It has been a lengthy wait for the return of The Handmaid ’s Tale , which first premiere on Hulu in April 2017 . Season 5 end with a bang in November 2022 , and since then , fan have been waitress with bated hint for the sixth and final time of year . Season 6 ’s first three instalment flow on April 8 , 2025 , and one of thegreat tv set show up you need to see this monthpicks up right where the story left off .
Wheredidthe story lead off ? It ’s easy to forget , yield that so much time has passed between seasons . To get you up to speed before you begin the last time of year of this dystopian drama adapted from the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name , we have this handy recapitulation refresher of all the key moments from time of year five .
It’s anything but a blessed day for both June and Serena
June ( Elisabeth Moss ) managed to escape from Gilead in season 4 , but she ’s still deeply suffer from the trauma she endured and still does n’t have her daughter Hannah ( Jordana Blake ) back . She has , however , gotten some grade of payback by joining other former handmaids in beating her former Commander , Fred Waterford ( Joseph Fiennes ) , to death , hanging his trunk from the wall , and send his severed finger to his now widow woman , Serena Joy Waterford ( Yvonne Strahovski ) .
Serena retaliates by holding an elaborate and televised funeral for Fred , where she ensures that Hannah is part of the ceremony , donning a garb of a color that indicates the coming - of - age girl is quick to be married off . This infuriates June , who come closely to kill Serena when they get across paths . However , there ’s a ground she does n’t pull the trigger .
Serena is surprisingly pregnant , and in a poetic turn of fate , banished from Gilead because she ’s now an unwed female parent and sent to Canada to bring as a diplomatist . In reality , Serena is placed with the Wheelers , a couple who take a creepy interest in her youngster . Serena is not a handmaiden , but she ’s being treated like one . It ’s clean-cut this brace will take her baby once it ’s born .
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While try out to voyage this new devastating office , Serena gets discussion that June has been catch in No Man ’s Land , where she went with her husband , Luke ( O - T Fagbenle ) , to gather intel . Serena take to carry through her former handmaiden and her husband ’s killer . While hold the artillery to June ’s head , Serena chickens out and shoots the guard rather . Serena hops in a car and forces June to come with her . Serena is go into labor , and June reluctantly helps her deport the baby inside a b .
afterward , at a hospital , Luke call in the authorities on Serena for being in the country illegally , and she ironically pleads with June for assistance because she have intercourse what this means : the Wheelers will take her sister . June differentiate her , “ We ’re not friends , ” but empathetically doles out last - minute advice : go back to the Wheelers and patch retaliation from within . Serena does just that . She put up to be present at the gap of the Gilead Cultural Center , arguing that her appearance with a baby in tow would be wonderful for enlisting . While there , she manages to escape .
June needs to save Hannah, but she’s in danger
While still in Canada , June and Luke are desperately sample to figure out how to make unnecessary Hannah . Commander Lawrence ( Get Out’sBradley Whitford ) offers her a home plate in his raw , purportedly more progressive community called New Bethlehem . He promise he will locate them closelipped to Hannah and her eventual new husband . Understandably , June resist .
With the aid of Mark Tuello ( Sam Jaeger ) , a representative of the U.S. government - in - exile , a work stoppage design is put into motion to raid Hannah ’s shoal in Gilead , but the attack is thwarted . Tuello thinks the only agency in is through Nick ( Max Minghella ) , and he seek to convince the now commanding officer to get on board and work as a mole for Canada . While Nick initially declines , he becomes enrage when a Gilead hand truck smasher and nearly pop June . He fault Lawrence , punches him , and winds up in jail . His pregnant married woman visits , advise that she ’s mindful he ’s still in love with June and she ’s not have it .
agnise that the anti - refugee sentiment in Canada is growing and that Gilead wo n’t stop until she ’s dead , June decides the only answer is to flee until she can figure out her next dance step . Tuello warns them that there are soldiers at the airport , but he arranges for them to get on a train to Vancouver rather . From there , they can jaunt to Hawaii .
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When June and Luke arrive at the station with sister Nicole , officer fly the coop ID checks and discover a imprimatur for Luke ’s arrest . Luke severely beat the military personnel who remove June with his truck , and the man has since passed . Luke make out he ’ll never make it on the string , and when he cede himself , June realizes he never intend to get on in the first lieu .
As she board with baby Nicole , June hear the cry of another nipper . She peeks through the crowd and spots Serena with baby Noah .
Praise be what the future holds
Gilead is thrive its grasp and recruiting newfangled multitude to the concept of New Bethlehem , promising positive change . However , the offer get to show . Several once - staunch supporters now call into question the community and its natural action . Nick may be indoctrinate , but he ca n’t get June out of his head and need to protect her at all toll . In a twisted signified of poetic justice , Serena now understands what she put June through and awakens to her own wrongs .
Back in Gilead , Aunt Lydia ( Ann Dowd ) becomes aware of Esther ’s ( McKenna Grace ) pregnancy . This puzzle Aunt Lydia because she is n’t posted anywhere . think she wo n’t take part in the official excogitation ceremony . She describe this to Commander Lawrence , who does n’t seem bothered , but he later sentences Commander Putnam ( Stephen Kunken ) to death for his action . Aunt Lydia may finally be go through the brightness — not everything she does is righteous . Gilead has diverted its focusin way she may not be able to accept .
Commander Lawrence was once an friend , but his novel biotic community and rising status are priority . Remarried to Naomi ( Ever Carradine ) , he had Janine ( Madeline Brewer ) place with them so she could expend time with her biologic girl . But an argument with Naomi gets Janine banish , which could send Aunt Lydia into a spin , given her stuffiness with the young woman .
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How everything plays out for this 10 - sequence final season of one ofthe full show on Huluhas fans eager and excited for a felicitous closing , or at least a meet result to the sordid fib .
StreamThe Handmaid ’s Taleon Hulu .
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