Handmaid’s Tale fans ‘cannot believe’ ending of first episode of season six: ‘It was worth the wait’

Hulu’s hit dystopian show is airing its final season in the U.S.

The Handmaid’s Tale has finally premiered its sixth and final season. But even after a nearly three-year pause, fans have found the new season to be well worth the wait.

Hulu’s hit dystopian show, based on Margaret Atwood’s best-selling book series about a totalitarian society, Gilead, ruled by a fundamentalist regime that sees women as property of the state, debuted the first three episodes of season six on April 8 in the U.S. The final season won’t premiere in the U.K. until May 3 on Channel 4 and on Amazon Prime Video.

*Warning — Spoilers for ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ season six to follow*

The new season welcomes the return of Elisabeth Moss as lead character June, whose “unyielding spirit and determination pull her back into the fight to take down Gilead,” according to an official logline.

“This final chapter of June’s journey highlights the importance of hope, courage, solidarity, and resilience in the pursuit of justice and freedom,” the synopsis adds.

The first episode of season six, titled “Train,” picks up right where the fifth season ended with June and her frenemy Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) and their babies unexpectedly thrown on a refugee train together heading westbound out of Toronto.

Yvonne Strahovski (left) as Serena and Elisabeth Moss (right) as June in 'The Handmaid's Tale' season 6 (Disney)

As the two women catch up, Serena — who, with her late husband Commander Waterford, previously forced June into servitude as a handmaid — seeks to turn over a new leaf with June.

Serena continually offers to June help, who resentfully accepts. At one point, Serena finds a doctor onboard to treat the arm injury June sustained in the season five finale. Eventually, June comes around, and when Serena gathers all the pregnant women in a train car to be treated, the former opens up about the violent abduction of her oldest daughter, Hannah.

It doesn’t take long for the doctor to recognize Serena, the widow of Commander Waterford, as a war criminal. After he notifies an onboard police officer — whose wife and son were casualties of Gilead — an angry mob forms. Soon June is the only person standing in the way of the mob. In order to protect Serena and her son, June pulls the train’s emergency brake and shoves the two off into the night. An ostracized June then retreats to the floor of the train car.

Once the train resumes its journey and arrives at its final destination of Alaska, June and her baby Nichole are taken into a refugee camp. While June is waiting around with the other new arrivals, a medic completing intake forms drops her clipboard in shock. “June, June Osborne,” the woman shouts, “Sweetheart!”

It’s at that moment that viewers learn June’s mother (played by Cherry Jones), who was originally believed to be dead, is indeed alive. The scene ends with the two tearfully embracing.

Several fans have since flocked to X to share their reactions to the episode’s heartwarming ending.

“Me after the first episode of season 6 of the handmaid’s tale!!!” one wrote, alongside a picture of Tituss Burgess looking completely stunned. “i can’t believe that ending!!! It was so worth the wait, this is truly the greatest show ever.”

Next to a series of screenshots of June and her mother hugging, a second commented: “I am sobbing uncontrollably.”

“No two people deserved this more than them,” a third added. “This is june’s light at the end of the tunnel and the beginning of a newfound sense of hope.”

The remaining seven episodes of season six of The Handmaid’s Tale will be released Tuesdays on Hulu, before concluding on May 27. The final season premieres in the U.K. on May 3 on Channel 4 and on Amazon Prime Video.