The Handmaid’s Tale season 5: Release date, cast and trailer – everything we know

Renewal came ahead of season four premiere

The Handmaid’s Tale has been renewed for a fifth season, ahead of the release of the show’s fourth instalment in 2021.

Elisabeth Moss, Samira Wiley, Joseph Fiennes, and the rest of the case made the announcement on Friday in a video released on social media.

In the same clip, they revealed that filming has begun for season four, which has been pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I actually have a couple of the scripts right here,” Moss said, holding up two sealed envelopes.

Here is everything we know about season five so far:

When can we expect season five to air?

Before the coronavirus pandemic, The Handmaid’s Tale released a new season every year for three years. Season one aired from April to June 2017; season two from April to July 2018; and season three from June to August 2019.

Provided season four airs as planned in 2021, then it would be reasonable to expect season five to premiere a year later in 2022.

Hulu, which airs the programme in the US, has yet to specify when in 2021 season four will air, so that prediction will be refined as time goes on and more is revealed.

Who will star in it?

The season five renewal announcement featured all of the show’s biggest stars as of the end of season three  – Moss, Wiley, Fiennes, Yvonne Strahovski, Alexis Bledel, Max Minghella, Madeline Brewer, Bradley Whitford, Ann Dowd, Amanda Brugel, OT Fagbenle, and Sam Jaeger.

It would be reasonable to expect all of these actors to star in season five, given their involvement in the announcement.

But of course, season four has yet to air, and it could feature some major surprises resulting in some actors being taken out of the cast. After all, this is Gilead we’re talking about.

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

How many episodes?

The first season of The Handmaid’s Tale was comprised of 10 episodes. Both the second and third season were made up of 13 episodes. 

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect season five to have a comparable length, but again, this prediction might change after season four airs.

What about the plot?

This is the biggest mystery of all, especially with season four standing in the middle. In “Mayday”, the season three finale, we left Offred/June (Moss’s character) wounded and being carried off by other handmaids, after leading a plot to fly a group of children out of Gilead and into Canada.

We can expect season five to continue featuring June’s resistance against the Gilead regime, and perhaps finally escape its clutches.