her own mind, she’s the shepherd desperately trying to lead her flock to safety—because if she fails, they’ll all be led to slaughter in the Colonies.
It’s Aunt Lydia’s twisted devotion to the handmaids—her “girls,” as she often calls them—that Dowd pinpointed as the source of her deepest angst. Aunt Lydia’s monastic lifestyle leaves room for little else. “She lives alone in the dorm,” Dowd said. “What does she have? She has the girls; that’s it. She’s not going to read because reading is not allowed. So what’s it going to be? Playing Solitaire? Doubt it.” But at the same time, Dowd said, Aunt Lydia’s love for the women unsettles her. “That wall begins to slightly fall apart,” Dowd said. “It’s not as strong and steady. And no one has ever said this to me. The writers have not said such a thing—but I think that’s the real danger for her, is attachment."