Caleb Lindo is the biological son of Janine and was born before the rise of Gilead. Once Gilead rose to power, Caleb was placed with the Covington's. He died a year later.
TV Series[]
Season Three[]
Bear Witness[]
Eleanor Lawrence leads Ofjoseph to the Red Center files in Commander Lawrence's basement. She reads through them to ascertain the locations of the various missing children and discovers that Caleb died 4 years ago in a traffic accident, long before the events of the episode.
When Janine asks about her son, June lies and claims that his new family moved to California, and his mother is very nice.
Season Four[]
Milk[]
Caleb is seen playing in Janine's flat and she sings "Three Little Birds" to him at bed time.
Trivia[]
In the Novel[]
Janine's first born was actually a daughter as mentioned in the novel; the two were separated when Gilead rose to power. While it is unknown what eventually happened to Janine's first daughter.
Notes[]
While the gender change of Janine's first born wasn't an issue with readers/viewers of the show, a fan had asked show runner and creator Bruce Miller[citation needed] why it was decided to quietly write off Caleb. Miller responded that the universe in The Handmaid's Tale "held so much possibilities" that he and the writers had to decide which characters to focus on so as to prevent the show from becoming too vast in terms of plot. Miller cited this as the reason as to why characters such Holly (June's mother) and Pam (Serena's mother) were not seen in later seasons. Miller also stated that the society of Gilead is very secretive, with lots of speculation, and he prefers to leave it to the audiences imagination as to what transpires. The writers, according to Miller, had suggested keeping Caleb in the television plot but later discussions ruled against it as the show was already focusing on certain plots and characters.