HuluWith The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 just around the corner, what better time than now to reflect on the Hulu show’s most jaw-dropping moments, including a horrific scene that was scrapped after the star shut it down.
The Handmaid’s Tale’s sixth chapter will also be its last, wrapping up this story of Gilead for good. Judging by the new trailer, June is set to return to the oppressive state to lead a revolution.
There’s a lot to address, from Nick’s rise to power to Serena Joy’s escape from the Wheelers, but there will also be cliffhangers for the upcoming spinoff The Testaments to explore.
Over the years, the show has never shied away from depicting the brutal realities of life in Gilead, with the series consistently pushing boundaries – but not every scene made it to air. Warning: some may find this content distressing.
Joseph Fiennes refused to shoot “brutal” The Handmaid’s Tale scene
HuluCommander Fred Waterford did pretty much every terrible thing under the sun before his death in The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4, but he didn’t ever rape his wife Serena Joy on screen.
However, this would have been depicted in the Hulu series if it weren’t for actor Joseph Fiennes.
Fiennes, who played Waterford in the show, previously told The Guardian that Season 2 originally included a scene in which Fred raped Serena during their visit to Washington. But he was so against it that the creators decided to scrap the plotline.
“I felt that Yvonne [Strahovski, Serena’s actor] had made such a beautiful, delicate trajectory of her character, it didn’t need a brutal rape to recoil back and find her hatred.”
He went on to suggest that it would have been gratuitous, saying “it just felt like an idea to push the misogyny. And I felt it was all already there. It didn’t need to be so brutally illustrated.”
That’s not to say the show has shied away from portraying the darker elements of life in Gilead – on the contrary, it’s one of the most unflinching depictions of oppression on TV today.
Although Fred is long gone, his legacy lives on through his child Noah. In The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5, Serena takes Noah and goes on the run, eventually meeting up with June.
However, the Season 6 trailer shows her back on Gilead’s side, seemingly in New Bethlehem – Commander Joseph Lawrence’s proposed “liberalized island” inside Gileadean territory.
Later on, we see her with her new commander husband, played by The Good Wife’s Josh Charles.
While Serena and Noah’s fate remains uncertain, it’s clear that her ties to Gilead – and the man who helped build it – continue to shape both of their paths.
The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 premieres on Hulu on April 8, 2025. Until then, check out the shows to get excited about in 2025, the new series streaming this month, and the best shows of 2025 so far.
