Why Does Aunt Lydia Like Janine in Hulu's 'The Handmaid's Tale'? A Closer Look

If you've been watching The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu from the beginning, chances are you've asked yourself this question at least once — why does Aunt Lydia like Janine in The Handmaid’s Tale? For a show packed with grim power struggles and brutal emotional arcs, their bond stands out, not always in a good way. Aunt Lydia is hard. Harsh. Ruthless, even. Janine is soft. Childlike. Damaged. And yet ... there's something there. Something surprisingly emotional. So, what gives?

Fans have been trying to make sense of this relationship since Season 1. The Reddit threads are endless — every time a new season drops, someone inevitably asks: What is going on between these two? One Redditor summed up the confusion everyone was feeling: “Why does Aunt Lydia have such a soft spot for Janine? I don’t get it.”

Is there more going on under the surface than we give Lydia — or Janine — credit for?

In a recent interview on The Steve Varley Show, Madeline Brewer, who plays Janine, was asked directly if she thought Janine still had love in her heart for Aunt Lydia. She didn’t even hesitate.

“Of course, of course!” she said, adding that she understood why fans might find that hard to believe. Madeline noted that the first time Lydia and Janine are together in Season 6, “There’s a lot of love in that scene.” Then, she paused and admitted that it probably seemed one-sided.

Ann Dowd, who plays Aunt Lydia, nodded along in agreement. She didn’t add much, but the affirmation was clear — this isn’t a simple power dynamic. There’s a deep human layer underneath.

Aunt Lydia brutalizes most of the Handmaids without a second thought. She punishes. She humiliates. She controls. When it comes to Janine? There’s hesitation. Concern. A weird kind of affection that borders on maternal, even if it’s wrapped in abuse and control. It felt both messy and intentional to fans.

Reddit has been all over this for years. In one thread from Season 4, a fan wrote: “Lydia only shows vulnerability around Janine. It’s like Janine is her blind spot.” Another thread, this one from Season 6, dives even deeper into the “why” of it all, suggesting it’s not just about Janine being broken, but about Lydia seeing herself in her.

Think about it: Lydia used to be a schoolteacher. Someone who believed she was helping young women “stay on the right path.” Twisted as it sounds, she probably still sees herself that way. Janine, who’s more emotionally raw than the other Handmaids, maybe reminds Lydia of a student she failed, or someone she can still “save.” It’s toxic, sure — but this whole world is toxic. Within that, Lydia’s affection for Janine is her last shred of complicated humanity.

The strange tenderness between Aunt Lydia and Janine doesn’t excuse anything. Let’s be clear: Lydia is an abuser. Janine is a victim. That power imbalance never evens out, no matter how many times Lydia strokes her hair or begs her to be strong. In a world like Gilead, where all love is tainted by control, and all relationships are distorted, maybe this is the closest thing Lydia has to a genuine connection.

So, when Madeline said Janine still loves Lydia, she might be right. That’s what trauma does. It bonds people in ways that defy logic. And Lydia, in turn, might see Janine not as a Handmaid, but as a daughter. It’s painful. It’s messed up. It, however, is also why this storyline was so magnetic.

There’s no shortage of brutal relationships in The Handmaid’s Tale. But this one? It sticks with you. Maybe that’s because somewhere, beneath the trauma, control, and cruelty, we still see a flicker of something human between them.

In Gilead, that’s rare.