#tht scripts

5x01 - Morning

Nick and Rose’s morning scene in this episode is more or less the same as this early script draft. The only difference is after Nick tells Rose her coffee is good, there’s an additional line that says: “It’s a lie, and they both know it. Rose appreciates the polite kindness.”

5x02 - Ballet

There was a short scene of Nick and Joseph Lawrence having a private chat at the airport before meeting with Serena Joy. It was cut from the episode, but you can see it in the trailer.

In this scene, Lawrence confides in Nick that he’s nervous about the meeting with Serena because - in his words - “You had to let your girlfriend go after Fred.”

Nick assures Lawrence that they’re going to spin it as a savvy political move by blaming the Americans for killing Fred. Lawrence still chastises him for not doing his job. Then the conversation pivots (a little clunkily) to this line from the trailer:

NICK: Serena doesn’t know what happened.

LAWRENCE: Doesn’t matter what she knows. It matters what she believes.

When they meet Serena on the tarmac, she instantly has suspicions that they were responsible for Fred’s death. The conversation is tense until they all see Fred’s body getting rolled off the plane, then Serena needles Nick’s guilt and pokes at it with her “Fred saw promise in you” speech.

As they are leaving the tarmac, there’s a line that says “Nick acknowledges Mark with a nod” and Lawrence notices it. In the episode you can see Nick and Mark exchange looks in the background as they leave, but otherwise Lawrence doesn’t notice.

At the Putnam’s party later in the episode, you may have noticed that after the Handmaids arrive, Esther and Nick share a notable look. The script describes this as a fraught moment in which Nick is filled with remorse and wishing he could do more. It also says Esther remembers Nick from when he and the Eyes arrested her, and she’s visibly pissed about it. As they walk away from each other, “Nick can’t help but be reminded of June.”

While Serena Joy is manipulating the Commanders into broadcasting Fred’s funeral, Nick steps in because he’s moved by her bravery and “attempting to atone for his hand in killing Fred.”

In the secret meeting between Nick and Mark there were a few cut lines of dialogue. Most notable is after Nick tells him he just tries to stay out of trouble, Mark replies, “Catches up to everyone, at some point.“

Opaque, Nick thinks about that. How long does he think he can keep going?

Ok, so the end of the episode when the funeral is on TV in Canada, I’m happy to report that Nick IS mentioned in June’s inner dialogue. The scene describes her recognizing who is onscreen with Serena. First she sees Lawrence, and then... “And finally, most painfully -- NICK.” (Yes, in all caps like that, lol.)

5x03 - Border

Cute June inner-dialogue when Lily asks her if Nick’s a big Jezebels guy: “June doesn’t know how to explain what type of “guy” Nick is.”

The awkward Lawrence residence dinner scene. Commander Mackenzie genuinely loves Rose (”old friend of the family”) and is instantly distrustful of Nick. Serena doesn’t buy Nick and Rose’s relationship as genuine either, and tries to subtly acknowledge Rose’s close relationship with June’s daughter’s parents by telling him how lucky he is. Nick is tense, but then his banter with Rose relaxes him, making Serena surprised to observe real affection in their relationship.

During the dinner itself, Mackenzie is just making everyone extremely uncomfortable by bringing up June. Nothing too interesting in the script here, it’s mostly just dialogue.

There is a cut line after dinner when Nick and Rose are leaving, and she says to him, “Well I wouldn’t say that’s the most relaxing dinner party I’ve ever been to.” (He responds “Yeah. No.”) Then he spots Mark all alone. Script says Rose understands what he’s about to do. “Nick squeezes her hand, then heads over to Mark.”

The script emphasizes here that Nick is unsure talking to Mark is a good idea, but he really wants to be the one to tell June about Rose before Serena does.

Mackenzie scares the shit out of him in this scene, and the “fuck” Nick mutters at the end was originally not spoken out loud (”OFF NICK, fuck.”) but I’m so glad it was.

Alright, phone call scene. One of our few big Osblaine moments!

NICK: June. Hi.

June suddenly feels like everything is going to be okay.

This scene is mostly dialogue. The final product is all the acting that goes into it. It does say Nick is stressed to relay upsetting information about Hannah and Rose. When June hears about Rose, she knew this was coming eventually, but it’s still a blow. It also describes how painful and hard this is for both of them. But at the end of the call, right after June tells Nick to be happy, is my favorite line in the whole script:

It’s an impossible ask, maybe, for these two to be truly happy without each other.

After the phone call, there is a cut scene between Nick and Rose where they simply look at each other.

Rose knows exactly who he was on the phone with, and what he said to her.

She looks worried for him, knowing it wasn’t easy.

He nods to her -- it’s done.

5x06 - Together

According to the script, Lawrence only invited Warren Putnam over to his house to get Nick on board with killing him. Warren repulses Nick so he’s down.

The next scene they’re in is when they execute Warren. (Such a good scene.) After Nick shoots him in the head, the script describes the camera hanging onto Nick and “his soldier’s stoicism.”

Then it cuts straight to Rose in the Blaine home. “She’s disappointed in him and he knows it.”

Now this scene threw me off. It’s written much differently than how Max acted it. Nick is actually a lot more warm toward Rose in the script, much like how all their previous scenes were. Several lines of Nick’s dialogue were changed (”Can I help?” became “You gonna tell me what’s going on?” onscreen) and his body language comes across way more cold and defensive than what’s described on paper.

As for Rose, she isn’t soothed by Nick’s assurances here. And that’s it for this episode.

5x08 - Motherland

New Bethlehem opens with another cut private moment between Lawrence and Nick.

Nick is brooding by the water, “still grappling with the moral and emotional consequences of shooting Warren in the head.” Lawrence finds him and tries to prod, but Nick gives him nothing.

LAWRENCE: You look a little more moody and broody than usual. Really, you sleeping okay?  

NICK: I’m fine.

Lawrence moves on because they have work to do. He reminds Nick he’s counting on him.

Lawrence gives his New Bethlehem speech to the other Commanders. When one of them pushes back, “that’s the cue for Nick, the muscle. Enough carrots, time for sticks.”

After Nick bullies the Commanders and Lawrence consolidates his power, the script describes these two as a “dynamic duo” lol

Okay, brace yourselves, there’s a cut Osblaine scene up next. I had no idea this existed, I don’t think there are any shots of it in the trailer.

It takes place after June visits Serena in the detention center and realizes she can’t help Hannah unless she’s there. If you watch that part you will see her pull out Lawrence’s burner phone as she leaves. But instead of going to Lawrence’s office like she does in the filmed version, in the script she calls Lawrence and just says, “I want to talk to Nick.”

It cuts to the next night at the border wall between Gilead and Canada. June is waiting on the Canada side as flying drone searchlights swoop across the electrified fence. (All described in dramatic detail.) She sees Nick appear on the other side. They look at each other, waiting, and once the searchlights clear they move to meet each other at the fence.

JUNE: I need to know if this is for real. I need to know that Hannah and my family will be safe.

NICK: I know. You will be. I promise.

JUNE: How can you promise that?

NICK: Things are changing, people are scared of Lawrence. I’m in a position now where i can make sure you’ll be safe.

JUNE: I want to believe you.

NICK: June. You can finally be with Hannah, watch over her. Isn’t that what you always wanted?

She nods.

NICK (CONT’D): Then please. Come back.

“To me,” he means. June’s heart is torn.

At this point the searchlights return and they have to separate. This scene is written like a soap opera. “They can’t help but reach out to each other, almost brushing fingertips before they move apart and run back, escaping the lights.”

Photo of this scene from Max’s IG:

Later in the episode, Lawrence is back in New Bethlehem with Nick. Nick asks which way June is leaning and Lawrence says it’s toward yes. The script says here that Nick understands that Lawrence is trying to manipulate him, but he can’t help but be cautiously optimistic at the idea of having June and Nichole in New Bethlehem with him.

By the end of the conversation, Nick is “considering.”

5x09 - Allegiance

We’ll skip to 27 minutes into the episode, when June sits with Mark after the failed mission. Mark catches June off guard by bringing up Nick. She’s taken aback by the revelation that he turned down Mark’s offer, but Mark says she can still persuade him. The script says “June imagines the prospect of Nick in Toronto” which I think you can see pretty clearly on Lizzie’s face lol.

Then we cut to the big Osblaine reunion.

Lots of dramatic buildup in the script leading up to their conversation. I don’t know how to describe it other than to show you:

She looks toward the courtyard. And there he is --

NICK

Waiting for her. Strained.

JUNE

Takes a beat to soak him in. She gets out.

OUTSIDE

June approaches Nick, their eyes locked.

Like, damn. They love building tension with these two.

Anyway, dialogue proceeds as it does in the show. Nick tells June that his wife’s pregnant and June has the wind knocked out of her. She’s described as “appalled by Nick’s commitment to Gilead, but understanding of his loyalty to Rose and their future child.”

And then--

JUNE: I want what’s best for both our families.

They look at each other.

A giant chasm between them now. But they’ve shared so much. So much trauma. So much love. A daughter.

JUNE (CONT’D): Well. This is a fine mess, isn’t it?

This scene is once again described as painful for both of them. “She tries to keep it together. How can they part? How can they say goodbye?”

Before Nick says “I love you” he was supposed to wrap his arms around her, but in the final cut they keep their distance.

5x10 - Safe

Just wanna note that when Nick shows up on the bridge to meet Mark, it was originally written so American soldiers yank Nick out of his car, handcuff him, and drag him across the bridge to Mark. We were deprived.

Also the first thing out of Nick’s mouth here was supposed to be, “How is she?”

In the hospital, Mark is telling Nick what’s going on but, “Nick can’t even speak. Looking at June, with her black and blue eyes.”

Mark gets the hint and leaves Nick alone. An interesting thing to note is that the line “it’s probably better if she doesn’t know I was here” is NOT in the script. At all.

The rest of the scene is sweet and simple.

Nick crosses, sits beside June.

A beat. Nick takes her hand.

Says nothing as he watches her sleep.

And that’s it.

Mark and Nick’s second scene on the bridge is just as short and to the point. In fact it’s almost entirely dialogue, so the emotions you see onscreen came from acting and directing. The only notable difference here is when Mark tells Nick he could’ve run away with June, he was scripted to give actual examples of where. “Maybe not to Canada, but there are -- places you could’ve gone. Idaho, the Westward Territories.” (Hopefully foreshadowing lol.)

At the party, it is scripted that Rose tries to greet Nick when he arrives and he doesn’t even acknowledge her. Like she doesn’t even exist.

There isn’t much description to accompany the punch. There is a line that says if Nick wasn’t pulled off of Lawrence than he’d be happy to keep on whaling on him. It also describes Lawrence as “rattled” and Rose as “humiliated.”

At the train station, during June’s goodbye to Mark, she asks him to tell Nick that she and Nichole are safe as a nod to their phone call in episode 3. The only descriptive line here is, “A beat, as Mark clocks the deep and selfless connection between Nick and June.”

The final scene I have notes for is Nick and Rose’s breakup in jail.

There are a couple parts of their scripted conversation that didn’t make it onscreen. Starting with right after Rose tells him a good man wouldn’t leave his wife every time his girlfriend calls, Nick’s response was supposed to be, “she was almost killed.” Then Rose laments that she thought she was lucky that someone like [Nick] would deign to be with someone like [her.] Nick says, “I was the lucky one” and she tells him to shut up.

Then there’s the “You will never let go of her, will you?” line from the show. Nick explains that he tried, but Rose retorts with, “Who knows what that woman will bring to our door. I have to protect our son.” Nick is described as scared now, and pleads with her not to leave.

4x01

In prison, Nick is very aware of the Guardian in the room and can’t speak openly because of it. He speaks in code to warn Lawrence that he’s going to be executed and thank him for helping June. This establishes a pattern of Commander Blaine using Gilead code to communicate, as seen in several future scenes.

4x02

When June sees Nick at the farm, she knows immediately that he is there to arrest her.

It’s implied that Nick asking where the Handmaids are is code to June so she knows they are okay. (This is confirmed in the next episode when he does it again.)

June spends a good minute considering shooting the Eyes in a blaze of glory and making this her last stand. Nick “jerks her attention away from the decision” by saying “don’t” and telling her that he’s trying to keep her alive.

The scene ends with June saying “fuck you” before the Eyes swarm her, but this line wasn’t in the final cut.

4x03

In the van, June is “stung by [Nick’s] betrayal.”

Nick can’t speak freely to June because he assumes there are eavesdroppers. He uses code to “pass along news” to her that Mrs. Keyes is safe and the Handmaids are still free. June finds this news a relief.

Nick asks where the Handmaids are and when June doesn’t give him an answer, he actually warns her in a low voice (uncoded) that she isn’t strong enough to take what the Eyes will dish out if she doesn’t turn them in. This wasn’t in the show.

When Nick quotes the bible to her - “June hears this for what it is -- an honest wish for the woman he loves.” But Lydia “breaks the connection.”

Moving onto the Nick and Lawrence scene... I want to be clear, Nick does not expect Hannah to be used against June. This is not present in the script at all. All he asks of Lawrence is to get June to talk before the Eyes kill her, with no expectation of how it’s done. He is only thinking of keeping her alive.

Also, throughout the Nick/Lawrence scene, Lawrence thinks about Eleanor a lot. “Some women just don’t want to be saved” was a direct reference to her. Lawrence compares Nick’s love for June to his love for Eleanor, and is struck by “the simplicity of [Nick’s] wish [to keep June alive.]” But he really believes Nick needs to just let her go, like he had to let go of Eleanor. This is why he refuses to help until Nick threatens him.

Speaking of, Nick’s veiled threats are what makes Lawrence decide to take him a little more seriously.

The scene where Hannah doesn’t recognize June was written to be much shorter than what we saw onscreen. Hannah was actually supposed to be muzzled, and just the sight of her crying through the muzzle is enough to shake June into giving up the Handmaids.

The meeting on the bridge was scripted a little differently than what we see onscreen. Lizzie's directing softened the scene quite a bit.

June is muzzled, and being transferred to the Birthmobile on foot when Nick joins her side, whispering apologies as he walks with her. She ignores him until he says Hannah is safe at home. June stops and starts breaking down crying. Nick reaches out and touches her shoulder, “letting his finger trace the skin of her neck.” June reacts by embracing him. The guards try to pull them apart, but Nick just gives them a look. “He’s a Commander,” so the guards stop and let her go. Nick removes her muzzle and she cries about Hannah being scared of her. There’s a line here that I love, I have to quote in full—

“NICK: She loves you.

June tries to believe this.

NICK: I love you.

This, June believes.”

June then realizes she may never see Nick again and kisses him goodbye. Very little script direction here, it’s simply described as “just one long moment.” Then the guards lead her away.

Also, it says in the script that Alma and Brianna are hit by the train because one of the Handmaids was shot and they both reached back to help her as she was falling, causing them to miss the opening before the train hit. Janine was just dissociating and humming songs to herself the whole time, not as upset as we see her onscreen.

4x04

I just want to note here that the script confirms Janine’s current age is 23. After she changes out of her Handmaid uniform, “she looks like the 23-year-old kid she is.”

4x05

June spends this whole episode irritated at Janine and Stephen’s relationship because she feels like she failed to protect Janine, which is part of a recurring theme of June feeling like a failure throughout this season. Janine has to remind June by the end of the episode that she doesn’t need saving, and June is only trying to do so to make herself feel better.

There is no scripted response to Lawrence’s “would your heart glow” line. So Nick’s laugh was entirely unscripted lol.

The script specifically refers to Lorraine and Reese (the Marthas) as Nick’s “black market contacts.” As we know from s1, Nick has always had a connection to Gilead’s black market.

When Lorraine goes off on Nick about June, she and Reese expect a scolding from him because it’s “a suicidal way for a Martha to talk to a member of the Eyes.” But Nick just apologizes on June’s behalf, surprising them both.

In the show Nick says “I care about her” but in the script it was: “She’s all I care about. In the world.”

The Marthas are “surprised by his vulnerability, but Lorraine stays icy.” Her scripted response was actually supposed to be: “Swipe left. You’re better off without her.”

Reese hangs back and offers help to Nick because, as she says to him, “I loved someone in Gilead once, too.”

In regards to the council meeting - if I’m understanding correctly (because the scripts are kind of vague and more focused on the soapy aspects of the political standoff in this episode) - Lawrence’s goal is to get sanctions lifted, but when the council turns him down he shifts his plan to get on the council himself so he can pursue his reformation goals unopposed. This is why he agreed to bombing the ceasefire that he proposed in the first place.

Not much is said about Nick’s reaction to ordering the bombing, besides the fact that it catches him off guard and he “looks shaken by his orders to bomb June.“

4x06

When Moira confronts June trying to abandon ship and tells her that Luke never gave up on her after all those years, there was a cut part of that line where Moira said: “[Luke’s] a good guy. And he handled it pretty well when you had a baby with another man.“

4x07

Click here to read the full script that is available to the public.

4x09

When Luke suggested they ask Nick for help with Hannah, there’s not too much script direction, but there are a few interesting lines. When she says Nick would do anything for her and Holly, Luke finds that “both hurtful and hopeful.”

June is floored that Luke “is encouraging a meeting with her former lover? It’s incredibly strange. And also enticing.” It also says she had “put her relationship with Nick behind her. Locked it away. Now Luke has opened the door again.”

When she agrees to meet with Nick, Luke is described as “pleased, yet uneasy.”

As June heads off to see Nick, she and Luke are both “on edge.”

There was actually a cut moment between them and Mark before she leaves. After Mark tells her his officers will be nearby, he gives her a panic button FOB to call them if she needs help. This makes Luke freak out a little. He tells June she’s not going unless it’s safe. She doesn’t like that and insists she can take care of herself. Mark explains that while he has used this location for meetings before, he “can’t vouch for the party involved” because - in Mark’s words - “[Nick] does have a history of violence and allegiance to Gilead.” But June shuts both men down with: “He’d never hurt me or Nichole. I vouch for him. Completely.”

Once June is in the car, she exhales. “There’s no facade to put on for Luke, now that she’s alone.” She looks back at Holly and says, “Okay, we’re off. Excited to see your Dad? Yeah?“ then she smiles at Holly and says “me too.”

When she finally sees Nick, “their eyes lock. They’re both tentative. Unsure. It’s amazing to be together again, yet it doesn’t feel real.”

Nick is described as “almost overcome, so happy and relieved to see June alive and healthy.”

When they move inside, Nick tries to help June with the stroller and he’s described as “awkward” lol.

As we see in the episode, June is moved by Nick’s folder of Hannah intel. After this, “her official mission has been accomplished. She can leave. She doesn’t want to.”

The kiss has very little direction, as usual it’s all Max and Lizzie’s chemistry that makes it so good. “They can’t resist. They kiss, with longing and passion.” Then they move apart “both knowing they shouldn’t go any further.”

Nick was supposed to hold Holly “with love and wonder” per the script, but they couldn’t because of Covid protocols. It does say Holly loves her doll, though.

Their goodbye was also much different in the script. June simply buckles Holly up in the car, tells Nick she can’t thank him enough, and “tries to keep it together.” Nick tells her “keep yourself safe, and be happy.” They share a final look before she gets in the car and leaves.

On the drive home, June is just described as “[getting] emotional, but keeps moving on.”

Nick is described as “stoic, but drained by the experience” before he puts his wedding ring on.

When June returns home, Luke is “relieved” that she returned to him. June collects herself and “she has so many more steps to take, but she’s trying her best to move forward.”

4x10