Margaret Atwood’s sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale book has finally revealed what happened to June, a,k.a Offred, after the ending of the original novel. First published in 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale, which takes place in a dystopian United States that’s been overtaken by a totalitarian theocracy and finds woman forced into servitude and child-bearing, ended on a rather ambiguous note.
At the end of The Handmaid’s Tale book, a pregnant Offred (whose real name is June, as revealed by the TV series) is taken away from the Waterfords’ home and into a van, never to be seen again. It’s an uncertain ending for the character, since we don’t know whether June makes it to safety, is taken into even greater danger, or perhaps even both. The Handmaid’s Tale season 1 finale reached this same point almost beat-for-beat, but with two more seasons under its belt, it had to devise its own methods for continuing Offred’s story. Now Atwood has returned to the world of Gilead with The Testaments, a new novel that takes place around 15 years after the events of the first.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view.
June isn’t a protagonist in The Testaments, but it does mention her – albeit just towards the very end. In one of the final chapters of the new Handmaid’s Tale sequel, both of her daughters, Nichole and Hannah (who are point-of-view characters in the book) are living safely with their mother, who walks into their room smiling to see them. The very end, like the first book, once again takes place in the far future at a symposium into Gilead’s actions. Although not explicit, it’s strongly suggested that the handmaid whose tapes they studied (June’s) worked as a field agent for Mayday, and then was under triple protection at their intelligence unit in Canada.
Although the names Offred and June aren’t used in The Testaments, it’s clear who the mother of the children is, and we readers already know that June is the author of the “Handmaid’s Tale” tapes. This fits quite well with where The Handmaid’s Tale TV show has taken June since going past the books. She’s become increasingly involved in efforts to bring down Gilead from the inside, even at the cost of her own safety, and is focused on the protection of her two children. She’s even been shot by Gilead too, further helping things line up at least partially.
It remains to be seen just how much, if any, of The Testaments ends up influencing The Handmaid’s Tale TV show, but it can’t be too long before it’s thinking about its own endgame. June is already a revolutionary willing to die for the cause, but having her actually make it out of Gilead and be finally, fully reunited with her two children is about as close to a happy ending as The Handmaid’s Tale can give her.
