[Warning: This article contains spoilers about the Season 1 finale of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Read at your own risk!]
Season 1 of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Taleended with Offred (Elisabeth Moss) being removed from Commander Waterford’s (Joseph Fiennes) house and carted off in a dark van. But that leaves a lingering question: is she being transported to safety or to her doom?
We’ll have to wait until the dystopian drama’s second season to find out whether Nick (Max Minghella) betrayed Offred or somehow engineered her escape — not to mention what her husband Luke (O-T Fagbenle) and best friend Moira (Samira Wiley) will do now that they’ve reunited in Canada. And while details are scarce about the show’s sophomore season, which will likely premiere next spring, here’s what we do know about what to expect when it returns:
1. Offred on a mission. In the Season 1 finale, Offred realized that her daughter Hannah has been practically under her nose the whole time. Wherever Offred winds up in Season 2, it’s a safe bet that her singular motivation will be reuniting with Hannah, and/or getting word to Luke that their daughter is alive. Of course, Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) has threatened Offred that Hannah’s safety depends on the safety of Offred’s unborn child, so whether that agreement still stands after Offred gets taken away remains to be seen.
2. A baby for Offred? It’s up for debate how much time Season 2 will span, but it’s a safe bet that we’ll see Offred giving birth to a baby — a baby that may be handed over to the Commander and Serena Joy.
3. Answers about Offred’s fate. In the Margaret Atwood novel on which the series is based, readers never find out what happened to Offred, whose story ends at the same point as the Season 1 finale, with the van coming to take her away. Presumably, the show will definitively answer whether the van driver is a friend or foe.
4. The Resistance: In the first season, one episode was devoted to exploring what happened to Luke after he and Offred were separated, and she was captured. Similarly, the show gave us snippets of Moira’s story after she escaped from Gilead, but mostly in relation to Offred, until we saw her successfully make it to Canada. Will Season 2 follow concurrent storylines, one with Offred and the other handmaids; and one with Moira, Luke and their allies in Canada?
5. Rita playing a bigger role. One of the lingering questions from Season 1 is what Rita (Amanda Brugel) will do with all those letters Offred bequeathed her, written by women who had also been ripped from their “before” lives and forced into sexual servitude as handmaids. Perhaps Rita and Nick will team up, to dismantle the system from within the Commander’s house.
6. We’ll see Offred’s mother. Offred’s mother plays a large role in the book, but thus far hasn’t been seen in the series. That’s set to change in Season 2, showrunner Bruce Miller tells The Hollywood Reporter.
All 10 episodes of The Handmaids Tale Season 1 are available to stream on Hulu.
Source: TV Guide
