Talk about a cameo! Oprah Winfrey sent The Handmaid’s Tale fans into a frenzy when she delivered an impassioned speech on the Tuesday, June 26, episode.
The iconic talk show host, 68, appears on the Hulu series shortly after Offred (Elizabeth Moss) tries to escape Gilead via a car in an abandoned house she is left in. As Offred turns on the radio, she hears a reassuring message from none other than Winfrey herself.
“Broadcasting from somewhere in the great white north,” the Wrinkle In Time actress declares in a very presidential announcement. “And now this news: the American government in Anchorage received promise of economic aid from India and China. In the United Kingdom, additional sanctions on Gilead were announced, as well as plans to raise the cap on Amrican refugees relocating from Canada.”
Offred smiles hopefully as Winfrey concludes her remarks before playing Bruce Sringsteen’s track “Hungry Heart.”
“Now a tune to remind everyone whose listening — American patriot or Gilead traitor — that we are still here,” she affirms. “Stars and strips forever, baby.”
Show writer and producer Kira Snyder confirmed Winfrey’s voice-over while speaking to Entertainment Weekly Radio on Wednesday, June 27. “I did not know at the time that I was writing for Oprah. I was beyond delighted that I got to hear her say the words ‘stars and stripes forever baby.’ It just gives me chills,” she gushed. “So the script was written and the idea as that I understand came out from a person in our production office, a woman named Tori Larsen, and she had this amazing idea and she brought it to the executive producers and they told her to run with it … and Oprah said yes which was amazing.”
Snyder added that working with Winfrey “was a trip” and “as good as it gets.”
The Handmaid’s Tale airs new episodes on Hulu every Tuesday.
