What is the name of the Commander in Season 1?

The Commander in Season 1 of The Handmaid’s Tale is Fred Waterford. He is June’s first assigned Commander and the head of the household where she is given the Handmaid name Offred.

Fred is a senior Gileadean official whose public role is intertwined with the creation and operation of the regime. At home, he participates in the Ceremony, the state-sanctioned reproductive ritual intended to produce a child for him and his wife, Serena Joy. He also violates Gilead’s rules by inviting June to his study to play Scrabble, an activity forbidden to women.

The character is played by English actor Joseph Fiennes. A frequent mix-up is Commander Joseph Lawrence, played by Bradley Whitford. Lawrence becomes central later in the series and is associated with the Colonies and Gilead’s economic system, but he is not June’s Commander in Season 1. Nick Blaine is Fred’s driver, while Luke Bankole is June’s husband from before Gilead.