7 ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Characters We Need Closure For Before The Series Finale

The Handmaid’s Tale enters its sixth and final season with emotional threads still dangling for its most compelling characters.

The Handmaid’s Tale is delivering its sixth and final season on Hulu. After years of white knuckles and racing hearts, fans can finally see how this harrowing story concludes. Anyone who’s stuck with the show this long deserves resolution for these characters who’ve been through absolute hell (sometimes literally, considering Gilead’s twisted theology). Not necessarily happy endings — this show has never been about happiness — but endings that feel emotionally true. Here are seven characters who desperately need meaningful closure before we say our last “blessed be the fruit.”

1. June Osborne

Remember when June was just trying to survive, and getting her out of Gilead seemed like the endgame? Five seasons later, her survival has gone from rescue to revenge. Freedom clearly wasn’t enough — she still needs to find her daughter Hannah and get her out of Gilead.

But what June’s ending needs isn’t a neat bow. That would betray everything the show has built. Her closure needs to address whether someone can ever truly escape Gilead when it lives inside their head. Can June exist without her rage? Can she be a mother again without the shadow of what she lost? The finale owes viewers an honest reckoning with who June has become — not who she was before, and not some sanitized version of healing, but something messier and truer. And, of course, it would be the ultimate gift to see her and Luke finally reunite with Hannah.

2. Serena Joy Waterford

Talk about complicated. Serena wrote books advocating for women’s subservience, then seemed surprised when that cage included her, too. The architect became another prisoner. Viewers have hated her, pitied her, and occasionally (controversially) even rooted for her.

Her downfall delivered the most delicious poetic justice, but is that really enough? Serena’s ending needs to force her to finally make a choice: power or motherhood, ideology or humanity. She’s spent seasons walking both sides, and her final chapter deserves a true reckoning. Will she finally see women as people rather than vessels? Or double down on the belief system that ultimately consumed her too? Her closure can’t just be punishment (even though it would be satisfying to see) — it also needs to be self-awareness and a final confrontation with her own complicity.

3. Commander Lawrence

The ultimate enigma — part architect, part critic of his own creation. Lawrence treats Gilead like his personal sociology experiment gone awry, maintaining intellectual distance while occasionally showing glimpses of humanity. His hands built the cage but sometimes slip keys to certain prisoners.

What viewers need from Lawrence’s ending is to see him finally take a concrete moral stand. No more hiding behind academic theories or playing both sides. His closure requires stripping away that intellectual shield and facing the human cost of his “greater good” philosophy. Can a man who helped design hell earn redemption? His fate might ultimately reveal whether Gilead was ever salvageable or just rotten from its conception.

4. Aunt Lydia

Once the terrifying face of brutal enforcement, Lydia has slowly unraveled into something far more complex. The hairline fractures in her commitment to Gilead have grown, but she can’t help but cling to control.

The question that needs answering: was her cruelty ever truly about protecting “her girls,” or just channeling her own trauma into power? Lydia’s closure should force her to confront whether she can ever atone for wielding God as a weapon or if she’s too broken by her own compromises. The cattle prod-wielding monster deserves judgment, but the wounded former teacher beneath deserves understanding — even if that understanding comes too late. Her ending needs to resolve the war between her faith and her growing doubt about Gilead’s methods.

5. Janine Lindo

Sweet, resilient Janine — the soul Gilead couldn’t quite crush. She’s endured unspeakable horrors, lost an eye, lost a child, yet somehow preserved her capacity for kindness when everyone else hardened. She’s been the emotional barometer of the series, reflecting the true horror while others dissociate to survive.

If anyone deserves a gentle landing, it’s Janine. Her closure needs to honor her journey without more needless suffering. Viewers deserve to see her reclaim agency, find safety, and perhaps even glimpse joy — not because it’s a fairy tale ending but because she’s earned it through unfathomable resilience. The final season owes her more than just surviving; it owes her living. And it would be an ultimate ending to see her get her daughter Angela back.

6. Luke Bankole

Luke, June’s husband waiting in Canada, steadfast yet sidelined – his love for her has been his compass, even as the woman he knew transformed into someone shaped by Gilead’s brutality. He’s been patient and supportive, yet still an outsider to June’s trauma.

The final season owes him more than just being June’s emotional landing pad. Luke deserves closure that addresses whether love alone is enough to bridge such different experiences of suffering and whether he can find purpose beyond being “June’s husband” and “Hannah’s father.” Their potential future together can’t ignore the ghosts that would live with them. His ending needs to acknowledge that rescue doesn’t equal healing and decide whether his devotion has limits. It would also be beautiful to see him finally reunite with Hannah.

7. Hannah Bankole

Not just a missing child or a plot device, but a person whose voice has barely been heard. Hannah has grown up in Gilead, her formative years spent being indoctrinated into its twisted values. Her rescue can’t be the end of her story — it would be the beginning of another equally difficult journey.

True closure for Hannah means giving her agency. She isn’t just a symbol of what June lost; she’s someone who might not even remember the mother fighting so desperately to save her. Her reunion with June can’t be simple or sentimental — it should acknowledge the person Hannah has become and the complicated healing they face together. The series finale owes viewers the truth that saving someone doesn’t automatically mean things go back to normal, especially for a child who may no longer know what “normal” means.