We now know The Handmaid\u2019s Tale will officially return for a fifth season \u2013 and it\u2019s safe to say the story is far from over.<\/p>\n
June may have escaped Gilead, but there are still plenty trying to leave the vicious country.<\/p>\n
With new teen handmaid Esther Keyes (played by McKenna Grace) looking likely to become a narrative focus as the show continues, the actress has spoken about the possibility of becoming \u201cthe new June\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like there\u2019s only one June. But there is the whole rebellion and there are all of these other girls. So, there\u2019s one June and I supposed there\u2019s one Esther as well! We\u2019ll see what she gets up to into the next season. I have no clue, but I have hopes,\u201d Grace told The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>.<\/p>\n She continued: \u201cI think she [Esther] definitely can be part of this rebellion and the new generation of Handmaids. She will cause quite a stir.\u201d<\/p>\n Season five is likely to follow in the aftermath of *that* brutal killing at the hands of June in the season finale, as well as what it means for her life in Canada.<\/p>\n With a potential June, Luke and Nick love triangle firmly on the cards, too, we simply can\u2019t wait to see the next instalment of The Handmaid\u2019s Tale.<\/p>\n Without further ado, read on for your essential guide to The Handmaid\u2019s Tale season five, but be warned: big season four spoilers<\/strong> will appear throughout this article.<\/p>\n The Handmaid\u2019s Tale season four only came out on Sunday 20th June 2021 on Channel 4 in the UK, so we still have a while to wait before season five hits our shores.<\/p>\n The series airs earlier and on Hulu across the Pond for US viewers, but don\u2019t expect the season five premiere until spring 2022 earliest.<\/p>\n Ahead of season four, the first three episodes debuted a day early<\/a> on the Disney-owned streamer, in a surprise move for fans \u2013 so we could well expect a similar move for season five.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no trailer for The Handmaid\u2019s Tale season five yet, but we\u2019ll keep this page updated with any news.<\/p> Nothing has been confirmed, but it looks like all the central cast members will return, including\u00a0Elisabeth Moss as June.<\/p>\n Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley, Alexis Bledel, Max Minghella, O-T Fagbenle, Amanda Brugel and Bradley Whitford will all likely return, as well as Ann Dowd who plays a terrifying Aunt Lydia<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the end of season four, June successfully brokered a deal with Commander Lawrence, Commander Fred Waterford (in custody in Canada) for 22 women and resistance fighters trapped in Gilead.<\/p>\n However, Waterford was instead released in No Man\u2019s Land, where he was chased and beaten to death by June, Emily, and other former handmaids.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt that it really delivered the finale that I felt, and I think my cast-mates felt, was needed and deserved for the fans,\u201d actor Joseph Fiennes (Waterford) told Entertainment Weekly<\/a>.<\/p>\n His death will no doubt have major consequences for season five, and we\u2019ll doubtless see its impact on the lives of both June herself and on Waterford\u2019s pregnant wife Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski).<\/p>\n During a previous chat with EW<\/a>, Strahovski revealed that when she first read the finale, her \u201cjaw was on the floor\u201d.<\/p>\n She added: \u201cFor me personally, it\u2019s the most satisfying season finale that Handmaid\u2019s has had to date, so it\u2019s just exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n However, this might not be the last we see of Fred Waterford, after the showrunner Bruce Miller hinted that we will continue to see Waterford in flashbacks.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that although Fred is dead, his influence on June continues and that is, in our show, shown through her mind\u2019s eye of flashbacks,\u201d he told Deadline<\/a>.<\/p>\n The series will also become a \u201ca June-Serena thing\u201d, focusing on the two female characters, according to Miller.<\/p>\n Serena will react with the \u201cwhite-hot fever of revenge,\u201d Miller told\u00a0The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>. \u201cEven though Serena didn\u2019t like Fred and they have a complicated relationship, it\u2019s now a June-Serena thing. She will want to find a way to metaphorically or realistically get June for this. June hit her house and she wants to hit her back. There\u2019s that absolute toe-to-toe, woman-to-woman venom, but also, what is the relationship between two women where one killed the other\u2019s abuser? It\u2019s complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n Fred Waterford\u2019s death was hinted at in the original Margaret Atwood book, which very briefly suggests that Fred was killed during a \u2018Salvaging\u2019 ritual.<\/p>\n Another future plot line hinted at during season four episode nine is that Serena\u2019s child could be claimed by Gilead, while she herself could be forced to become a handmaid.<\/p>\n Showrunner Bruce Miller says he is\u00a0\u201cin no rush to end it [\u2026] I\u2019m not going to shut it down while we have interesting stories to tell,\u201d in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Likewise,\u00a0executive producer Warren Littlefield previously spoke ahead of season four and\u00a0implied that several more seasons of The Handmaid\u2019s Tale could be on the way.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have not planned season four to be the end, but we also look to Margaret [Atwood]\u2019s book The Testaments and know that that story takes us 15 years into the future,\u201d he told TV Guide. \u201cWe don\u2019t see ending it in [season four], and I can honestly say to you, we don\u2019t have a definitive out. But I think we want to keep the bar high, and it would not be a bad thing to leave the audience wanting more and then we could ideally shift into The Testaments.\u201d<\/p>\n While you\u2019re waiting, take a look at the rest of our Drama<\/a> coverage, or check out what else is on with our TV guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n The dystopian Hulu series will return for a fifth season. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":3398,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/the-handmaids-tale-season-5-release-date-rumours-cast-trailer-and-latest-news-scaled.jpg",2560,1703,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/the-handmaids-tale-season-5-release-date-rumours-cast-trailer-and-latest-news-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/the-handmaids-tale-season-5-release-date-rumours-cast-trailer-and-latest-news-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/the-handmaids-tale-season-5-release-date-rumours-cast-trailer-and-latest-news-768x511.jpg",768,511,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/the-handmaids-tale-season-5-release-date-rumours-cast-trailer-and-latest-news-1024x681.jpg",800,532,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/the-handmaids-tale-season-5-release-date-rumours-cast-trailer-and-latest-news-1536x1022.jpg",1536,1022,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/08\/the-handmaids-tale-season-5-release-date-rumours-cast-trailer-and-latest-news-2048x1362.jpg",2048,1362,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The dystopian Hulu series will return for a fifth season.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/3397"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Handmaid\u2019s Tale season 5 release date<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Handmaid\u2019s Tale season 5 trailer<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Handmaid\u2019s Tale season 5 cast<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Handmaid\u2019s Tale season 5 spoilers<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/div>![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/06\/Medium_71339_3_S4_Ep3_The-Handmaids-Tale-S4-Ep3-eb71a47.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"The\\"")
<\/div>Will season 5 be the final season of The Handmaid\u2019s Tale?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"