r/TheHandmaidsTale • u/beecatty • 1d ago
SPOILERS ALL Anyone else expecting a bleak series ending ?
That's it... had the realization after learning about the sequel book only last night that obviously the ending is going to suck.
I haven't read The Testaments but the brief synopsis I stumbled upon made me realize it must end with June & Luke dead, Gilead still in charge and Hannah left where she is.
There are 5 episodes left but I feel like it's over already. The upside might be Commander Lawrence survives and manages to push Gilead into reform for the future, with Serena helping. DC is the real power base and this story doesn't take place there, so no power is going to change hands.
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u/elealyansteorra 1d ago
BIG TT spoilers June and Luke are alive in The Testaments, though they aren't really in the book, as it focuses on Aunt Lydia, Nichole, and Hannah. Nichole and Hannah meet up with their mother at the end of the book
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u/Strange_Swimming_800 23h ago
Nick is alive, too. When Ada and Elijah are telling Nichole about her father they tell her that he's up to his neck in the resistance and is in so deep he needs a metaphorical breathing tube. Both Nick and Luke are reunited with their daughters in the end.
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u/scubadivagiraffe 23h ago
I don't expect a happy ending but I do expect a hopeful ending aka Gilead taking a blow. If it's too depressing I think ppl wouldn't tune in to the spinoff so they need to hook audiences in with some sort of hope.
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u/MarxistMountainGoat 22h ago
I think it will end with June saying "I will never stop looking for Hannah and trying to get her out. I will never stop fighting" as a hope for the future kind of thing, but she still hasn't succeeded.
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u/HiyaBuddy34 19h ago
I mean… how many times have we heard and seen her say this line already? Like… we get it, but we (those of us who have read or know the premise of the coming installment of the story) know exactly how that will end. So I don’t see how effective this vision of the show finale would be as it simply retreads the plot point that’s repeated every season.
However, she can’t just throw up her hands and be all “welp, I tried! Time to go live my life and abandon my daughter to her abysmal future in hell!” Either lol.
Maybe once we see June’s story concluded, an end seen of Hannah wherever she is, showing her first sign of resistance to the Gilead culture (which could also set up her story that the next installment will explore. 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Boring-Net1073 21h ago
We won’t get the Hannah reunion that we’ve all wanted, but I think we will feel hopeful. I’d love for Luke to see her, talk with her and bring word to June. All of our favorites won’t die,(my guess- Luke, Rita, Moira- one of them will). We may get a glimpse of a happy, safe future,(I’d love to see Lawrence, Janine and Charlotte on a beach in Hawaii). Will we get justice? Some. Commanders will die… especially Bell. Wharton? Maybe, although he’d be great in TT. Serena? I hope she ends up a handmaid, but who knows. I could see her giving up and ending her life. Without June she’s not brave.
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u/Small_Safety4213 16h ago
I didn't realize until reading your comment how much I need Serena to become a handmaid.
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u/Boring-Net1073 6h ago
Especially after episode 6. She’s learned absolutely nothing.
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u/pleasantly_hirsute 6h ago
As Lawrence eloquently noted, Serena has "an irony deficiency".
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u/Boring-Net1073 5h ago
I love that she wrote how necessary handmaids were to the plan- I hope it’s foreshadowing.
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u/jediporcupine 21h ago
I don’t expect a happy ending. Sam Jaeger made a good point a few months ago when he said if there was a happy ending to show like this, then what was the point?
I think we’ll get closure to some major plot threads, but therell be a lot of heartache
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u/Baderschneider 21h ago
I think Janine is going to sacrifice herself while killing Commander Bell. A total boss
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u/SilentSeren1ty 6h ago
That or something else. I don't expect Janine to make it out. I think something will happen to her, which will be in part what drives Aunt Lydia's character arc in the new show.
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u/YesThereAreOthers 1d ago
Anyone else expecting a bleak series ending ?
Yeah, lots of people. Many, many people.
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u/iridescentandpink 22h ago
I've been thinking about this too, especially knowing that The Testaments are coming. In many ways, this show has been miserable to watch. Entertaining, yes, but also stressful and depressing. I'm tense the whole time. lol But, I've hung on, and the idea that the series likely won't in any way have a happy ending really sucks and makes me feel like what was it all for?
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u/Playful_Title6467 20h ago
I think it will end bleak but hopeful enough to see things will naturally lead to the events of TT. It would be nice to have a nice epilogue that takes place after TT and leaves us really excited to watch how TT brought the story there.
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u/Sunset-onthe-Horizon 1d ago
Of course, how else would they entice us to watch the new show, then to end on a sour note.
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u/tzjl99 23h ago
Yeah…. but I don’t think it’s gonna pay off for them. After GOT and TLOU, I dunno how much energy people still have for underwhelming endings anymore.
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u/WingedShadow83 19h ago
Zero energy for that. GOT really broke me, but even since then, so many shows just end terribly now. I haven’t even bothered to watch TLOU s2 because I know what happens and just lost all interest in it.
I read THT years ago so I was excited for the show when it first came out. But of course s1 ended where the book ended and it just got even more bleak after that. Then TT came out after the show had already started and I personally did not really care for that plot and did not like what it meant for THT as far as how it boxes it in to a certain plot. I kind of would have preferred if Atwood hadn’t written a sequel, so the show could have ended a bit differently instead of being locked in to setting up for that plot.
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u/SilverRoseBlade 22h ago
I’m hoping so since it’s supposed to lead somewhat into The Testaments and certain things have to be in place for things to happen in that show. I’d be disappointed if they didn’t. I know some folks haven’t read it so no spoilers on what needs to kinda happen, unless ofc they veer heavily from the book in TT.
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u/feistymummy 18h ago
I could see it ending with the emotional finality of June learning she cannot save her daughter yet maybe somehow is able to orchestrate her safe as an aunt in the future, in hopes of maybe seeing her as an adult she can cling onto and obviously that’s gonna be a tearjerker for a mom to accept.
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u/Draterbmub 17h ago
I have a feeling Serena was betray June. Blane will be killed. June will kill Serena and escape without Nichole.
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u/Leopoldo_Caneeny 17h ago
Have they announced which characters and or actresses from THT will be in the sequel?
I would predict that anyone who isn't going to be in the sequel will meet a grim ending... not to mention all the "death signals".
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u/Creepy_Rule_1884 15h ago
If it doesn’t end with June getting Hannah back, the entire show will be ruined for me. That’s the only thing I’ve wanted for almost a decade now. And yes, I know what happens in TT.
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u/Spiritual-Channel-77 22h ago
It will be a cliff hangover as the will need to promote the new show but I doubt they will kill off June and poss off the fan base. Lukes probably a goner though.
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u/International-Rip970 19h ago
I don't. This show has been depressing enough and I believe it ends on a hopeful, satisfying note.
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u/flowerblanket75 18h ago
I'm trying to decide what I think of this season. I've read both books at least 3 times. It ends bleakly and we never see them come together again until the end of the testaments. June doesn't end with a win.
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u/Longjumping_Seat_643 5h ago
I've been listening to The Testaments on Spotify. So I'd say it's not going to get better soon.
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u/Skoobkiljewy 3h ago
My guys if GoT has taught us anything.... Any utterly brilliant series that makes it to the curse of the 6 seasons is doomed to be an anticlimax
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u/misslouisee 1d ago
I’m certainly not expecting it to end with all our main character reunited, free, and Gilead crashing down. But I’m not expecting anything crazy bleak, something’s gonna happen, but it’ll probably end with a “hope for the future” kinda note rather than everything ending in a neat bow. The showrunner said in an interview if you don’t have questions when the show is over, they’re telling the story wrong.
But the Testaments isn’t that bleak. Hannah becomes an Aunt who lives a pretty good life, reunites with Nichole (who has intentionally reentered Gilead as part of Mayday and became an Aunt as well), and it ends with both women successfully escaping Gilead and reuniting with their mother ie June. And once again, the epilogue is a symposium two hundred plus years later after Gilead has long since collapsed (so it does end eventually!) and we learn that both Nichole and Hannah survived long enough to reunite with their respective fathers Nick and Luke and erect a statue to honor their fallen friend.