'The Handmaid's Tale' Season 6 Premiere Date Teased

Blessed be! The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 finally seems to be on the horizon. Nearly two years after Season 5 of the Elisabeth Moss -starring Hulu series wrapped, the streamer on Friday dropped a new behind-the-scenes photo to confirm that production on the sixth and final season is officially underway, also teasing a premiere window for the final episodes.

The photo gave little away, only showing Moss, who stars on the series as June Osborne and also serves as executive producer and director, holding a production slate for the first scene of Season 6, Episode 1. The photo was shared alongside a caption reading, "Guess who's back? Production on the final season has officially started." The post also revealed that the series "will return in Spring 2025."

The 2025 premiere date will mark a more than two-year break between seasons. Season 5 premiered in September 2022 and wrapped in November 2022. Season 6, the final season, was set to begin production in 2023 for a fall 2024 premiere, but was ultimately delayed by the strikes.

Based on Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel of the same name, The Handmaid's Tale premiered in 2017 and is set in a dystopian future where the Republic of Gilead has overtaken the U.S. government. Under Gilead rule, "handmaids," fertile women deemed sinful for their pre-Gilead actions, are forced to have children for the ruling class.

Season 5 ended on a cliffhanger when June and other Gilead refugees, including Yvonne Strahovski's Serena Joy Waterford, boarded a train to flee Toronto to Hawaii. June's husband Luke, played by O-T Fagbenle, meanwhile surrendered to the police for killing the man who tried to murder his wife. Plot details for Season 6 haven't yet been released, though Moss, who directs four episodes of Season 6, told TVLine in May that "this season, we're giving it back to the audience... We definitely really have our eye on that, making sure that it does feel rewarding and satisfying for the fans and like what we would want to watch, you know, as fans of the show."

Along with Moss, Strahovski, and Fagbenle, The Handmaid's Tale stars Madeline Brewer, Bradley Whitford, Max Minghella, Ann Dowd, Samira Wiley, Amanda Brugel, and Sam Jaeger. Josh Charles will join the cast in a new role for the final season. The Emmy-winning Hulu series is created by Bruce Miller, who stepped down from showrunning duties in 2023. Miller will remain an executive producer on the final season alongside Moss, Warren Littlefield, Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, Eric Tuchman, Yahlin Chang, Rachel Shukert, Sheila Hockin, John Weber, Frank Siracusa, Steve Stark, and Kim Todd.