Warning! SPOILERS about The Handmaid’s Tale season 6, episode 1 ahead.
June and Serena’s reunion on the train going west quickly turned distressing inThe Handmaid’s Taleseason 6’s premiere, with June’s choice proving surprising considering the long and turbulent history June and Serena had.The Handmaid’s Taleseason 5 saw June effectively escape Gilead and land in Canada, with her story partially mirroring Serena’s as it did throughout the dystopian drama, as she was too in Canada, although in a direr situation given her stay at the Wheelers resembling imprisonment.The Handmaid’s Taleseason 5 endingwith Serena and June on a refugee train promised them both a new beginning.
It all quickly went sideways the moment people started to realize who Serena really was.The tentative alliance established inThe Handmaid’s Taleseason 6, episode 1’s first moments between June and Serena was not without its problems, as June had immediately thought Serena had stolen Nichole when she couldn’t find her after waking up. However, it was nothing compared to what Serena and June had to face when everyone on the train realizedSerena was Commander Waterford’s wife and Gilead’s inventor. The chaos and violence of the ordeal led June to make the unexpected choice of helping Serena again.
June Knew That Noah Would Have Suffered Too If The Mob Got To Serena
Image via Hulu
ThroughoutThe Handmaid’s Taleseason 6, episode 1, Serena seemed open to sharing the trip with June, even advocating for her to be seen by a doctor despite June’s reticence to accept her help. June wanting nothing to do with Serena made sense based on the abuse Serena subjected her to, but at the same time,it was clear June wanted Serena punished, not violently killed by an angry mob. This became even more evident in the way June pleaded with the policeman to take Serena, assuring it was her so that she would face justice and not brutal violence.
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However, the most important reason motivating June to protect Serena has to be Noah. Despite all the cruelty Serena enacted against June, even the most recent reminder of having Hannah play a part in Fred’s funeral,June didn’t want Noah to be raised away from his mother. Serena and June’s relationship was incredibly tumultuous throughoutThe Handmaid’s Tale, but in season 5 they also showed kindness toward one another, and June, in particular, helped Serena deliver Noah, making his well-being what June wanted to preserve, something that would have been impossible had the other refugees gotten their hands on Serena.
June & Serena’s Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 Story Isn’t What Was Expected
The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 Seemingly Set Up Serena & June’s Temporary Truce
Serena and June’s moments together in season 5 all hinted at them potentially teaming up inThe Handmaid’s Taleseason 6, which makes their separation feel abrupt in the season’s very beginning, as they were just reunited again. In its entire run,The Handmaid’s Talemade a point to have Serena and June’s journeys toward different goals mirror one another, even pushing them into difficult situations where they might rely on one another. This created a compelling dynamic precisely because June would have preferred anybody else to find herself with in those predicaments.
June can never stay away for too long from Mayday, wanting to destroy Gilead and get Hannah back, and simultaneously Serena is still embroiled in the promotion of Gilead […] making a June and Serena reunion much likelier.
The latest developments in June and Serena’s inescapably interconnected story hint they might meet again, even if their paths brought them away from one another. After all, June can never stay away for too long from Mayday, wanting to destroy Gilead and get Hannah back, and simultaneously Serena is still embroiled in the promotion of Gilead because she created it and due to her diplomatic role. This can make a June and Serena reunion much likelier inThe Handmaid’s Taleseason 6, even more so in light of season 6 being the final one and needing to conclude their story.
The Handmaid’s Tale
August 15, 2025
New episodes ofThe Handmaid’s Taleseason 6 release on Hulu every Tuesday.
