7 Questions That Need Answering In The Last Two Episodes Of 'The Handmaid's Tale'

Elle

23-06-2025

This piece contains spoilers up to the end of Episode 8, Season 6 of 'The Handmaid's Tale'
It's a bittersweet time for fans of The Handmaid's Tale as the finale looms large, with just two episodes to go. On the one hand we're about to find out where six seasons and years of storytelling and brutal plot lines will end for some of our favourite characters - on the other, we're about to say goodbye to one of the most gripping (and scarily prescient) dramas around.
At the end of episode 8, Mayday had managed to carry out their silent and deadly attack. There was no huge red wedding spectacle at Serena's (Yvonne Strahovski) wedding, but there was a silently deadly show of strength, as the handmaids turned on their drugged masters, whose bodies were laced with sedatives from the wedding cake.
It was one of the best episodes in years - and in some ways offered the retribution that fans have been waiting for since the show aired in 2017. But what's next?
As soon as the show aired, the searches for 'The Handmaid's Tale, episode 9, season six' spiked - we're tantalisingly close to the end, but there's still so much to be sorted out.
So, without further ado, here are some of the biggest questions The Handmaid's Tale needs to answer in episodes nine and 10, the last ever episode.
It's the obvious one, but the one we're all holding our breath for. The original Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale left you heartbreakingly unsure of anything - but in this TV adaptation, we've found many more narratives and stories for June to follow - a whole five other seasons, in fact.
But this most recent series especially has seen June finally enact some brutal vengeance on the highest orders of Gilead - which puts her firmly in their crosshairs for payback. Will she make it out alive to see the fruits of her labour, finally?
Well, if you're a big fan of the Handmaid's universe, then you'll know that The Testaments is coming to TV too, created off the back of Atwood's sequel to her original novel. And, we'd hope this isn't a spoiler if you're this deep into the fandom, but June does appear in that book. But...
After five supplementary seasons, we know that the showrunners have taken the reins of Offred's story and really run away from the books with it. So, while we know they're working on a version of The Testaments, we don't know if they will stay completely true to the book - and whether that will mean their hands are tied to keep both June and Aunt Lydia alive, so they can appear in the new story. As of yet, it's still not been confirmed if Elisabeth Moss will appear in The Testaments, so we really don't know.
While June has safely left Nicole with her mother, she couldn't give up the fight for Hannah - and it is this that has continued to fuel her throughout the final series.
We think this is too much of a spoiler to completely reveal, but let's just say The Testaments has some involvement in Hannah's fate and her possible reunion with June, so if you know that story already, you maybe have suspicions on how this will go.
How close the producer of The Testaments will stick to the book will ultimately affect Hannah and June's ending.
Again, the presence of The Testaments necessitates that Gilead isn't completely destroyed... The Testaments tells the stories of Lydia, Agnes and Daisy, sometime after The Handmaid's Tale book, and Gilead is still functioning. This doesn't necessarily mean that there won't be a real wound caused to Gilead in the last two episodes, we're sure the writers could find a way to work around /rejuvenate Gilead, and the key could lie with New Bethlehem perhaps.
At the end of episode 8, the resistance force Mayday had really dealt a brutal blow to Gilead - in the final two episodes, will their victories continue, or will they be beaten again?
Back and forth, where does Serena and her allegiance truly lie? It's clear that her main motivation for everything now is her son, Noah. But having escaped near certain death in the beginning of season six, where will the shifting sands in New Bethlehem find Serena come the end of the series?
Creator Bruce Miller already told The Hollywood Reporter he wanted to kill Serena off in episode one of season six - so perhaps this could give us a clue to where his allegiances lie...
'I wanted to kill her,' he confessed. 'Because I think she was such a horrible person and being dead on the side of the road completely anonymously [after she was pushed from the train during the first episode of the season finale] would have been a fitting end. I had to be convinced not to throw her off that train, along with the kid.'
Strahovski told ELLE that she wasn't keen on that ending, but wasn't against a more dramatic death: 'Naturally, I am tied to her as a character. She's so multi-layered, and she's one of those characters that is the epitome of the grey area, due to how nuanced she is,' she explained.
'I think I would have been okay with her going out in some kind of tragic blaze of glory kind of way. It would have been fitting, and even satisfying for the inner audience member within me.'
Will the actor get her way - only two more weeks to find out.
After that brutal episode eight betrayal, episode nine seemed to indicate that June understood that things between her and Nick were finally broken. But we have been here before... with June more focussed than ever on Mayday and the destruction of Gilead, and Nick ultimately showing Gilead is where his faith lies, it seems like their bond is broken. But with Nick closer to the top than ever, and Gilead under threat, what does this mean for his fate? Now long to find out.
After coming close to death so many times, fans have been obsessed with Janine's fate since the start of season six, with it becoming one of the biggest questions fans were googling according to the platform's data?
We know The Handmaid's Tale loves to break out heart, so poor Janine has that against her... as well as her current brutal position within Gilead.
But actor Madeleine Brewer has hinted that fans can take a minor sigh of relief when it comes to Janine's fate. Speaking to The Cut, the actor revealed, 'I had enough time between seasons to prepare myself for the goodbye.
'But Janine doesn't end with much fanfare; she ends in a quietly beautiful way, to the point where you can kind of just imagine what her life might be like. It's such a cyclical thing, starting the show in 2016 and finishing the show in early 2025. I'm ready to leave this world and take everything it's taught me.'
ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE.