What You Need to Know About 'The Handmaid's Tale' Final Season: 'It's Such a Wild Ride!'

But June escaped to Canada, joined the anti-Gildead Mayday underground resistance, and helped a band of enraged Handmaids rip their rapist, Commander Fred, to bits. Serena escaped too, somewhat reconsidered her anti-feminist views, and became an uneasy sort-of ally of June's. Season 5 ended with the two women unexpectedly meeting on a train of Gilead refugees hoping to make it to Vancouver and, eventually, Hawaii. 

Season 5 left us all hanging on that cliff in November 2022.  (Need a refresher? Past seasons are streaming on Hulu and available on Apple TV+ and Prime Video.)

What we can expect in Season 6 of The Handmaid’s Tale

Prepare for tumult in Gildead, perhaps not many refugee Handmaids sunning themselves on Waikiki. “It's such a wild ride!" Moss told Forbes regarding the final season — a drama of big choices and female vengeance. “For years, we’ve been afraid of them. Now it’s time for them to be afraid of us!" snarls June in the Season 6 trailer. I June and Serena Joy square off in new ways in the trailer — will they wind up on the same side?

June reunites not only with her loyal husband Luke (O-T Fagneble), but also her lover Nick (Max Minghella). Which will she choose as she lays plans for revolution?

Commander Lawrence (The West Wing's Bradley Whitford, 65), who's tried to make the patriarchy less brutal without overthrowing it, reckons with what he's done. So does Aunt Lydia (the fabulous Ann Dowd, 69) , a former schoolteacher who thought she could save Handmaids from the worst of oppression by being their strict overseer, and heartbreakingly finds out she can't protect them. "The center will not hold,” Dowd told The Washington Post. "The center of horrible will crumble.” Hulu says, “this final chapter of June’s journey highlights the importance of hope, courage, solidarity and resilience in the pursuit of justice and freedom.” 

There will be blood, but also hugs

That sounds pretty uplifting, but at PaleyFest, Fagneble said, "People are gonna die. People are gonna be tortured. It's Handmaid's after all. But I think there's also a lot of emotional satisfaction that happens and a little love.”

“There are so many surprises,” said Season 6 co-showrunner Yahlin Chang at PaleyFest. “You think the story is going in one direction, but then, it takes a big turn, and then, another turn.” Amanda Brugel, who plays the Waterford’s housekeeper Rita Blue, said, “The people that you think that you could trust aren’t necessarily the people that you can trust. Which is scary! I remember reading through scripts and being like, 'No, no!' Not everyone is a hero in Gilead and not everyone is a villain.”

But wait! There’s more Gilead to come! 

The Handmaid’s Tale may be drawing to a close this spring, but fans can get excited about The Testaments, Hulu’s sequel series based on Atwood’s 2019 bestseller that picks up events in Gilead 15 years later. In the series, it's four years later. Filming begins this month, and though no release date is set, pundits guess it could be in 2026.

Moss stays behind the camera as an executive producer, but Dowd's Aunt Lydia will return. Joining Dowd will be Lucy Halliday (Blue Jean) as Daisy, a Canadian teen whose life is turned upside down when she learns of her connection to the Gilead, and Chase Infiniti (Presumed Innocent) as June’s daughter, Hannah, renamed Agnes by her Gilead masters, who starts to discover who she really is. 

The ongoing story of mothers and daughters resonates with Moss, who told The Hollywood Reporter she got deeper into her role after she had a child. “It was incredibly meaningful to be able to end this show as a mom,” she said, "because I’m playing this iconic mother figure. All mothers are heroines, and she’s definitely a heroine.”