In stark contrast to the white robes she dons to play Daisy in The Handmaid's Tale sequel series The Testaments, when Glamour meets Lucy Halliday at London’s Raffles Hotel she is dressed in all black, her top and trousers peppered with sparkles.
“I’m just trying to catch the attention of every light,” she tells me, describing the moment she discovered she’d been cast as “snarky” Daisy in The Testaments as “sheer joy”.
The much-awaited series adapted from Margaret Atwood’s 2019 sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, sees two young women from very different worlds join together to resist Gilead’s repressive regime. One Battle After Another’s Chase Infiniti plays Agnes, and we see her life changed forever by the arrival of Halliday’s Daisy, who infiltrates Gilead after her own life is destroyed by the regime’s violence.
A BAFTA already under her belt, Lucy's performance in The Testaments poises her for even higher levels of greatness. This month you can also catch her in James McAvoy's directorial debut California Schemin', which tells the (true) story of two Scottish rappers from Dundee who fool the entire music industry that they're a Californian rap duo. Lucy, co-starring with Peaky Blinders star Amber Anderson plays Mary, a partner-in-crime of the two rapper fraudsters.
To say Lucy had big shoes to step into is an understatement, and she’s been frank about the responsibility she feels, especially because The Handmaid's Tale “has already enacted such an important movement in reality”. Nevertheless, she has stepped in and made her mark. “The Handmaid’s Tale team have really welcomed both Chase and I into their world, and I feel very honoured to have been welcomed in,” she says.
The novel came out while Lucy was still in school and was a talking point among her friends. “I was such a massive Margaret Atwood fan growing up, and I devoured her books,” she says of her earliest memories of The Handmaid’s Tale universe. She describes meeting Atwood as the only time she has ever been starstruck, and watching preview episodes of The Testaments “elbow to elbow” with the author. “It was one of the most out of body experiences of my life,” she says.
Both the book and TV series – the latter of which stars Elisabeth Moss as protagonist June – have become synonymous with political protests and movements in real life. What started out as a speculative novel became a cautionary tale of the erosion of women’s reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, made further poignant particularly by the overturning of crucial US abortion legislation Roe vs Wade back in 2022.
“The Handmaid’s Tale became emblematic of protests in real life on the streets. People dressed in the handmaid’s costume, and it enacted, in a way, real change. To get to be a small cog in that machine is truly a privilege,” Lucy says.
We meet a couple of days after the House of Lords backed plans to decriminalise abortion in the UK. And yet, a recent study found that 31% of Gen Z men agree that a wife should always obey her husband. 18% of Gen Z women agreed. So the parallels between “subservient” female-to-male relationship dynamics do still persist, no matter how much progress may have been made.
“It's such a privilege to get to be a part of a story that is at the forefront of pushing for the rights of women – of everyone. It became such an important story for individuals to hold on to when facing these issues in reality. To be a part of anything that can contribute to women having fair rights is such a joy. I don't take for granted how important these stories have been for people and continue to be.”
The series depicts scenes and suggestions of sexual assault and violence, adding another parallel to the dystopian story and the world we live in. Violence against women and girls has been confirmed by experts as an epidemic in the UK. “I want people to watch the show and see scenes of that nature and be shocked," Lucy says. "I want people to be taken aback and be disgusted, because I think nowadays we're so oversaturated by the abundance.”
“We are looking at these scenes in these stories so often, I don't want people to ever stop being shocked by them because of that," she continues. "I truly hope that this show allows conversations to take place and that people can connect with these characters like what happened with The Handmaid’s Tale, which was beautiful.
“Unfortunately, so many of the so many themes of the show can be related to by women or anyone watching people really resonated with the characters. I do hope that they continue to resonate and realise that they're not alone in the struggle, and that community does exist, and that the banding together of human beings has always, throughout history, been such an important part in the act of rebellion and the act of protest.”
A line in The Testaments that Daisy delivers in an effort to empower Chase Infiniti’s Agnes – that in Gilead, “your worth has already been decided for you” – flagged another unfortunate parallel with real life. With the manosphere, more specifically. In Louis Theroux’s recent Netflix documentary, we hear manosphere influencer Myron Gaines preach that a woman is born with her value, “vagina and titties”.
“I think so often we feel that our value is based on external facets of our being rather than what internally we have to offer, and quite often we feel like our intelligence or our humour or our ability to love isn't what's important, but rather how we look or how pretty we are,” Lucy says. “And I think, unfortunately, we still see in society that those values seem to be held on a pedestal.”
She puts the on-screen chemistry between herself and Chase Infiniti down to the fact that “we’re very similar human beings”, describing the dynamic between their two characters as “like two cats in a room sniffing each other out”. From Chase, Lucy recalls “really learning about the power of advocating for yourself. Chase was constantly encouraging me to speak up and voice my opinion on things” while filming.
Without spoiling the series too much, there’s quite an important queer storyline woven through the story. Lucy has had her own experiences and role in ensuring queer representation on screen, having won a Scottish BAFTA for her first on-screen performance in 2022 film Blue Jean, playing a teen lesbian. The film zones in on the impact of Section 28, 1980s legislation that banned the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools. “We don't have enough representation of that genre,” she says of queer stories on screen. “We're not where we should be.”
Of The Testaments and its queerness, she adds: “If this show helps in any way to progress those conversations then I think that's a success for me.”
The political elements woven into the story of The Testaments run parallel with a timeless coming of age story as Lucy's Daisy and her Gilead comrades prepare for womanhood. “The crux of our show is girlhood and the importance of having female friendships, [as well as] the impact that community can have on a society when people band together.”
Glamour was also lucky enough to catch up with Elisabeth Moss about The Testaments – which she executive produced – the day after chatting to Lucy. When I asked her how she felt about a new generation take on the mantle and legacy of The Handmaid’s Tale, she had nothing but passionate, complimentary words to say.
She said: “I didn't feel like I was necessarily passing a torch. I felt like Lucy and Chase were lighting a new one, and that's what I want.”
The Testaments airs on Disney+ on 8 April.
