The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6: Cast, Story & Everything We Know

<

The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 news is starting to arrive. The Handmaid’s Tale season 5’s ending threw massive curveballs at several of the show’s ongoing storylines, with twists for most major characters. After a season-and-a-half back in Canada, June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) is once again separated from Luke Bankole (O-T Fangbenle) and on the run, with Gilead increasingly making its presence felt north of the US border. This is also where the Hulu series has begun to stray from the ideas in the source novel by Margaret Atwood.

After June’s escape from Gilead (or now Canada, rather) The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 has a lot of disparate plot threads to bring together. The show’s story has become bigger and more sprawling than before, not least now it looks to expand even beyond Canada and has several key characters on both sides of the border. With major changes coming for June, Luke, Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski), The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 is highly anticipated, and here’s everything known about the next season.

Stream On Hulu

The Latest The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 News

News regarding The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 was scant even before the delays, but the show was put on hiatus like most of Hollywood due to the strikes which consumed most of 2023. The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 was originally slated to begin production in August 2023, but the Hollywood strikes made that an impossibility. Most surprisingly, since the strikes have been resolved, no word has come about a new production timeline for the extremely popular series.

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 Is Confirmed

Shortly before season 5’s premiere, Hulu officially confirmed The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 was renewed. The show has been one of the streaming service’s biggest hits since it debuted back in 2017, so a renewal isn’t surprising. The Handmaid’s Tale season 5’s ending makes it clear the show has more stories to tell, so a cancelation would’ve been a major shock.

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 Production Status

Since the Hollywood strikes, any initial plans for The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 have been altered and no new timeline has been provided. At this point, a 2024 release date seems unlikely, unless the show has been filming since the SAG/AFTRA strike was resolved in November 2023. Because such a quick turnaround is almost impossible, it’s safe to say that the series won’t begin filming again until sometime in 2024.

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 Cast

The Handmaid’s Tale season 6’s cast should largely look the same as season 5’s. The cast has been pretty consistent, bar the exit of Alexis Bledel’s Emily Malek (though given she went back to Gilead, a return may not be entirely out of the question). The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 cast will once again be led by Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne, who earned an Emmy nomination for her work in season 5, and the rest of the main cast should presumably include:

​​​​

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 Story Details

Season 5’s ending saw June run into Serena on the train leaving Toronto, a fateful reunion that seems likely to drive season 6’s plot. Their initial thoughts may be on freedom, but it seems likely that June and Serena’s uneasy relationship will be restarted in The Handmaid’s Tale season 6, and that the two women could work together to help bring Gilead (and its growing support in Canada) down.

Luke’s arrest in The Handmaid’s Tale season 5 finale means that season 6 will begin with a reversal of season 1. It’s hard to imagine Luke will spend the entire season in prison, but he could be at the forefront of the growing tensions in Canada and may be at the center of June and Serena’s plans to take on Gilead as well. Either way, it seems certain June and Luke will reunite, though less so that they’ll get a happy ending.

Elsewhere, there’s still a tease of Nick’s romance with June and his admittance that he can’t let her go. He’s at the point of risking everything for her, it would seem, which could have bigger payoffs (maybe even a sacrifice) in The Handmaid’s Tale season 6. Janine, meanwhile, has been taken away by the Eyes, which could have devastating consequences for her. With all that, there’s a lot for The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 story to get through before the series comes to an end.

The Handmaid’s Tale Is Ending With Season 6

Despite its renewal, The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 news includes the revelation that it will be the last one. Bruce Miller has been the showrunner for The Handmaid’s Tale since it first premiered in 2017. After five seasons of working on the show, however, MIller is stepping down from his position and there will be two new showrunners sharing the duties in the final season of The Handmaid’s Tale. Miller is also the showrunner for Testaments, which has been in development since 2019 and is set to be a sequel series.

Taking over the show running duties for The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 are Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang. Tuchman has written several episodes on the show and has been a co-executive producer since the first season. Chang joined the writer’s room in the second season and has also served as a co-executive producer. Though there’s still some interesting story set up for The Handmaid’s Tale season 6, the show ending at that stage does make sense as it’s hard to imagine The Handmaid’s Tale being stretched further.