Some Viewers Were Disappointed by 'The Handmaid’s' Tale Ending

Hulu’s original series The Handmaid’s Tale has officially come to an end, with its final season wrapping on May 27, 2025. And I couldn’t be more disappointed, not just because the show is over, but that the ending took a sharp left turn away from where I, and many fellow viewers, hoped it would go. No offense to Elisabeth Moss (who plays June Osborne) or the production team, the show is, hands down, one of the best I’ve ever seen.

The characters were flawlessly developed, and the plot was perfectly executed. But the ending was fragile and deserved the utmost care, yet it felt too careful. Many pointed out there were more close-ups of June staring into the distance than actual scenes of liberation. We get it, losing Nick and Commander Lawrence was a knife to the heart, twice, but something was missing. Here are some of the reactions, and a possible reason why The Handmaid’s Tale ended the way it did.

Sorry, but The Handmaid’s Tale ending wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be, and I’m not alone. There are entire Reddit threads and TikToks dedicated to people sharing the same overall opinion.

The first and most heartbreaking twist was Nick’s death, because really, why did that have to happen? He was good from the start. And while June tries to justify it by saying he was "reaping what he sowed," Nick, like her, was simply doing what he had to do to survive in Gilead.

He did plenty for her and the Americans, efforts that were worthy of his survival. I kept hoping he somehow miraculously survived the explosion, but that moment never came in the final episode.

As for Lawrence, it made sense. The second he stepped onto the plane, he seemed ready to make the ultimate sacrifice, to help dismantle the very system he helped build.

Overall, it seems people (and I) wanted more — more freedom, more reunions, more scenes of June and Mayday’s efforts. Yes, they reclaimed Boston and took out some of Gilead’s worst commanders, but there were too many flashbacks of June and Hannah from before Gilead even existed.

In The Handmaid’s Tale finale, we see June inching closer to Hannah, but getting her back still feels far-fetched. New individuals have already stepped in to replace the fallen commanders, and the regime is very much alive. So it leaves us wondering, will she ever get her back?

Not every storyline needs to be tied up perfectly, but the one thing June and Luke wanted most, to bring Hannah home, still hasn’t happened. (Though now we might know why, more on that below.)

Fans did appreciate the karaoke scene, with smiling faces of girls like Alma before she was tragically killed, and Emily returning, plus Janine finally reuniting with her daughter Charlotte.

But what seems to be leaving people disappointed is the lack of proper send-offs for major characters. "So many characters we will never know the conclusions of. Moira barely even got a proper ending. None of the surviving Gilead baddies have closure. Would have been nice to see Rose and Nick’s baby being born,” one Reddit user shared.

Simply put, I think most people would agree with this Redditor’s take on the finale: "This was such a dropped ball of a storyline." Maybe the production team could’ve wrapped up the entire final episode in 10 minutes and used that as the ending for Episode 9, leaving Episode 10 open for more rebellion.

Alas, we’re left to let our imaginations fill in the gaps. Serena seems to be reaping what she sowed, while June and Luke are still on a mission to get their daughter back, a mission that began way back in 2017 when Season 1 debuted.

As for the others, we can only assume they’re still working behind the scenes to take down Gilead, a massive feat, no doubt, but one viewers were hoping to actually see unfold. And maybe they will get to, one day.

The ending of The Handmaid’s Tale was disappointing, but maybe now we know why it was missing the closure we were all hoping for: June reuniting with her daughter, Hannah (now Agnes).

The upcoming spinoff, based on Margaret Atwood’s 2019 novel The Testaments, picks up about four to five years after the series ends (though the book opens 15 years later). Had producers wrapped up June, Luke, and Hannah’s storyline too tighly, it likely would’ve thrown off the entire course of the spinoff.

So, I get it. But I still don’t like it.