The Handmaid’s Tale has been renewed for a fifth season, and while June/Offred (Elisabeth Moss) made it to Canada last season, her ordeal is far from finished.
Season four was summed up by the drama’s executive producer as “patience rewarded” – and if you’ve seen the season finale, you’ll know precisely what that meant.
A significant original character was killed off in the season finale as part of a revenge plan orchestrated by – you guessed it – June, who couldn’t forgive or move on from her tragedy.
Season 5 will very certainly deal with the aftermath of that heinous murder, as well as the long-term ramifications for both June’s future in Canada and her life with Luke (O.T. Fagbenle) and Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski).
While June and Luke have reconciled, there are still unanswered issues about her connection with Nick (Max Minghella), as well as the daughter she was forced to abandon in Gilead.
Read on to find out everything you need to know about the upcoming season (no season five spoilers here!).
The release date for season 5 of The Handmaid’s Tale has been set
Season four of The Handmaid’s Tale premiered on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on Sunday, June 20, 2021, so we’ll have to wait a long for season five.
For US audiences, the series airs earlier and on Hulu across the pond, but don’t anticipate the fifth season to premiere until spring 2022 at the earliest.
The first three episodes of season four debuted a day early on the Disney-owned streaming service, surprising fans, and we can expect a similar approach for season five.
Season 5 trailer for The Handmaid’s Tale
There isn’t a trailer for Season 5 of The Handmaid’s Tale yet, but we’ll keep this page updated with any new information.
Season 5 of The Handmaid’s Tale cast
Although nothing has been confirmed, it appears that all of the core cast members, including Elisabeth Moss as June, will return.
Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley, Alexis Bledel, Max Minghella, O-T Fagbenle, Amanda Brugel, and Bradley Whitford, as well as Ann Dowd, who plays the fearsome Aunt Lydia, are all expected to return.
Season 5 spoilers for The Handmaid’s Tale
June successfully mediated a bargain for 22 women and resistance fighters incarcerated in Gilead with Commander Lawrence and Commander Fred Waterford (in captivity in Canada) at the end of season four.
Waterford, on the other hand, was released in No Man’s Land, where he was pursued and killed by June, Emily, and other former handmaids.
Actor Joseph Fiennes (Waterford) told Entertainment Weekly, “I felt that it really delivered the climax that I felt, and I think my cast-mates felt, was needed and merited for the audience.”
His death will undoubtedly have big ramifications in Season 5, and we’ll undoubtedly see how it affects June’s and Waterford’s pregnant wife Serena Joy’s lives (Yvonne Strahovski).
Strahovski previously told EW that when she initially read the final chapter, her “jaw was on the floor.”
“It’s simply exciting,” she added, “because it’s the most fulfilling season finale that Handmaid’s has had to date.”
However, showrunner Bruce Miller mentioned that we might see Fred Waterford again in flashbacks, so this might not be the last time we see him.
“I believe that, despite Fred’s death, his impact on June persists, as evidenced by her mind’s eye memories in our show,” he told Deadline.
According to Miller, the series will also become a “June-Serena thing,” focused on the two female characters.
Serena will retaliate with a “white-hot fever of vengeance,” according to Miller.
“Even though Serena disliked Fred and their relationship is tumultuous, it’s now a June-Serena thing.
She’ll want to find a method to make June pay for this, either symbolically or actually.
June has hit her house, and she intends to retaliate. There’s the toe-to-toe, woman-to-woman venom, but what is the relationship between two women who killed the abuser of the other?
It’s a difficult situation.”
The killing of Fred Waterford was alluded to in the first Margaret Atwood novel, which claims that Fred was killed during a ‘Salvaging’ rite.
Serena’s child could be seized by Gilead, and she herself could be compelled to become a handmaid, according to a future plot line alluded at in season four episode nine.
Will The Handmaid’s Tale’s fifth season be the final one?
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Bruce Miller states he is “in no haste to terminate it […] I’m not going to shut it down while we have good tales to tell.”
Similarly, executive producer Warren Littlefield hinted at the possibility of numerous more seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale ahead of season four.
We don’t intend for season four to be the final season, but we do know that the plot in Margaret [Atwood’s] book The Testaments takes us 15 years into the future,” he told TV Guide.
“We don’t see it wrapping up in [season four], and I can honestly say we don’t have a specific ending in mind.
But I believe we should keep the standard high, and it would not be a bad thing if we left the audience wanting more, so we could transition into The Testaments.”
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