Recap of Season 5 of The Handmaid's Tale

      The wait for the return of The Handmaid’s Tale has been prolonged, with its initial premiere on Hulu happening in April 2017. Season 5 concluded dramatically in November 2022, and since then, fans have anxiously anticipated the arrival of the sixth and final season. The first three episodes of Season 6 will be available for streaming on April 8, 2025, continuing the narrative right from where it left off.

      So, where did the story conclude? It can easily slip your mind, especially after such a long interval between seasons. To help refresh your memory before embarking on the final season of this dystopian drama based on Margaret Atwood's novel of the same name, we have prepared a concise recap highlighting all the significant moments from Season 5.

      It’s anything but a fortunate day for June and Serena.

      Hulu

      In Season 4, June (Elisabeth Moss) successfully escaped from Gilead, but she continues to grapple with the trauma she experienced and is still without her daughter, Hannah (Jordana Blake). Nevertheless, she has achieved a form of vengeance by joining other former handmaids in murdering her former Commander, Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes). They hung his body on the wall and sent his severed finger to his widow, Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski).

      In response, Serena orchestrates a lavish televised funeral for Fred, ensuring that Hannah participates in the ceremony, dressed in a color symbolizing her readiness for marriage. This infuriates June, who almost kills Serena when their paths cross. However, she refrains from doing so for a specific reason.

      Hulu

      Serena is unexpectedly pregnant and, in an ironic turn of events, is banished from Gilead as an unwed mother and sent to Canada as a diplomat. In reality, Serena is placed with the Wheelers, a couple that takes an unsettling interest in her child. Although not a handmaid, she is treated as one, and it is evident that the couple intends to take her baby once it is born.

      As she copes with this troubling new reality, Serena learns that June has been caught in No Man's Land, where she went with her husband, Luke (O-T Fagbenle), to gather information. Serena expresses a desire to execute her former handmaid and her husband’s killer. Holding a gun to June’s head, she ultimately hesitates and shoots the guard instead. Serena then forces June into a car; she is going into labor, and June reluctantly assists her in delivering the baby in a barn.

      Russ Martin / Disney

      Later, in a hospital, Luke alerts the authorities to Serena's illegal status in the country, and she ironically begs June for help, aware of the consequences: the Wheelers will take her baby. June tells her, “We’re not friends,” but still offers some last-minute advice: return to the Wheelers and plan revenge from the inside. Serena agrees and proposes to attend the opening of the Gilead Cultural Center, arguing that her appearance with a baby would be beneficial for recruitment. While there, she manages to escape.

      June is determined to save Hannah, but she’s in peril.

      Sophie Giraud / Disney

      While still in Canada, June and Luke are desperately trying to devise a plan to rescue Hannah. Commander Lawrence (Get Out’s Bradley Whitford) offers her housing in his new, seemingly more progressive community called New Bethlehem, promising to place them near Hannah and her future husband. Understandably, June declines.

      With the assistance of Mark Tuello (Sam Jaeger), a representative of the U.S. government-in-exile, a plan is set to raid Hannah’s school in Gilead, but the mission fails. Tuello believes that the only way in is through Nick (Max Minghella) and attempts to persuade him to act as a mole for Canada. While Nick initially refuses, he becomes furious when a Gilead truck nearly kills June. He blames Lawrence, punches him, and ends up in jail. His pregnant wife visits him, noting that she knows he still loves June and is unhappy about it.

      Steve Wilkie / Disney

      Recognizing that anti-refugee sentiments are rising in Canada and that Gilead won’t relent until she’s dead, June decides that fleeing is the only way forward until she can figure out her next move. Tuello warns them about soldiers at the airport but arranges for them to board a train to Vancouver instead, from where they can travel to Hawaii.

      When June and Luke arrive at the station with baby Nicole, officers conduct ID checks and uncover a warrant for Luke’s arrest due to the severe beating he gave to the man who hit June, who has since died. Understanding he won’t make it on the train, Luke surrenders, revealing he never intended to escape with them.

      As June boards with baby Nicole, she hears the cries