5 days Ago By Neela Debnath
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers from The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 and The Testaments by Margaret Atwood The Handmaid’s Tale continues this week with Promotion, which featured many twists and turns. Luke Bankole’s (played by O-T Fagbenle) case dismissed and he prepared the next phase of his bomb plan. Mayday also planned to take down the Gilead commanders with June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) and Moira (Samira Wiley) going on a reconnaissance mission to Jezebel’s a week before their scheduled attack.
Posing as marthas, June and Moira entered the Gilead brothel and stumbled across Janine Lindo (Madeline Brewer). They quickly revealed their plans to get all the women out and kill the commanders. Fans will have to keep watching to find out if Mayday’s plans are successful with Luke desperate to fight for his daughter Hannah Bankole (Jordan Blake) and get her out of Gilead, with the teen set to be going to a special school.
Nonetheless, many viewers are already keen for answers about the plot, with Margaret Atwood’s 2019 sequel novel The Testaments offering up some spoilers about what’s coming next. The answer is both yes and no. In The Testaments, Hannah is still living under the regime of Gilead and is known as Agnes Jemima.
She is the adoptive child of Commander Kyle and his wife Tabitha, so this would suggest in The Handmaid’s Tale TV series, June fails to get Hannah out. Given, The Testaments is going to be adapted for the small screen, June and Luke’s attempts to save their child will be futile. In the novel, Hannah decides to become an Aunt to avoid being married off to an older commander who is rumoured to kill off his wives.
During her time in training, Hannah learns about her real parents including her mother June, who was a Handmaid and is now working for Mayday. So, this means June hasn’t been able to rescue Hannah before then and she’s still spent her formative years in Gilead facing possible dangers. Nonetheless, the end of the novel sees Hannah finally reunited with her parents, but it’s surprisingly Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) who will be the one to save her.
Aunt Lydia is the one to facilitate the escape with Hannah making it to Canada with her half-sister Nichole. Rather than June, Aunt Lydia works within the framework of Gilead to take down the regime. Thanks to her access to information and her power, Aunt Lydia is best placed to challenge the authoritarian government and strike it right in the heart.
The symposium at the end - similar to the one in The Handmaid’s Tale - again confirms the demise of Gilead. The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 airs on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ on Tuesdays in the USA.
