One major character will not be returning for The Handmaid’s Tale season 5, and a huge Gilead change perfectly explains why. Characters are constantly joining and leaving the celebrated Hulu series, but a recent Handmaid’s Tale season 5 casting update reveals that one of the show’s central characters will be absent from the upcoming season. While this is sad news, some Gilead changes that The Handmaid’s Tale season 4 has begun to set up could cause the character’s absence to make more sense.
The Handmaid’s Tale follows June Osborne and other handmaids in the dystopian country of Gilead (formerly the United States of America). Due to declining birthrates and the rise of religious extremism, Christian ideologists have taken over America in The Handmaid’s Tale‘s main timeline, forming Gilead and establishing a new fascist state. In Gilead, fertile women are forced into the servitude of Commanders, giving birth to their children that are conceived via ritualistic rape. Escaping the tyrannical Gilead leaders, therefore, becomes of the utmost importance to many of The Handmaid’s Tale‘s main characters, with most of the show following the handmaids and others attempting to flee to a still-democratic Canada.
CAST: The series stars Elisabeth Moss, Bradley Whitford, Yvonne Strahovski, Max Minghella, O-T Fagbenle, Samira Wiley, Ann Dowd, Madeline Brewer, Amanda Brugel, Sam Jaeger.
Courtesy of Hulu
CREDITS: “The Handmaid’s Tale” is produced by MGM Television and executive produced by Bruce Miller, Warren Littlefield, Elisabeth Moss, Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, Eric Tuchman, Yahlin Chang, Rachel Skukert, Sheila Hockin, John Weber, Frank Siracusa, Steve Stark and Kim Todd. The series is internationally distributed by MGM.
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LAST SEASON-
The most recent season of “The Handmaid’s Tale” ended with June killing Commander Waterford, and the image of her covered with his blood while clinging to her baby is burned in our minds as we anxiously await the release of the fifth season. This was far from June’s first kill, but this was a turning point for her- though she escaped Gilead physically, it keeps her trapped emotionally. Though Commander Waterford’s punishment was that he would never be a part of his son’s life, June decided that justice would be served by the Commander’s death.
Much of June’s story during season four was the repercussions of escaping Gilead, and what that would mean for her, since she becomes even more dangerous to her enemies when she sets foot on Canadian soil.
Elizabeth Moss (“June Osborne”) directed three episodes this season, and in an interview with Forbes, she mentioned that “no one really escapes Gilead… [She] will never be able to forget what she has seen or done. A prison can be anywhere and I think she’s in an emotional prison no matter where she is. Gilead never leaves you. You can’t ever really go back to who you were before.”
One relationship that is massively changed by the events of the fourth season is the marriage between Luke and June. June is no longer the person she was when she married him, and Luke saw that when he saw her with Commander Waterford’s blood on her face. Serena and Commander Lawrence also return this season with more drama and more questions. Commander Lawrence respects June, and he is also respected by the outside world, so he must rely on his relationship and standing with the enemy to make any progress. Serena is protected from further punishment due to her pregnancy, but in a confrontation at the beginning of season four, June makes it very clear that she thinks that Serena doesn’t deserve to be a mother.
Hulu has the previous four seasons available to watch if you need to catch up before the fifth season premieres.
According to Hulu, the release date for the fifth season of “The Handmaid’s Tale” will be September 14th for viewers in the US. The premiere will consist of two episodes, and new episodes will be released weekly onto Hulu.
An Atlanta-based actress, model, writer, and screenwriter, Miranda started her career on stage in high school. She figured out that acting and writing were two passions of hers that allowed her to constructively express her emotions through character and narrative. In 2022, she packed up her cat and everything she owned to move across the US to Atlanta to further pursue opportunities in the entertainment industry. She is currently working on a novel and the screenplay adaptation for the novel, and enjoys designing graphics.
