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After decades of dealing with themes of control, resistance, and survival, The Handmaid's Tale has officially come to an end. Hulu announced that The Handmaid's Tale season 6 would be the final season of the critically acclaimed drama, with no season 7 on the horizon.
Episode 10 of season 6 serves as the series finale, ending June Osborne's tragic tale in Gilead. Although the show itself has now ended, the universe that it built will live on.
The legacy of Gilead will live on in Hulu's upcoming sequel series The Testaments, which is based on Margaret Atwood's 2019 novel of the same title.
The new series will take place 15 years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale. It will involve familiar as well as new characters, with the storyline focus changing to three other women. Their fates have now become entwined within and outside Gilead's confines.
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Exploring in detail the possibility of The Handmaid's Tale season 7
The Handmaid's Tale won't be back for season 7. Hulu officially canceled the show after Season 6, and showrunner Bruce Miller confirmed that the plan had always been to end it after that season, according to a report by Deadline.
The cast and crew, executive producers Elisabeth Moss, Warren Littlefield, and Miller, consciously felt that the story was complete. They also noted that prolonging it could diminish its emotional value.
Concluding at season 6 enabled the show to tie up its main storyline and lay the foundation for its continuation, The Testaments.
There were rumors that The Handmaid's Tale could push into a seventh season, particularly considering its continued critical success and dedicated viewership. However, the creators believed it was better for the series to have their own final season and transition into a new stage of the Gilead universe.
How does The Handmaid's Tale season 6 finale prepare for The Testaments?
The season 6 finale of The Handmaid's Tale doesn't merely wrap up loose ends, it masterfully positions the stage for The Testaments. Above all, the season concludes with June Osborne and Janine Lindo being back together in a moment of hopeful uncertainty.
June, who has endured a multitude of traumas, starts to become more symbolic in her actions, suggesting that her fight will not end with her. Although she does not make an explicit appearance in The Testaments novel, her presence can be felt throughout its pages, and possibly in the upcoming sequel.
Aunt Lydia is also a significant bridge between the two series. In The Handmaid's Tale, Lydia is more complex in the seasons that follow, particularly when she starts questioning Gilead's leaders.
Her movements in the last episodes of season 6, manipulating internal politics, shielding some handmaids, and wielding subtle power, echo her storyline in The Testaments. She is a key player as an enforcer and ultimate saboteur of the regime in that series.
The mentions of young girls being schooled according to Gilead's dictates, like Hannah, Agnes, and the others, foreshadow the generational turn. This becomes the focus of The Testaments.
These girls represent the future of Gilead, either to continue it or to assist in its downfall. This thematic turnaround, describing the next generation, is a clear narrative handover between the two shows.
What is The Testaments about?
The Testaments is set 15 years after the novel's original events. It will center on the lives of three women: Aunt Lydia, Agnes, and Daisy. Aunt Lydia is played by Ann Dowd, who reprises the role. Agnes is later revealed to be a Handmaid's daughter brought up in Gilead, and Daisy, who resides in Canada, is ultimately discovered to be Baby Nicole, June's daughter.
Chase Infiniti and Lucy Halliday will play Nicole and Agnes, two of the story's three leading characters.
Where The Handmaid's Tale was largely narrated in June's perspective, The Testaments moves the focal point to new protagonists. It extends to the inner workings, corruption, and ultimate collapse of Gilead.
The book and the show will delve into how the regime is beginning to unravel from within. Aunt Lydia becomes an undercover informant for the Mayday resistance, leveraging her privileged standing to steal and pass on information.
Agnes, having discovered her real parentage and turned down a coerced marriage to Commander Judd, becomes an Aunt with her friend Becka. Daisy (Nicole), who is in Canada, is recruited into the resistance when her adopted parents are killed by Gilead agents.
The sequel series will explore these converging storylines as the three women uncover the deepest secrets of Gilead. They become active participants in the destruction of the regime.
Aunt Lydia serves as both mentor and spy, walking delicate political terrain. Agnes and Nicole come back together and smuggle vital intelligence into Canada, igniting an international scandal and a coup that brings down Gilead.
Production on The Testaments began in April 2025, with Mike Barker to direct the first three episodes, as reported by Deadline. Rowan Blanchard will play Shunammite, a wealthy adolescent from an influential Gilead family, and Mattea Conforti will play Becka, a shy adolescent with a troubled history who goes to school with Gilead's elite daughters.
Other returning cast members include Mabel Li, Amy Seimetz, Brad Alexander, Eva Foote, Zarrin Darnell-Martin, Shechinah Mpumlwana, Birva Pandya, and Kira Guloien. Elisabeth Moss, although not yet reported as returning as June, will be executive producing the series with Bruce Miller and Warren Littlefield.
Interested viewers can watch The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu.
