‘The Testaments’ Star Mattea Conforti Talks Season 1 Finale

SPOILER ALERT: The following reveals major plot points from Hulu‘s The Testaments Season 1 finale.

The first season of Hulu’s The Testaments has officially concluded, and series star Mattea Conforti has a lot to say about how things ended for her character, Becka.

But first, let’s discuss what went down. The last two episodes of the season highlight Becka’s layers and just how far she is willing to go for those who mean the most to her. After learning that her father, Dr. Grove (Randal Edwards), had been sexually assaulting Gilead girls from her school, she was flummoxed. However, when Becka discovers Agnes (Chase Infiniti), her best friend, whom she is also secretly in love with, had been one of his victims, she loses it. These events led Becka to stab her father to death while he was soaking in the tub at home, killing him and leaving him unable to ever hurt Agnes or anyone ever again.

When she tells Agnes what she had done, Agnes, in an attempt to help her, accidentally leads the authorities right to Becka, who is taken away to pay for her crimes. In the end, and with some help from Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd), Becka’s mom, Paula (Amy Seimetz), takes the fall for the crime. Becka is drugged and married off to Garth (Brad Alexander), the man Agnes is in love with. So messy!

Conforti spoke to Deadline about the events of the final two episodes of Season 1, Becka’s love for Agnes, who Becka will be after these events, and more below.

DEADLINE: As an actor, how do you get into the right frame of mind to tackle such dark scenes?

MATTEA CONFORTI: A lot of that has to do with the conversations that we have behind the scenes with Bruce Miller and a lot of the crew and production team as well. That really helps me get it, because it’s such a specific mindset that I have to be in.

It’s also pretty easy to pick up on as the season progresses, because I truly start to internalize Becka’s emotional progression and where she’s at. So it feels really natural to get into that crazy state of mind that she’s in, in episodes 9 and 10. As an actor, it’s also such a fun challenge to really put myself in those situations where I’m not feeling like that every day in real life. When I got the scripts for Episodes 9 and 10, I was really excited to play into that crazy side of me, while also understanding this is going to be a lot of work.

DEADLINE: Becka loves Agnes so much that Becka did this horrible thing: she committed patricide. Do you think she would’ve reacted the same had it not been Agnes and maybe one of the other girls?

CONFORTI: The person who was coming forward was Agnes, who is literally the love of her life. She is a woman whom she cares so deeply about, platonically and romantically. If this had been any other woman, I don’t know if she necessarily would have killed him. The same punishment would have been met regardless, because that’s what the men who commit those crimes deserve.

In Gilead, we see that in the first episode, with the hanging bodies. The reason why they’re dead is that they touched a girl. It’s what the aunts preach to us; it’s the deserving punishment. So Becka thinks that she’s doing the right thing, and she’s been so confused about her purpose and where she fits in this world up until this point. This was a moment, or a calling, really. It gives her that purpose and gives her a reason to fit in now.

DEADLINE: There are really no winners here because Becka also loses her mom, who gives up her own life to protect her daughter.

CONFORTI: Kate, who plays my mother, is an incredible actress. I remember that scene where we were all sitting around the table with Lydia and Vidala; it was my last scene to film on set for Season 1. It was such an emotional day, because A. it was a lot of people’s last day, and B. the silence in that scene is like its own character. It really spoke volumes to the tension and all the different relationships that were happening at the same time.

The aunts are doing what they shouldn’t be doing, which is lying and covering up for Becka. And her mother’s sacrifice is a way to show a mother’s undying love for her child. She’d do anything to sacrifice herself for Becka, and it’s such a beautiful way to show how strong and confident these women are. But in Gilead fashion, we have women answering for the men’s crimes. It’s really sad to know how much of Becka’s family was affected by her father.

DEADLINE: What was it like to shoot the scene where Becka stabs her father to death while he’s in the tub?

CONFORTI: We have some funny pictures from that day, I should release those. That scene took a lot of rehearsals, a lot of stunt coordination, and choreography. As much as I’m fighting him, he needs to fight me back. So we really need to work out those intricate details of that moment. And filming that scene was really intense. I think we shot for maybe 15 hours or 16 hours.

DEADLINE: Who would you say Becka is after the events of the last two episodes?

CONFORTI: Mentally, I think she’s really lonely. I think she’s lost. I think for her, honestly, the destiny that she has come to is the worst-case scenario. She’s married; she never wanted to get married. I think after she kills her father, she might suspect there’s some light at the end of this tunnel. She thinks she won’t have to get married because I’ll be dead. However, she ends up becoming everything that she didn’t want to be: a wife. So I think she feels quite confused and lonely, and really depressed. I hope that in Season 2, she can come into her own, process everything, and become independent—and maybe, spark some rebellion. Maybe she will get closer to Garth and learn about his affiliation with Mayday and Daisy, but we’ll see.