I thought I had seen it all. Game of Thrones fried my soul. How to Get Away with Murder activated my inner Olivia Pope. Yellowstone gave us cowboy chaos. And Chicago P.D. had me ready to join an elite task force. I really thought no show could emotionally one-up that level of intensity.
Then came The Handmaid’s Tale — and baby, I was not ready.
This show doesn’t just grab your attention. It grabs your spine, shakes your conscience, and whispers “pay attention” in your ear. And now, with Season 6 dropping soon on Showmax, it’s the perfect time to rewatch or finally dive into this haunting, breathtaking masterpiece.
Set in a near-future dystopian theocracy called Gilead, the show unravels what happens when religious extremism merges with absolute state power. In Gilead, women are stripped of personhood and reduced to property. Fertility becomes a weapon. Roles are assigned, not chosen — and each role is steeped in violence, subjugation, and ritual cruelty.
But The Handmaid’s Tale isn’t just about pain. It’s about power — who holds it, who’s denied it, and who dares to steal it back. Ok, let me introduce you to these characters.
June Osborne: Our Reluctant Revolutionary
At the heart of the story is June Osborne, played with gut-wrenching brilliance by Elisabeth Moss. June begins her journey as a Handmaid — a fertile woman enslaved by the regime to bear children for the elite. She is raped, beaten, and nearly broken. And yet, she rises.
June is every woman who has been told to stay in her place. What starts as survival becomes resistance. She smuggles children out of Gilead, exposes the regime to the world, and fights tooth and nail for her freedom. Her trauma is raw, her rage is righteous, and her defiance is electric. She’s messy. She’s angry. She’s flawed. And that’s exactly why she feels real.
Serena Joy: The Architect of Her Own Oppression
Then there’s Serena Joy Waterford — a woman who helped design Gilead’s doctrines, only to realize too late that she had authored her own erasure. Serena is the embodiment of internalized patriarchy. She preaches submission for all women until the very moment she’s forced to submit.
Playing the loyal wife to Commander Waterford while brimming with resentment, Serena becomes one of television’s most fascinating female antagonists. She oscillates between power and powerlessness, between control and collapse. And after becoming a mother, she begins to confront the monster she helped build — and the cost of her own complicity.
Aunt Lydia: Brutality in the Name of Belief
Aunt Lydia, the enforcer of the Handmaid system, is perhaps the most complex and terrifying character of them all. Armed with scripture and a cattle prod, she claims to “love” her girls while orchestrating their abuse.
Her brutality is cloaked in religious conviction, but beneath her steel exterior lie moments — rare and fleeting — of vulnerability. As Gilead begins to fracture, Lydia's internal battle becomes more visible. Does she still believe in the system she enforces, or is she trapped in it too? Her contradictions make her impossible to ignore.
Emily, Moira, Janine: The Many Faces of Resistance
Beyond June, The Handmaid’s Tale offers a powerful ensemble of women navigating resistance in different ways. Moira, June’s best friend, is a queer rebel who escapes Gilead and becomes a lifeline for refugees, offering both shelter and truth. She is fierce, grounded, and unapologetically herself.
Emily, a former academic turned Handmaid, endures one of the most horrific arcs in the series. Her quiet rage, strength, and eventual escape turn her pain into a weapon against the regime.
Then there’s Janine — fragile, emotionally volatile, and often underestimated. But her journey becomes one of quiet, almost stubborn resilience. Through every trauma, she endures, reminding us that even broken spirits can burn with resistance.
Gilead Is Fiction… or Is It?
Here’s the truth that stings — The Handmaid’s Tale is fiction, but only barely. Its themes are uncomfortably close to home. From reproductive rights being rolled back to religious extremism being used to justify violence, the world of Gilead mirrors many of our real-world horrors.
In Gilead, rape is state policy. Motherhood is controlled. Education is forbidden for women. And girls are property of the regime. Yet somehow, through every violation and every act of violence, this show still manages to thread hope — in sisterhood, in rebellion, in resistance.
Why You Need to Watch It
This series forces us to confront uncomfortable truths about power, patriarchy, and silence. It challenges us to see how easily freedom can be stolen when we stop paying attention. And it reminds us that liberation — raw, messy, painful liberation — is always worth fighting for.
With Season 6 arriving soon on Showmax, there’s no better time to start or rewatch this groundbreaking series. Get ready for a rollercoaster of emotion, heartbreak, fury, and maybe even healing.
Just don’t forget your red cloak and white bonnet.
Gilead is calling — will you answer?
