The Handmaid’s Tale: What did they do to Ofglen? What surgery did Ofglen have?

What surgery did Ofglen have? 

Alexis Bledel will return to the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale after the showrunners signed her on as a regular character, much to the joy of viewers.

But fans of the tragic character are still confused about what happened to Ofglen when she was captured by the Gilead government.

Episode three stunned its audiences across the world when the handmaid was forced under the surgeon’s knife and made to watch her lover executed in front of her own eyes.

When the tyrannical government discovered Ofglen was gay, she was branded a “gender traitor” and set to be sent to the penal colonies.

But being a fertile woman she was instead sentenced to “redemption” and underwent female genital mutilation.

“I know this is a shock for you Emily (Ofglen),” she was told after waking from the surgery. “You can still have children of course, but things will be so much easier for you now.”

This bleak and cruel punishment was created specifically for the TV series, not being present in the 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale is based on.

In the book Ofglen commits suicide in a sacrificial effort to prevent Gilead from torturing information out of her about members of the Mayday resistance.

But in the TV series Ofglen’s circumstances are different and despite having her spirit crushed and body mutilated, she remains steadfast in her conviction that she has to resist the tyranny of Gilead.

Show runner Bruce Miller recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the changes to Ofglen’s character.

“She’s in the story and she just disappears,” he said. “I was interested to see what it would be like for a woman… When a society went from being a thriving, modern country to a theocracy overnight and what happened to . . . the criminal justice system.

“It’s so strange to us to see it happen to an American, or what we consider an American. Look at all the rights we have. One of the ways to recognise that is to strip them all away.”

Miller also revealed that Ofglen’s real name Emily, was inspired by the English novelist Emily Bronte.

“I liked the name and I’ve always liked how fiery Emily Bronte was,” he said.

The Handmaid’s Tale is based on the bestselling 1985 novel by author Margaret Atwood.

It is set in the future where environmental disasters and infertility have crippled the world and a Christian fundamentalist regime has overtaken the United States as the new Republic of Gilead.

Governed heavily by Biblical motives and rules, fertile women are enslaved and raped as handmaids – birthing surrogates without a voice of their own.

The Handmaid’s Tale airs every Sunday on Channel 4 at 9pm and is ready for streaming on Hulu.