‘Big and wild’: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’s last season promises to go hard

Based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood, the dystopian drama The Handmaid’s Tale is still going strong eight years after its premiere, with its fans eagerly awaiting the sixth and last season.

There’s good news for fans of the show, whose last season came out back in 2022. The sixth season has entered production, and Hulu has set a spring 2025 premiere. The network made the information public by releasing a picture of the face of the show, Elizabeth Moss, holding the slate for the first episode, which she will also direct. Previously, the plan was to shoot the final chapter in 2023 with a 2024 release in mind, but it was pushed due to the Hollywood labor union strikes.

In an interview with TVLine in May 2024, Moss dropped some details on the upcoming season, promising “it definitely has final-season energy.” She also called it “big and wild,” which doesn’t come off as a surprise considering the premise and themes of the show, and how the fifth season concluded.

As for what the fans can expect from the sixth season from a plot perspective, Miller hinted towards tension escalating further between June Osborne (Moss) and Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski), with their relationship becoming more complex in the process. In the aforementioned interview, Moss said, “I feel like this season, we’re giving it back to the audience.” We’ll have to wait and see exactly what that means.

Here’s the list of the cast that is expected to return for season 6:

• Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne
• Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy Waterford
• Bradley Whitford as Commander Lawrence
• Max Minghella as Nick
• Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia
• O.T. Fagbenle as Luke
• Samira Wiley as Moira
• Madeline Brewer as Janine
• Amanda Brugel as Rita
• Sam Jaeger as Mark Tuello
• Ever Carradine as Naomi Putnam

Josh Charles was confirmed as a new addition to the cast in July 2024, marking his second collaboration with Moss. The pair starred together in FX’s spy thriller miniseries The Veil, which was released in 2024.

Apart from acting and directing the first episode, Moss will sit on the director’s chair for three more episodes: the second episode, the penultimate one, and the season finale. Moss has helmed episodes in the past, directing three episodes each in seasons 4 and 5, including the season 5 finale.

Another key point to note about season 6 is that the show’s creator Bruce Miller is taking a backseat as the showrunner pivots to focus on The Testaments, a spinoff to The Handmaid’s Tale, which was announced in September 2019. In his stead, executive producers Yahlin Chang and Eric Tuchman will step up to act as co-showrunners while Miller assumes the roles of executive producer and writer.