After eight years and 66 episodes,The Handmaid’s Talehas come to an end with season 6 as audiences left behind Elizabeth Moss’s June Osborne, and her ordeals in the horrors of Gilead. While the Hulu series initially began as a direct adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s terrifyingly relevant 1985 novel in 2017,The Handmaid’s Talequickly built upon those foundations to not only show further ways Gilead’s theonomic tyranny damaged lives, but how people could fight it. As such,The Handmaid’s Tale’scast grewbeyond the confines of June’s story.
The Handmaid’s Talenot only took audiences to the various corners of Gilead, where loyalties to the new regime waxed and waned, but we were shown the world outside of Gilead, and how this warped America stood on the global stage. As such, alongside the complexities of its core cast,The Handmaid’s TaleTV series had an ambitious scopewhile staying loyal to Margaret Atwood’s core messages. Despite these goals and a strong overall consensus, not every season ofThe Handmaid’s Talehas earned equal acclaim.
6The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4
Released in 2021
The Handmaid’s Taleseason 4’s story left critics underwhelmed thanks to how it took the characters forward. Picking up after the successful evacuation of over a dozen children out of Gilead thanks to the aid of newfound ally Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitcomb), season 4 saw a recovering June attempt to evade capture while the Waterfords are held in Canadian custody. Their separate storylines, among several others, lead to June testifying against the Waterfords, eventuallyculminating in a brutal act of vengeance where June kills Fred (Joseph Fiennes).
WhileThe Handmaid’s Taleseason 4 may have ended in an incredibly cathartic moment for June and audiences who had watched her ordeal across the prior seasons, much of season 4 feels like it is spread far too thin across several storylines. Past seasons had a clearer objective.Season 4 feels more scattershot until all of its story threads converge, making most of the episodes feel more interested in moving the pieces into place than telling its own story. However, as the following seasons surpassed season 4’s score of 70%, it is clear that this set-up paid off.
5The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5
Released in 2022
The Handmaid’s Taleseason 5was an arguably stronger season than its predecessor, with critics' reviews granting it a score of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.Season 5 dived into a character-driven journey for June,who is left grappling with how she wishes to fight Gilead now that she is free as a refugee in Canada, questioning whether she could commit an act like killing Fred once more. Meanwhile, Serena-Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) struggles to find her place without her husband, who is practically cast out of Gilead but still loyal to the nation’s horrific practices.
Though it still tracks several separate storylines,The Handmaid’s Taleseason 5 feels more cohesivethanks to the struggles that its cast is grappling with all asking the same question, “What happens next?”. June is left to figure out whether or not she has the strength to keep the fight going, Serena has to grapple with her new relationship with Gilead while enduring similar treatment to which Handmaidens receive, and evenLawrence tries to invoke a better future in Gilead, battling the other Commanders for its future. While more setup for its last season, each character’s journey feels fully realized.
4The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3
Released in 2019
The Handmaid’s Taleseason 3 stood out as a major step forward for the series among audiences. After the Hulu series went beyondThe Handmaid’s Talenovel,the show began to explore how one could take a stand against the horrors of Gilead. With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 82%, the series was critiqued for how, despite her noble intentions, keeping June in Gilead led to some repetitive beats from past seasons. However, after June successfully helped her daughter, Nichole, escape into Canada, the series wasted no time in turning the dystopic state on its head.
The Handmaid’s Taleseason 3 stands out as a moment where audiences could feel hopeful for the cast’s futures.
Season 3’s June is defiant, proudly taking full responsibility for her actions while also beginning to become more involved in the Resistance, alongsideCommander Lawrence, whose introduction marks the debut of one ofThe Handmaid’s Tale’s most complicated but compelling figures. Serena also makes major strides in the series alongside Lydia (Ann Dowd), asthe facade of Gilead begins to shatterfrom them, and they realise that no woman is free under this regime. After enduring the horrors for two seasons prior,The Handmaid’s Taleseason 3 stands out as a moment where audiences could feel hopeful for the cast’s futures.
3The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6
Released in 2025
Bringing the series to a close after eight years,The Handmaid’s Taleseason 6 is a cathartic set of episodes that bring closure to this chapter of the story,while laying the pieces forHulu’s upcoming adaptation of the sequel novel,The Testaments. Despite her initial reluctance, June willingly enters Gilead and devises a plan to bring down the Commanders of the Boston territories. June isn’t alone in her quest, as loved ones and former enemies who recognise the world they ushered in work alongside her to bring down Gilead.
Netting a score of 89% from 62 critics on Rotten Tomatoes,The Handmaid’s Taleseason 6 isn’t a perfect conclusion, as certain characters' endings feel somewhat unearned, given the deeds they had committed. However, with June’s own personal journey and a series of final set pieces that brought the stories of Lydia, Serena, Lawrence, and Nick (Max Minghella) full circle,the season is overall successful in leaving viewers with closure, even if the story of Gilead is far from over. As such,The Handmaid’s Taleis able to end on a high note.
2The Handmaid’s Tale Season 2
Released in 2018
While it may share a score of 89% with the final season,The Handmaid’s Taleseason 2is a much more remarkable production when considering the factors around it. Season 6 may have had the difficult task of ending June’s story, butseason 2 had to prove that the series could persist beyond the confines of Atwood’s original story. While it remains just as bleak as what came before, the series continues to flesh out what a world in the wake of Gilead’s formation looks like.
Alongside more flashbacks to the rise of Gilead and the new perspectives that Moira’s (Samira Wiley) andEmily’s (Alexis Bledel) journeybrings, June’s continuation sheds light on a nation that isn’t as subservient to the Commanders as it seems, as briefly glimpsed allies show that the world hasn’t accepted this reality just yet. Even Serena, who is initially framed as an outright antagonist, begins her long journey to atonement, as flashbacks show how she also lost despite her dedication to Gilead’s cause. Because of this,The Handmaid’s Taleseason 2 is worth celebrating for how it enriched Atwood’s world.
1The Handmaid’s Tale Season 1
Released in 2017
The Handmaid’s Taleseason 1 still stands out as the best of Hulu’s adaptation, with Rotten Tomatoes awarding it a score of 94% from 260 critics' reviews.While not the first adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel, the series earned praise for how it handled the source material across its initial ten episodes, bringing it to life through meticulous direction and engrossing performances by Elizabeth Moss and the cast. WhileThe Handmaid’s Taleseason 1 does change some details, it remains on-point to Atwood’s core themes.
As such,The Handmaid’s Taleseason 1 left an incredibly strong impression on audiences. While it made the daring move to omit the novel’s epilogue that carried a cynical message on how cyclical societies can be in repeating their worst mistakes, the risk paid off, as the series was quickly renewed on the day its fourth episode aired. Even within its lowest-rated seasons,The Handmaid’s Talestands as one of the most well-crafted, hauntingly relevant, and important series to be produced in recent years.
