It’s every mother’s worst nightmare and played out with nightmarish consequences in the opening moments of The Handmaid’s Tale season 1 – June Bankole’s child is kidnapped in front of her and she has no idea if she’ll ever see her again.
Fast forward to season 6 and June has experienced some of the most painful moments of the show’s run when she’s allowed fleeting moments with her stolen daughter, but ultimately had her snatched away once again. Hannah remains firmly in the clutches of Gilead.
Everything June has ever done – every reckless decision, every time she’s risked her life- it’s been in the hope of freeing her daughter from a life of Gilead servitude. As June and Hannah tragically remain apart, will the mother and daughter reunite at the end of season 6?
The following content contains big spoilers for The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 and possible spoilers for The Testaments.
Does June get Hannah back in The Handmaid’s Tale season 6?
Sadly, June will not be reunited with Hannah at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 – we know, this is a fairly major anti-climax after everything she’s been through to get her daughter back.
In Margaret Atwood’s original 1985 novel, readers aren’t even given June’s name or her daughter’s. At the start of the book, when the fertile women have been rounded up and captured, some names are read out, with ‘June’ being one of them.
The names are all heard again within the story, with the exception of June – this led readers to speculate June was the narrator of the story, and this is how she got her name in the series – Hannah was the name assigned to her daughter just for the series.
In the book, June, or the unknown Handmaid, is never reunited with her daughter. Although the series departed from the source material after season 1, it seems fitting that it would stick to Atwood’s original ending, where the stolen child’s fate remains in the air.
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However, in response to the popularity of the show and to give fans more from The Handmaid’s Tale universe – and June a proper ending – Margaret Atwood released The Testaments in 2019.
The novel has now been adapted for TV and is in production – and Hannah is still very much trapped in Gilead throughout the majority of the book.
Hannah has largely forgotten her original parents in The Testaments, following years of Gilead indoctrination. However, she has heart and integrity and there are parts of the regime that frighten her, leading her down the path to becoming an Aunt in a bid to avoid forced marriage.
The novel also follows Hannah’s part in the eventual downfall of Gilead, orchestrated surprisingly by Aunt Lydia – some horrifying details of her backstory are revealed in the book as she comes to realise just how mistaken she was to become a part of Gilead’s regime.
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However, if you’re devastated at the thought of June not getting her daughter back at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale, it will bring comfort to know that they eventually come back together at the end of The Testaments.
The final moments of the book describe June being with both daughters, Nicole and Hannah, after a series of difficult but heroic challenges.
That’s not to say The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 ending will be disappointing – June might not have fulfilled her goal, but there’s sure to be some satisfying moments and a few dashes of redemption.
The overwhelming consensus from the cast appears to be that the final instalment of the show will finish on a very satisfying note for viewers.
Sam Jaeger, who plays Mark Tuello, told People, “We want to reward the fans this year, because we put them through hell and it’s just a really riveting season and a fitting finish.”
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Speaking to Variety, executive producer Yahlin Chang says of the final season, “It’s a wish fulfilment season, it’s a season where we just want to be really rewarding and really satisfying.”
Chang concludes, “If there’s anything after watching these 10 episodes that you are wondering about or worried about, or a loose thread or an unresolved story – there’s a sequel that will address it.” Bring on The Testaments, we can’t wait.
