The Handmaid's Tale is finally drawing to a close, and ahead of the season six episode finale airing this weekend, there is a coterie of questions that still remain unanswered: will June be reunited with Hannah, what will become of Serena Waterford and just how will this one-of-a-kind series end? These are all of the Handmaid's Tale questions we need answers to, bella pronto!
Will June be reunited with Hannah?
Within the opening scenes of The Handmaid's Tale, we watched as June's child, Hannah, was torn from her arms by the oppressive regime of Gilead. Fast forward five seasons and several years, and June is still separated from her child, with Hannah being stationed firmly in Gilead's clutches throughout the seasons. The big question plaguing viewers, however, is whether June will get to be reunited with her beloved child in the series' final outing?
While the answer will be revealed this weekend, if Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel The Handmaid's Tale is anything to go by, it may not be a happy ending for the mother-daughter duo. In the novel, readers aren't even given June's name or her daughter's, and the book's protagonist — which is understood to be June — isn't reunited with her daughter, suggesting the fate of the television characters could mirror that of the novel's.
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What will happen to Serena Waterford?
As we head into the finale, Serena Waterford's future appears to be decidedly uncertain. Having played a pivotal role in the death of Commander Wharton and his associates, by the end of the penultimate episode Serena has become a refugee and is living in a shelter with her son, Noah, having been essentially stripped of her citizenship and sent to a refugee centre after the fall of Gilead. She's essentially starting over, but in what appears to be a whole new world, so how will she do it in the finale? And what does moving forward actually mean?
Will June and Luke get their happily ever after?
They've come a long way, but will June and Luke get their happily ever after as the Handmaid's Tale signs off? We leave them in the penultimate episode as they're captured, separated and reunited — all in the space of one episode, so where the finale could take us on their journey is anybody's guess.
The pair's spark doesn't look like it's going anywhere anytime soon, but whether they'll wind up being soulmates together remains to be seen. Luke acknowledges that both of them have changed, and that their relationship will take work to reestablish in the wake of their separate forms of PTSD, but where there's love...
What will become of Janine and Aunt Lydia?
Aunt Lydia has seemingly been walking a tightrope for the entirety of season six, showing increasing discomfort and frustration at the oppressive regime of Gilead and its treatment of the Handmaids, while also still trying to operate within its parameters. Given her increased dissatisfaction with the regime, Aunt Lydia has been carefully taking steps to shift the needle; she helped Janine to escape, and opposed the Commanders, and while they're honourable deeds, does any good deed really go unpunished? And can Aunt Lydia survive the consequences of her actions?
That's not all: while the pair's relationship has been fraught over the years, season six has highlighted the care that they have for one another, with Aunt Lydia seemingly protecting Janine. Ahead of the final episode though, with Janine in a life-or-death situation, will Aunt Lydia choose her over Gilead?
Who will die?
Gilead is slowly but surely being unwound, yet the dismantling of the oppressive system won't come without its challenges, namely in the shape of death. There are various hypotheses about which characters may not make it out of the final episode, but none are backed by stronger arguments than those suggesting that Janine and Commander Lawrence may be among those to perish; Janine seems like a likely character to kill in the final episode because her death could very well galvanise other characters — namely Aunt Lydia and June — to finally destroy what remains of the regime in honour of one of the story's purest characters.
Having long played both sides, it also seems possible, if not probable, that Commander Lawrence may well die. Having developed a sense of guilt towards the other commanders throughout episode nine, it seems likely that he may have put a target on his back and by killing him, a message is sent clearly that you can't repent from evil without the consequences that accompany it.
Will the Handmaids be punished for the bombing?
While few things are certain about the final episode of The Handmaid's Tale, the fact that Gilead is a regime that operates on fear and scapegoating is among the certainties. It's with that knowledge that, even if the bombing wasn't committed by the Handmaids, you can be sure that Gilead will use the event to justify a violent crackdown in the name of law and order.
While it would be powerful to see June or Aunt Lydia expose the truth behind the bombing in order to collectively refuse to allow the Handmaids to be scapegoated again, it seems unlikely given the plot armour provided by the upcoming Handmaid's Tale sequel, The Testaments.
How will The Testaments be set up?
The Testaments, which is set approximately 15 years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale, means that it's not only a sequel but a spiritual successor, too. In the book of The Testaments, Aunt Lydia becomes a key narrator and a morally complex character as she morphs into a part architect of Gilead, part saboteur. It is, therefore, key that The Handmaid's Tale finishes by establishing her graduation from conflicted enforcer to calculated power player.
Then there's Hannah and baby Nicole; while the finale of the show will either rescue or fail to rescue Hannah, her symbolic importance cannot be underestimated. In the book, Hannah becomes 'Agnes Jemima', a child raised within Gilead; while Baby Nicole (June's younger daughter in Canada) eventually infiltrates Gilead as a juvenile operative. While June and Hannah's fate is unclear ahead of the final episode airing, it is a certainty that the final episode will establish the children as future agents of change.
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Naomi May is a seasoned culture journalist and editor with over ten years’ worth of experience in shaping stories and building digital communities. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard, where she worked across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Digital Editor at ELLE Magazine and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others. Naomi is also the host of the ELLE Collective book club.
