Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Handmaid's Tale season 6, episode 10!

Hulu's All six seasons of The Handmaid's Tale have been building up to this moment, with the finale having a lot of storylines to wrap up. The episode not only had to provide a satisfying conclusion for June's character arc, but it also had to offer a sense of finality without bringing Gilead down while also setting up The Testaments. Luckily, the finale manages to pull this off, with many moments requiring some explanation.

The Handmaid's Tale season 6, episode 9 had a shocking ending, with Mayday successfully blowing up a plane full of Commanders. This plane carried Nick, Wharton, and Lawrence, meaning that the attack wiped out most of Boston's leaders. As June explains at the start of the finale, this attack allowed the United States to successfully take Boston back, extending the territory of the United States. However, the chaos of the attack left everyone scattered, with the finale following June and Mayday as they locate the missing people and prepare for the future.

Why The Handmaid's Tale Ends With June Recording Her Story & How It Connects To The First Episode

She Is Telling Her Story To Hannah

The final scene of The Handmaid's Tale brings us back to the very beginning, with June returning to the Waterford house. She goes upstairs and sees her bedroom, as well as the writing on the wall that started June's journey: "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum." She also sees visions of Hannah, reminding her of who she is fighting for. After taking the room in, June begins to record her story, presumably writing her version of The Handmaid's Tale novel.

Returning to her prison from the first episode allows viewers to see how far June has come, with her now being a seasoned veteran in the fight against Gilead rather than a meek Handmaid. However, it also allows viewers to see how little progress has been made. After six seasons of fighting, the United States has just now taken over Boston, with this being their only real land gain throughout the show. If the U.S. wants to take back all of Gilead, it is going to take a long time, with June now recording her journey in order to chronicle this war.

Why June Couldn't Reunite With Hannah In The Series Finale

The Showrunners Have Explained It

Sadly, June was not able to find Hannah in The Handmaid's Tale series finale for two reasons. The story reason is that Hannah is trapped further into Gilead than the U.S. can reach. June initially believes that Hannah is in Colorado, and while she does find out that she has moved 2,000 miles closer during the episode, she is still too far. The real-world reason is that Hulu is making a sequel series known as The Testaments. In the Margaret Atwood novel, Hannah is still in Gilead at this point, meaning that she has to remain there during the finale.

Yahlin Chang, one of the showrunners of The Handmaid's Tale, discussed the difficulties of this in an interview with LA Times. She explained that their "hands were tied" in regards to June saving Hannah. However, Chang and co-showrunner Eric Tuchman believed that "the idea of her telling the story to Hannah was just so emotionally captivating," explaining why the series ended in this way. Although June wasn't able to reunite with Hannah, she is able to help Hannah by telling her story, something that could pay off in The Testaments. Here are Chang's full comments:

Originally, Bruce envisioned it as the penultimate scene, but it became the ultimate scene because it became so clear, in my head anyway, that June was telling the story to Hannah and for Hannah, and that the whole series we’ve been watching has actually been her story to Hannah. Given that our hands were tied, unfortunately, and we could not bring June and Hannah together because of “The Testaments,” which was something that we really struggled with — I struggled with, speaking for myself — not giving people what they wanted or what I wanted, the idea of her telling the story to Hannah was just so emotionally captivating. I don’t think that Bruce was so worried about not seeing Hannah. There’s this whole sequel that focuses on Hannah. And Lizzie had a big part of this too; she influenced the writing of this scene between June and Holly [June’s mother, portrayed by Cherry Jones], where it evolved into a scene where Holly says, “This story is for the people who have lost, who have not gotten their children back; this is for them.”

Why June Forgives Serena Joy & The Parallel Between Them

Serena Ends Where June Started

Serena Joy is one of the main villains in the early seasons of The Handmaid's Tale, which is why it is so surprising that June forgives her in the final episode. As Serena Joy and her son are boarding a bus to a refugee camp, Serena apologizes to June for everything she did while she was in Gilead. June says that she forgives Serena, a powerful notion considering the horrors that Serena put June through. However, this goes to show that June recognizes that oppressive systems can turn otherwise good people into monsters, and that Serena may not have been this way if it weren't for Fred Waterford and Gilead.

In an ironic twist, Serena Joy's ending in The Handmaid's Tale parallels June's beginning. While at the refugee camp, Serena has almost nothing. She sleeps on a cot with very few belongings, with her having fallen a long way from being married to the High Commander of Gilead. A refugee camp worker even tells Serena that her kid can't be there, threatening her relationship with Noah. Serena Joy is in a bad spot, but thanks to Serena's redemption arc, she is a much better person.

Emily's Return In The Handmaid's Tale Season 6, Episode 10 Explained

She Left The Show After Season 4

The most shocking moment in The Handmaid's Tale finale is the return of Alexis Bledel's Emily. In the episode, Emily finds June while she is wandering the streets of the newly-liberated Boston. June is ecstatic, with Emily explaining that she has spent the years fighting from the inside. Although she was able to keep in with her son and wife, Emily was deep undercover as a Martha working with a Commander who was sympathetic to the cause. Although this story hasn't been seen on-screen, it finally explains where she has been for all these years.

Alexis Bledel left The Handmaid's Tale after season 4, with her being completely absent from season 5 despite being a main character in the previous seasons. The choice to leave was Bledel's, with her stepping back from Hollywood entirely for a few years. Emily had escaped to Canada in season 3, and while she was still there in season 4, season 5 had to figure out a way to write her out of the show. So, it was explained that Emily went back into Gilead, with her just now popping up again.

Why Luke & June Go Their Separate Ways & Will They Reunite?

They Will See Each Other Again

The love triangle between June, Luke, and Nick was seemingly resolved in The Handmaid's Tale season 6, episode 9 when June allowed Nick to die. However, this assumption was wrong. June and Luke have an emotional conversation in the series finale, with them explaining that their fight against Gilead has simply caused them to drift apart. Their ion for taking down Gilead has overtaken their love for each other, and they know that there is no way for them to have a normal relationship until Hannah is back.

However, both characters acknowledge that they will see each other when they get there. It seems as if they expect that they will be together again someday, possibly after the events of The Testaments. It may be a while, but the finale is undoubtedly not the last that June and Luke will see of each other.

The Importance Of Janine Reuniting With Her Daughter

It Is Thanks To Aunt Lydia

In the finale, Aunt Lydia brings Janine to the border, handing her over to the United States. At the same time, Commander Lawrence's widow comes with them, handing Janine's daughter over as well. Finding her daughter has been Janine's main goal throughout the past few seasons, and while June may not have reunited with her daughter, it is nice to see at least one The Handmaid's Tale character win. This also sets up that Aunt Lydia is fully working for the United States and Mayday, furthering her The Testaments story.

How The Handmaid's Tale Ending Compares To The Book

The Hulu Show Goes A Lot Further

Hulu's adaptation goes a lot further than Margaret Atwood's original novel, with most of the source material being covered in season 1 of the show. Thus, the two versions of The Handmaid's Tale end incredibly differently, with the book ending as June is taken away by the Eyes, unsure whether she is being arrested or if Nick is helping her escape. However, the book also contains a scene in the far future where a historian reveals that June recorded her story on a series of audio cassettes, paralleling June's recording of the story at the end of the series.

What Happens After The Handmaid's Tale

But Before The Testaments

There is still a lot of story left in the world of The Handmaid's Tale, with the sequel series The Testaments not taking place until over a decade later. The United States continues fighting Gilead throughout these years. Unfortunately, they aren't able to take Gilead down, with the battle raging on until Hannah is in adulthood. Hannah forgets her past as June's daughter, with her keeping her Agnes name and becoming an Aunt. She continues her life in Gilead until she meets her half-sister, Nicole.

Nicole grows up under the care of adoptive parents, meaning that June and Holly give her up at some point. She becomes an anti-Gilead advocate, although she had her name changed to Daisy at a young age, making her unaware that she is the famous Baby Nicole who was smuggled out of Gilead. Meanwhile, Aunt Lydia has become a mole for Mayday, with her continuing to smuggle information out of Gilead. She also writes an anti-Gilead manifesto, one that becomes incredibly popular within the country.

The Real Meaning Of The Handmaid's Tale's Ending

Why June Has To Keep Fighting

The ending of The Handmaid's Tale doesn't let June win, but it does let her realize the importance of fighting for those who are yet to come. Emily points this out to June, explaining that she fights to protect Oliver and the little girls in Canada. Tuello really hits this point home, explaining that he fights against Gilead so that his son won't have to. This allows June to realize that she must continue fighting for Nicole and Hannah, so that hopefully the world is a better place for them one day.

The central dramatic argument of The Handmaid's Tale finale is that the battle against fascism and oppression can never be definitively won. Instead, we must constantly fight against it, keeping it in check so that it doesn't snatch power where it can. Even if all of Gilead is taken back, there will still be fascists who carry the ideology of Gilead, and they must be fought against. Because, as June explains in The Handmaid's Tale, "Fighting may not get us everything, but we don’t have a choice, because not fighting is what got us Gilead in the first place. And Gilead doesn’t need to be beaten — it needs to be broken."

Source: THR