SPOILER WARNING: This story discusses occasions of the collection finale.

In the long run, the story got here full circle, harkening again to June Osborn’s first discoveries of the horrors of life on this bastardization of Christian doctrine.

Not solely did Miller carry Elisabeth Moss again to the burned-out Waterford dwelling that was her first jail as a handmaid, however we launched the narrative conceit of the entire story, with June narrating the collection first strains as she begins to inform her story.

After the explosive finale that closed final week’s penultimate episode, the collection finale went for a softer strategy. There was no must see how the battle towards Gilead went after that blow of dropping their high Commanders in Boston.

As an alternative, we simply received a little bit exposition that Gilead forces shortly pulled out of town, successfully handing a little bit piece of the fractured United States again. And similar to that, it was over — a minimum of for these folks residing in Boston.

Gilead continues to be very a lot a menace, whilst they should regroup and reconfigure their command construction on the East Coast. And so, the battle could also be received, however there’s a lengthy warfare to come back.

“That is undoubtedly not a narrative the place you get what you need more often than not — or the place June will get what she needs. It’s a narrative about the way to reside with the issues you may’t get,” Miller advised The Hollywood Reporter.

For June, that get continues to be very a lot Hannah, so she’s not almost prepared to surrender the struggle. Neither is her husband Luke (O-T Fagbenle), although it could seem they’re relationship might not have survived the Nick of all of it.

Do not get us flawed, there is no such thing as a obvious animosity or anger between the 2 of them. However as they half to struggle on separate fronts for the warfare to come back, neither is there an embrace or any signal of romantic affection. There may be love and respect, however it seems to cease there.

Actually, the couple are making ready to half methods once more, because the revolution pulls them in separate instructions — however with a promise to see each other once more after they reunite with Hannah.

“What I really like about how June and Luke find yourself, how Bruce wrote [it] and the way they performed it, it simply feels very actual,” says co-showrunner Eric Tuchman tells TheWrap. “It feels mature, it feels trustworthy. It looks like a pair which have a protracted historical past collectively, that share a toddler, however they’re totally different folks. They’ve modified. As a lot as they want they may return to who they have been, they’ll’t.”

“They’ve been without end modified by this expertise. What they’ll by no means give away is the connection that they’ve. In fact, it’s via their daughter, however the love and respect that they’ve for one another,” he continued. “So perhaps they received’t be bodily collectively, however they’ll at all times be sure collectively, after which someday sooner or later, they’ll reunite once more.”

It won’t be the household reunion with Hannah and smiles for everybody that followers have been hoping for when this collection launched in 2017, however it’s undoubtedly extra in keeping with the tone of Atwood’s novels.

Whereas Miller might have recognized how he would finish this collection, even he did not know that Atwood would pen a sequel specializing in Hannah’s story, nor that Hulu would decide that present as much as collection, as properly. The alternatives she made in that ebook knowledgeable how this story may finish.

There was some excellent news for June, who began the hour considering she and the rebel must conquer all the way in which to Colorado to reunite her with Hannah. With the large Commander losses, although, she discovered that Hannah’s Commander was relocating to Washington, DC, bringing her virtually inside arm’s attain.

Clearly, throughout six seasons, Miller’s tackle The Handmaid’s Story went a lot deeper and additional than Atwood did in her single 1985 novel. However nonetheless, he set the stage for her sequel, The Testaments, to come back. Miller can be the creator and showrunner of that forthcoming adaptation.

This finale was a collection of small moments that each closed this chapter of the Gilead story, and set the stage for the following one to come back.

However this was by no means going to be a whole victory for anybody. Life and warfare are too messy for that. As an alternative, the perfect we may hope for was some human moments to hold our hearts on and really feel some sense of accomplishment and closure.

A technique Miller and his staff did that was by bringing again a well-known face in Alexis Bledel’s Emily. Her return got here in a totally random second, as June was Boston making an attempt to be rebuilt.

She and June catch up after Emily’s fateful choice years again to remain and attempt to struggle Gilead from the within. That alternative allowed Bledel to exit the present gracefully, with the door open for this return. Emily reveals that she was a Martha for seven months after her return to Gilead.

She and June stroll alongside the water, as they did when Handmaids, however reasonably than seeing the useless our bodies of rebels, they see effigies of the useless Commanders and a wall of graffiti representing the ladies of Gilead declaring their names that have been stolen from them.

One other stunning reunion got here with Janine (Madeline Brewer). As we noticed that she’d been captured once more by Gilead, we have been absolutely ready for her destiny to stay unknown. As an alternative, in a late-night rendezvous, Janine was returned to the USA — and she or he wasn’t alone.

As June hugged her buddy, she noticed that there was a small little one additionally being delivered to the USA. She helped Janine see that she was not solely free, however being reunited along with her personal misplaced daughter, Charlotte.

Maybe most remarkably, Charlotte’s return was facilitated by each Naomi (Ever Carradine) and Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) who lastly spoke out towards the Commanders eventually week’s aborted hanging of June Osborne and her fellow revolutionary handmaids. Aunt Lydia’s story will proceed into The Testaments, alongside Hannah (often known as Agnes in Gilead).

Talking with Selection, Moss admitted that they could not have made that option to preserve June and Hannah separated had Atwood not made it for them.

“That was a alternative that Margaret made that we, in fact, adopted, and I don’t know if we might have executed it if she hadn’t written The Testaments, she defined. “I actually do not know, however I can’t think about it another approach. I believe if there was no Testaments, this is able to be a really totally different expertise for me.”

“There may be actually no yet one more conscious of the viewers’s need for June to get Hannah again than me. It’s the primary query I’m requested. It’s the primary factor folks need,” Moss added, sharing that because of this they made the choice to sprinkle the finale with photos of Hannah, together with that remaining second in June/Offred’s room.

Some of the poignant and highly effective scenes was a small one, however one which put a punctuation mark on maybe the collection’ most necessary relationship all the way in which again to the premiere. As Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) and her son confronted an unsure future as Gilead refugees, June gave her one thing maybe much more significant — forgiveness.

As she was making ready to board a bus to an unsure future, Serena supplied a real and honest apology for her actions. June made it clear that Serena ought to really feel ashamed for the issues she did and was a part of.

“If phrases imply something in any respect, I’m sorry,” Serena stated within the heartfelt trade, to which June replied that she does forgive her. “I forgive you, Serena. I do,” she stated sincerely, maybe stunning herself.

For her half, Serena supplied some honest phrases of her personal, telling June of Nick, “, if he ever thought he had an actual alternative, he would’ve chosen you.”

June additionally advised Serena that she must be okay with simply being a mom. Typically you do not have to be pushed by a bigger ambition than to be the perfect you you will be within the very small world of your loved ones. In Serena’s remaining second, sitting on a foul with no thought if she’d even have that come the following day, she seemed extra at peace than ever earlier than.

June additionally shared a second of semi-forgiveness for each Naomi and Aunt Lydia, as she supplied her heartfelt due to each ladies for bringing Charlotte again and reuniting her along with her precise mom, Janine.

It was notably significant for June to share that second with Lydia, as she suffered tremendously underneath the yoke that Aunt Lydia put her and her fellow handmaids underneath on the Pink Heart.

As a lot as The Handmaid’s Story is about Lydia’s awakening, The Testaments is rather more about her journey after opening her eyes to the reality of Gilead. Getting a nod of respect and appreciation from June, after all the pieces, is a testomony to the trail she’s chosen.

Lydia and Hannah will not be the one acquainted faces returning, although it isn’t clear how carefully he and his staff will preserve their story to the unique ebook.

Whereas teasing Bledel’s return for this finale, Miller advised Us Weekly, “We’re gonna carry characters from The Handmaid’s Story to [The Testaments] as properly. So there are individuals who present up — however to inform you who they’re will take away all of the enjoyable.”

Whereas there is no such thing as a set launch date for The Testaments, it’s tentatively scheduled for the latter half of 2026 or early 2027.