Where ‘The Testaments’ stars hung out in Toronto: Le Swan, Trinity Bellwoods and Winners?

Chase Infiniti is shown in an undated handout still image from the Disney+ show "Testaments." THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Disney+ (Mandatory Credit)

TORONTO — Stars of “The Testaments” took over Toronto last summer, watching the city’s World Series-bound Blue Jays, becoming near-regulars at a French diner on Queen Street and meeting some knights in shining armour.

“We did a couple of Medieval Times days,” said Chase Infiniti, who plays Agnes MacKenzie.

The Chicago native called Toronto home for nearly six months while filming the new Disney Plus series that’s based on Margaret Atwood’s book, and she was joined by co-stars Ann Dowd and Lucy Halliday for bowling outings and “Superman” screenings.

“Went to a restaurant called the Swan quite a lot, not to plug them, but we did attend quite frequently. Went to quite a few Blue Jays games, the parks. I was in Trinity Bellwoods park so much,” Halliday said Thursday during an interview with the cast.

Dowd, who also filmed the show’s predecessor “The Handmaid’s Tale” here, said she’s spent seven years in the city, but wished she knew more places to visit.

“I know where a few Winners are, I could tell you that and Value Village ... I kind of like Winners, you could just, after a day’s work, you just roam around clearing the brain. I think it’s just so, it’s lovely,” she said about the retailer that’s popular with shoppers looking for the thrill of a deal.

In “The Testaments” there are very strict rules in the fictional totalitarian Republic of Gilead. Dowd’s character Aunt Lydia, who oversees and teaches the girls, certainly doesn’t have time to go shopping with her pupils.

And in this case art imitates life, with her co-stars saying they did not get an invite to Winners.

“She did not,” Infiniti and Halliday said in unison.

“Which I’m a little bit gutted about, in all fairness. I think that could have been a really nice bonding moment,” Halliday laughed.

Infiniti, who had a breakout role in this year’s best-picture Oscar winner “One Battle After Another,” said she is still on “cloud nine” as her career accession continues.

The 25-year-old actress was nominated for her performance at the Golden Globes, Actor Awards, Critics Choice and received two BAFTA nominations, for both leading actress and rising star.

She’s coming off of the thrill of awards season with her role as Agnes in the sequel series that picks up a few years after “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

In “The Testaments,” her character is asked to take Halliday’s character Daisy under her wing and show her the ropes. Halliday plays a “Pearl Girl,” a recent convert that’s been recruited from Toronto to learn at Aunt Lydia’s Academy.

The Scottish actress had to immerse herself in all things Canadian to get into character.

“So all our crew were obviously from Toronto or the surrounding area. And I just remember them being incredibly helpful. Whenever I was like stumbling on a phrase or a line, they would be like, actually, it’s like this.”

She also found herself talking in a Canadian accent during her downtime and says speaking with locals helped.

“It was osmosis, because I was in the city and everyone around me was speaking in it and so I think it kind of went in that way.”

The first three episodes of Hulu’s “The Testaments” are now streaming on Disney Plus, with new ones dropping Wednesday. In the first episode a familiar face returns, with Elisabeth Moss’ June Osborne recruiting Halliday’s character Daisy to spy for the Mayday resistance group.

Moss had huge success with “The Handmaid’s Tale,” winning two Emmy Awards in 2017, as actor and producer. The show ran for six seasons from 2017 to 2025 and was nominated 77 times overall, winning 15.

“I think the whole time I spent with her on set was filled with a lot of me asking questions because I was so acutely aware of how prolific her role was,” Halliday said.

“The advice that she gave us was the reassurance and this almost stamp of approval in terms of we’re stepping into this world that people already love and has already done so well. We don’t want to mess up. And she essentially said that we were doing all right and we’d be okay,” Halliday said.

Infiniti’s character Agnes narrates the series as one of the “Plum Girls.” This means she is a woman who has yet to reach child-bearing age but hopes that she will be joining the “Greens” — women who are to be married to powerful Gilead commanders.

The series is based on Atwood’s 2019 book which Halliday says she read as soon as it came out. On set she got to meet the literary icon, and admits she did not play it cool.

“I just like screamed in this lady’s face. I was hyperventilating. I was so ecstatic to meet her.”

Infiniti says Atwood showered them with love and support. And that reassurance helped them bring her pages to life.

“Margaret pulls directly from history and directly from things that have already happened. So I think one of the biggest lessons of all is nothing that we’re seeing, unfortunately, is new.”

In the series these young girls have lost their voice, they have been told what to think, how to act, and who to marry.

“Something that is really important in our show is not losing the strength in your own voice, especially when higher powers try to silence it,” Infiniti said.

“I think being that young it’s really hard to find your own voice. But if these girls can do it under these circumstances then it’s possible for everyone too.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 11, 2026.

Craig Macrae, The Canadian Press