‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Where the Characters Are Ahead of Season 6’s Premiere
This post contains discussions of sexual assault.
Fans have waited a painfully long two-and-a-half years for the return of celebrated dystopian drama The Handmaid’s Tale, but now Season 6 — the final stretch of the decorated Hulu drama, to be followed by The Testaments — is almost here.
The Season 5 cliffhanger, way back in November 2022, saw June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) escaping with daughter Nichole on a train bound for the western regions of Canada, after being separated at the station from her husband Luke (O-T Fagbenle).
As June walked through the crowded train, she encountered Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski), her longtime nemesis, fleeing Toronto with her son Noah. As the series, inspired by Margaret Atwood‘s seminal 1985 novel, returns for its last run, TV Insider brings you back up to speed on each of the main characters, how things left off with their storylines, and where they may be headed in the final season.
June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss)
The show’s main character, June Osbourn, has been through hell and back since The Handmaid’s Tale debuted in 2017. In the totalitarian religious state of Gilead, which replaced America after a violent coup, June had her daughter Hannah wrested away from her as she tried to flee the country. She was then brutalized and tortured by Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) at the Red Center where she was “trained” to bear children for prominent Gilead families. She then became a handmaid (dubbed Offred) for the Waterfords, in which she raped by the Commander and forced to bear a child for him and his wife Serena Joy.
June repeatedly fought back and eventually escaped to Canada. There, she worked behind the scenes to rescue children and young women from Gilead, while grappling with the psychic damage of her years spent in the savage totalitarian state. Since then, June has tried desperately to rescue Hannah from Gilead, where she’s been raised by a prominent family since being abducted as a little girl. June helped kill her captor, Commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes), as revenge for all the death and destruction he sowed. Later, in a moment of grace, she assisted his wife Serena in birthing her son Noah as June tried to outrun a group of Gilead executioners.
Rising anti-refugee sentiment in Toronto — and Gilead’s increasing desire to eliminate the troublemaking June even from afar—finally prompted June and Luke to attempt to reach Vancouver via a cross-country train, where they would aim to get a boat or plane bound for Hawaii, one of the last remaining American outposts. Perhaps on that island, they could finally be free of the Gilead hellscape and the psychic wounds it had inflicted on them. As June boarded the train, she was separated from Luke, who was seized by Canadian authorities for assaulting a Gilead sympathizer. On the train, she encountered Serena, with her infant child Noah, fleeing from the Wheelers, the Gilead true-believers who had essentially abducted her and her son. But when it comes to June, she never stops fighting. With Hannah still stuck in Gilead and nearing an age where she could be attending a “Wives” school and be married off, June is still determined to rescue her daughter, no matter what it takes.
When June arrives at a surprise destination in Season 6, she’ll encounter an old familiar face. How will that change her mission?
Luke Bankole (O-T Fagbenle)
In the early days of the rise of Gilead, June and Luke were separated while trying to flee the country with their daughter Hannah. While June was abducted by the Eyes, Gilead’s secret police force, an injured Luke was rescued by a resistance group and wound up in Canada, settling in the “Little America” enclave of Toronto. As he tried from afar to find June and Hannah’s whereabouts in Gilead, he was dealing with the psychological fallout of his helplessness and failure to protect his family. Luke was eventually reunited with June’s best friend Moira, and (years later) June, but has unfinished business: Hannah is still a captive of Gilead, and he and June have learned that Hannah is now at an age when she’s attending a “Wives” school and will eventually be married off into a prominent Gilead couple.
In Season 5, Luke sensed the growing anti-refugee sentiment in Toronto and realized that Gilead would stop at nothing to silence June permanently after she testified against Commander Waterford at trial and revealed the brutal conditions in Gilead, helped to rescue children and handmaids from the country, and became the public face of the American resistance movement in Canada.
In the finale, June was struck by a pickup truck driven by an extremist Gilead sympathizer looking to take her out. Luke retaliated by assaulting the driver, who later died. With rising anti-refugee sentiment, June argues that they need to leave Toronto before it’s too late. They ignore the warning signs like they did in Gilead at their peril. With the help of American representative Tuello (Sam Jaeger), they secure cross-country train tickets to Vancouver, where they hoped to then board a boat or plane bound for Hawaii (one of the last remaining American outposts). But the police were searching for Luke at the station, and he gave himself up in order for June to escape with Nichole.
As Season 6 commences, will the Canadians prosecute Luke for defending his wife from an assassination attempt? And if he’s freed from jail, will he make it his mission to finally rescue Hannah from Gilead, no matter the cost?
Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski)
Despite all the hell Gilead has put her through, Serena Joy Waterford remains a true-believer in the religious-conservative cause — the violent destruction of the United States and the loss of women’s rights. While her belief has wavered at times, her staunch faith in God never has. She and June have been inextricably linked ever since June was posted as her and Fred’s handmaid.
While on a diplomatic trip to Canada, Serena and Fred found themselves arrested by authorities, and Fred was tried by the International Criminal Court. While being held captive in Canada as Fred was awaiting trial, Serena learned that she was pregnant with a son. Eventually, she was left widowed after June and a group of handmaids beat Fred to death as vengeance for his crimes. (This was all set in motion by June’s former lover Nick and Commander Lawrence, who sought to punish Fred for his betrayal in sharing Gilead’s secrets in exchange for criminal immunity.)
In Season 5, when June was captured with Luke in No Man’s Land, Serena asked to witness her execution, but then saved her life at the last minute before she could be killed by a Gilead soldier. On the run in No Man’s Land, Serena went into labor, and June helped her deliver her baby in an abandoned barn. In Canada, Serena found a segment of Gilead sympathizers who supported her cause. She was eventually posted with a Gilead-aligned Canadian couple, the Wheelers, who held her and her baby as virtual captives in their home. After escaping and going on the run with Noah, she winds up on a train bound for Vancouver, facing her nemesis June, both women now refugees on the run. But Serena isn’t out of the woods yet.
While she and June share a strange love-hate bond, what happens if the other passengers find out Serena’s true identity?ee
Nick Blaine (Max Minghella)
Ever since Season 1, June’s heart has been torn in two, caught between her love for her lost husband Luke, who was rescued and brought to Canada, and her enduring bond with the Waterfords’ former security guard and driver Nick Blaine, the true father of her youngest daughter Nichole. Their passionate affair in season 1 unfolded against the backdrop of Serena urging June to sleep with Nick to get pregnant, with Serena fearing that Fred was sterile. The secret nature of their liaisons amplified their desire for each other.
A former member of “The Eyes” (Gildead’s security and spy service) and now a commander, Nick has gone to great lengths and risked his life to protect June and Nichole, help ferret June to safety, and feed her information about Hannah’s whereabouts. The ardor between Nick and June is always burning just below the surface, ready to combust. But after years being beaten down by Gilead, is there a limit to what Nick can do without risking his safety and position? In Season 5, June tried to convince Nick to become a mole for the Americans at Tuello’s behest. At first, he declined but vowed to protect her. In the season finale, after he learned of the apparent assassination attempt on June’s life, Nick agreed to become a mole. He angrily stormed into longtime ally Commander Lawrence’s (Bradley Whitford) wedding and violently confronted him over his involvement in the attempt on June’s life. He was summarily tossed in jail. His loyal wife, Rose, who was pregnant, sussed out his adoration and devotion for June and told him that she was done with him.
If Nick can make nice with Gilead leadership and free himself from prison, will he make the ultimate sacrifice to help June, or will he betray the woman he loves?
Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford)
The slippery Commander Lawrence is a master manipulator, both ruthless and compassionate, and his star is on the rise in Gilead. His plan to open up trade with the rest of the world came to fruition, and the Gilead economy is improving. He outmaneuvered Commander Putnam (Stephen Kunken) in his quest to liberalize parts of Gilead, and he and Nick had Putnam executed for raping a handmaid. His plan to build the island settlement of New Bethlehem, where Gilead refugees can return to live safely, has helped open up diplomatic ties with other countries. But is it all an illusion that will come crashing down?
Meanwhile, Lawrence’s relationship with June—and his longtime ally Nick—has always been complex. When she was posted at his house as a handmaid, he refused to partake in the Ceremony, and June helped him with his unstable wife Eleanor, whose mental health was deteriorating from living in a totalitarian state and her husband’s role in its founding. He helped get Nichole out of Gilead and later brokered deals with June to smuggle Gileadean children (along with her friend Rita, a domestic servant “Martha”) and a group of freedom-fighting women out of the country.
In Season 5, Lawrence tried to get June to emigrate to New Bethlehem and promised to move Hannah there once she was married off. June considered the deal, but eventually refused. Later, the American resistance tried to rescue Hannah and others from a “Wives” school in Colorado, but the Gilead military scuttled the plan and shot down the fighter jets. In a phone call, an angry June berated Lawrence for endangering Hannah’s life and revealed her role in allowing his manic-depressive wife to overdose. By the end of Season 5, Lawrence married Putnam’s wife Naomi (Ever Carradine), and his and Nick’s alliance became strained. What’s the mercurial Lawrence’s ultimate aim for Gilead?
Moira Strand (Samira Wiley)
June’s best friend, Moira endured the worst of the Gilead hellscape and lived to tell the tale. She began working for an NGO that assisted American refugees as they readjusted to life in Canada, and she also helped Luke and June care for Nichole. During the rise of Gilead, June and Moira joined protests and fought back against the increasingly draconian laws and was separated from her physician fiancée Odette (who she later learned was killed). June and Moira both wound up at the Red Center, where young fertile women were designated as handmaids (in a world of decreasing fertility rates) and trained to carry babies for Gilead’s elite families. As punishment for insubordination, Moira was reassigned to become a “Jezebel,” a sex worker, at a brothel in Boston. On a visit there with Commander Waterford, June and Moira briefly reconnected, but Moira eventually escaped to Canada and was reunited with Luke.
The two of them helped raise Nichole in Toronto. While settling into life in “Little America,” Moira attempts a new romantic relationship with a relief worker, Oona (Zawe Ashton), but she was still carrying the psychic wounds from her past. In Season 4, on a relief mission in the war-torn city of Chicago, Moira miraculously found and rescued June after bombs were dropped on the city. June was brought back to Canada, and Moira helped her increasingly unstable friend adjust to her newfound freedom in Toronto and assisted in caring for Nichole.
When viewers last saw Moira, she was facing rising anti-refugee sentiment and helping June and Luke flee to western Canada. Smart and determined, Moira will no doubt play a key role in any efforts to rescue Hannah and other girls trapped in Gilead. But can she also find some measure of happiness for herself?
Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd)
June’s arch-nemesis and torturer, Aunt Lydia, is a complex figure. As one of the leaders of the Red Center, Aunt Lydia worked to indoctrinate fertile women into their new role as handmaids, where they were forcibly raped by the commanders in the ceremony with their wives present. Over the years, battle-axe Lydia doled out sadistic punishments to get the handmaids to comply — shocking them with a cattle prod, having their fingernails pulled out, and chaining them to beds. Lydia horrifically had Janine’s right eye removed as punishment.
In Season 2, she and the aunts commanded the other handmaids to stone Janine, but they refused. Upping the ante, Lydia and the Eyes staged a mock execution-by-hanging to scare the handmaids into submission. While she’d tortured the handmaids for disobedience, she started to show compassion and care for her charges as time goes on. As a true believer in Gilead’s extremist religious mission, she thought they just needed to be taught the right path. In Season 3, Lydia furiously beat a disrespectful Janine in front of the other commanders and their wives until June intervened. Lydia offered a tearful apology and had a revelation. From that moment, she developed a soft spot for Janine, always watching out for her, and Janine sometimes returned the affection.
In Season 5, when Janine was poisoned by another handmaid, Aunt Lydia prayed by her bedside and vowed to show more compassion to the handmaids if Janine survived. But after Janine recovered, she told Lydia the harsh truth: The imprisoned handmaids hate her. In the finale, a distraught Lydia watched as Janine got taken away by the Eyes for her disobedience towards Commander Lawrence and his wife.
Has Lydia’s faith in Gilead been shaken? Viewers find out more about her potential transformation in the final season—and in a new spinoff, The Testaments, that will be centered around Aunt Lydia. Based on Atwood’s 2019 sequel novel, the show is currently in production at Hulu.
Janine Lindo (Madeline Brewer)
June’s closest handmaid friend, Janine, is arguably the most tortured — and resilient — of all the handmaids viewers have met. In the first episode, Janine was poked with an electric cattle prod and had her right eye removed as punishment for her insubordination, which showed that Lydia and the other aunts meant business at the Red Center. She gave birth to a daughter, Angela, for Commander Putnam and his wife Naomi, and over time became increasingly distraught.
After being posted with another family, she kidnapped her daughter, stood on the edge of a bridge, and revealed that Putnam had promised that he’d leave his wife for her. June managed to coax Janine into giving her the baby before Janine leapt from the bridge into the icy water below. She survived but was nearly stoned to death and survived a mock execution at the command of Aunt Lydia.
In Season 2, she was sent to the brutal and toxic “Colonies,” where “unwomen” live in forced labor camps. She was eventually brought back to serve as a handmaid again and helped Angela recover from an illness. Aunt Lydia’s compassion for her grew after a violent incident in Season 3, and Janine also helped June and some fellow handmaids and Marthas smuggle a group of children out of Gilead.
In Season 4, Janine and June escaped by train to war-torn Chicago and met up with a band of resistance fighters. Janine had a tryst with one of them, but she was eventually captured and sent back to Gilead. She begged Aunt Lydia not to be made a handmaid again, and their bond strengthened.
In Season 5, a handmaid, Esther, tried to turn Janine against Lydia and then poisoned her, but Janine survived again. Lydia orchestrated a posting with Commander Lawrence and Naomi Putnam, now his new wife, so Janine could be closer to her child. But in a fit of pique in the Season 5 finale, Janine furiously told Naomi that she hated her guts and then got carted off by the Eyes.
If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, contact the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network‘s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.
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