Warning: This post contains spoilers for Season 3 of The Handmaid’s Tale. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
We’re 11 episodes into the third season of The Handmaid’s Tale and we have one burning question…
We’re not the only ones wondering either…
Nick Blaine. We need Nick Blaine back. #HandmaidsTale
— Polyponderer (@delsa_evocha) July 26, 2019
Binge-watching season 3 of #HandmaidsTale and there’s a distinct like of Nick and June ???? pic.twitter.com/0IIwedu4NT
— Elizabeth (@sleuthstress) July 25, 2019
The lack of Nick Blaine is killing me. #TheHandmaidsTale @maxminghella
— Alexis Lewis ???? (@AlexisLewis_) August 1, 2019
Me waiting for Nick to show up before the end of the episode #handmaidstale pic.twitter.com/ya5YZbIgCP
— Queenbellajay (@queenbellajay) August 1, 2019
The Handmaid’s Tale has my mind ???? right now! But wait, where my boy Nick at? #TheHandmaidsTale #WhereisNickBlaine pic.twitter.com/4ONh3Ct0oC
— Kat Price (@Kattheprice) August 1, 2019
While we’re told that Nick has been sent to Chicago to lead the troops against the rebellion, this is The Handmaid’s Tale, where nothing is as it seems. Fans can’t figure out whether Nick is secretly aiding the resistance against Gilead, or set to betray June, with theories supporting both sides.
In the original novel by Margaret Atwood, Nick doesn’t have a last name, however in the series it’s Blaine.
Just a coincidence? Not on this show.
Reddit user laurenonfire believes ‘Blaine’ is a reference to Casablanca character Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) who helps his lover Ilsa Lund leave Casablanca to escape the Nazis. Given that the parallels between Gilead and Nazi Germany are very well-established, this could support the theory that Nick will be instrumental in getting June to Canada.
The question is, will Nick leave with June, or stay behind, like Rick in Casablanca, who tells Ilsa to go back to Lisbon with her husband.
While the battle against Gilead rages in Chicago (where Nick is conveniently stationed) another theory suggests that this could also put him in contact with the anti-Gilead regime, US Army, or Mayday group.
"Could Nick be captured and perhaps defect to the US army and/or Mayday/Anti Gilead militia?,” asked Reddit user, Kspence92.
There's also the theory that Nick was always a Mayday double agent, which is what the book's epilogue hints at.
"A number of Mayday operatives are known to have infiltrated the Gileadean power structure at the highest levels, and the placement of one of their members as chauffeur to Waterford would certainly have been a coup; a double coup, as 'Nick' must have been at the same time a member of the Eyes, as such chauffeurs and personal servants often were."
Whether series creator, Bruce Miller, will take heed of the book remains to be seen.
In Season 3, Episode 11, Liars, we see Commander Fred Waterford' arrested by US representative Mark Tuello, and there're theories which suggest Nick could have helped provide evidence.
Even the actor who plays Nick, Max Minghella, believes that while his character's feelings for June are "very, very straightforward... not all is as it seems".
“I feel like everything in his life is extremely complicated except for June, and that’s just like, ‘I just love this woman,’ and it kind of clarifies all that stuff for him,” said Minghella, speaking to Den of Geek.
"I do think that Nick is always one step ahead of where you think he is. He's certainly one step ahead of where I am as a reader or an audience member, and I think that becomes very clear in season three.
"Not all is as it seems. He's quite strategic and cunning."
Very interesting indeed.
A major plot twist in Season 3, Episode 6, Household, was when Serena told a stunned June that Nick had served Gilead as a "soldier in the crusade," before he became the Waterford's driver.
But what if he did more than that?
Reddit user stormborn raised the theory that perhaps Nick was the person who took June's first child, Hannah, away from her.
“Someone mentioned the possibility of Nick being the person that took Hannah from June,” they wrote.
“I can’t think of anything more terrible. I’d rather he be the one that personally assassinated the president.”
As wild as plot twist will be, the men who took Hannah away were wearing ski masks, so there is an ounce of plausibility that one of them could have been Nick. After all, stranger things have happened in this show. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
What do you think Nick Blaine is up to this season of The Handmaid's Tale? Tell us in a comment below.
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