Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Handmaid’s Tale season 6, episode 9.The Handmaid’s Taleseason 6 marks the show’s last one, bringing to a close a TV show that helped define the streaming era (it was the first streaming show to win an Outstanding Series Emmy). The series has changed a lot since its first season, moving beyond Margaret Atwood’sThe Handmaid’s Talebookto tell its own story. The world has also shifted with it, making the TV series' fictional dystopia bleed over into reality at times.
Bowing out withThe Handmaid’s Taleseason 6, rather than making a seventh season, completes a long journey for June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss), who has gone from Handmaid of Gilead to the leader of the rebellion fighting against it, and so many more. After a dramatic season that’s borne witness to weddings, thedeaths of Nick Blaineand Joseph Lawrence among others, and many more twists besides, it’s been sure to go out swinging, although not everything is ending.
Why The Showrunners Decided To End The Handmaid’s Tale With Season 6
The Choice Was Made A Few Years Ago
WithThe Handmaid’s Talebeing one ofHulu’s flagship TV shows,it makes sense that the decision to end it came from the show’s creative team, rather than the series being canceled. Having already taken June’s story far beyond the pages of Atwood’s book, and then having her escape from Gilead for the comparative safety of Canada, it’s easy to see why they’d started thinking about the endgame after season 4.
However, it was planned even before that: creator and former showrunner Bruce Miller toldTHRhe originally pitched it as a five-season plan, which then became six. Co-showrunner Yahlin Chang added:
“We were doing a little retreat before the beginning of the season five writers room, and we were talking with Bruce andBruce was like, ‘I think we have two more seasons.’He was like, ‘I think we should do two more.’ And we’re like, ‘Okay, let’s do it. We’ll do two more.’”
Looking at the journeys of key characters such as June, Serena, Lawrence, Janine, Nick, Moira, and many more, with so much having happened to them over the years, it is hard to imagine where things would go inThe Handmaid’s Taleseason 7. Without, that is, simply pivoting to the other story Atwood has written in this world…
The Testaments Show Is Happening, Not The Handmaid’s Tale Season 7
Creator Bruce Miller Will Oversee The Sequel
Atwood’sThe Testaments, a follow-up toThe Handmaid’s Tale, was released in 2019, continuing the story she’d started back in 1985. While the TV show had taken things beyond her book, and would likely necessitate some changes, it seemed likely as soon as the book was announced that an adaptation would come, and that’s exactly what’s happening now. AsThe Handmaid’s Taleends, some focus has shifted toThe Testamentsshow:Miller stepped down fromThe Handmaid’s Talein 2023 to work onThe Testaments, a cast is in place, and it has a series order from Hulu.
Atwood’s novel picks up the story 15 years later, focusing on different characters inside and outside of Gilead. The story is told from the perspectives of Aunt Lydia (via diary entries) and two girls named Agnes and Daisy… aka the daughters of June, Hannah and Nicole.
The TV show’s timeline will be around four years after June’s story ends, which helps account forThe Handmaid’s Taletaking things far past Atwood’s original ending. While the narrative will still focus on Gilead and, ultimately, bringing it down, there’ll be a different feel to the show, especially thanks to its younger characters, as Miller toldTHR:
“We tried not to make the same show — it’s got younger voices, it’s got a completely different feel and a completely different vibe but it’s still Gilead, so I hope that the continuing threads continue to interest people while the new stuff is exciting.”
The Testamentsdoesn’t yet have a release date, but filming commenced in April 2025. That means a 2026 release, perhaps in Spring - four ofThe Handmaid’s Tale’s six seasons debuted in April - seems a safe bet.
Some Story Elements Are Now In Place
Image via Hulu
The Handmaid’s Talehas put a few pieces in place forThe Testaments, the biggest and most direct of which isAunt Lydia’s role. In the sequel, she’ll be a much more rebellious figure, working to bring Gilead down. That would’ve seemed unthinkable a few seasons ago, butLydia has gradually had her eyes opened to the cruelty of Gilead. This has been pushed more than ever in season 6, which went so far as having her declare the Commanders to be"wicked, Godless men.”
Gilead was all-powerful at the beginning and, while it’ll still have power in The Testaments, its downfall feels even more believable now.
The rebellion against Gilead has always been more effective inThe Handmaid’s Taleseason 6 than ever before, with June and others striking major blows, such as the death of High Commander Gabriel Wharton. Gilead was all-powerful at the beginning and, while it’ll still have power inThe Testaments, its downfall feels even more believable now.
The Handmaid’s Tale
Cast
The Handmaid’s Tale is a television adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel, released in 2017. It is set in a dystopian future where a woman is compelled to live as a concubine under a strict fundamentalist theocracy.
