With Hulu’s recent announcement that The Handmaid’s Tale spin-off series The Testaments will make its debut in April of 2026, fans are buzzing about what the new series might bring us. We know that Ann Dowd is returning to her role as Aunt Lydia, and we know that June’s daughters Nichole and Hannah will be featured (though their names have been changed).
We also know that we will return to Gilead, years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale. But what can we as fans of the original show expect to see? Or, better yet, what do we WANT to see? Here is my personal wish list for The Testaments.
- Bring back June! Even if she is only featured for a few episodes, it would be thrilling to see June, and to find out what she has been up to. Is she still fighting for the cause? My guess is absolutely. Is she still ferocious, and able to shoot daggers with her angry stare? Elizabeth Moss is one of the series’ executive producers, so she is definitely accessible.
- We must finally find out whatever happened to Esther (McKenna Grace)! Esther was an angry child bride, with good reason. Her much older husband, Commander Keyes, allowed her to be sexually assaulted by Commanders and Guardians, and she quietly fought back at first, slowly poisoning her husband.
She provided refuge for June and the escaped handmaids, and was inspired by June to begin protesting in a more violent way, killing one of the guardians who had raped her. She was captured and made a handmaid, but her anger still seethed inside her, and she poisoned both herself and Janine. Both of them survived, but Esther was discovered to be pregnant while hospitalized, and when last we saw her, she was basically being forced to complete her pregnancy.
Esther's ambiguous storyline ending never sat well with fans
We waited in vain for updates about Esther, whose last appearance was during the fifth season. Some of us speculated that her story might be wrapped up during The Handmaid’s Tale’s final season, but it didn’t happen. So, let’s hope her story continues in The Testaments.
- We already talked about bringing June into the storyline of The Testaments, but fans would also love to see other characters from The Handmaid’s Tale. My personal top three (excluding June) would be Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski), Janine (Madeline Brewer) and Aunt Phoebe/Ava (D’Arcy Carden).
- Serena’s character arc has been the most frustrating of them all – she would start to show some humanity, only to then go back to being self-righteous and equally self-centered. So, it would be splendid to see if she is still fighting her better self, or if she has finally settled into motherhood and made the decision to “take up the cause.”
- Janine was always a slightly off-center character that we rooted for. The trauma she suffered made us fully understand why her mental health teetered on a regular basis, but her basic streak of kindness and empathy was always there. How will she have fared since that final episode, in which she was given back her daughter?
- Ava (AKA “Aunt Phoebe”) was a late addition to The Handmaid’s Tale, only appearing in the final season. But she made her one-season arc count, and I was never happier than when it was revealed she was actually a CIA agent. All the pieces fell into place with that revelation, as we finally understood why she was able to remain calm and cool at all times.
I have no doubt that Ava will have continued to fight with the resistance, so she will likely continue to be a part of any plans that involve fighting and getting richly deserved revenge.