'The Handmaid's Tale' season 6 release date revealed — check out the first trailer now

Elisabeth Moss in The Handmaid's Tale season 5
(Image credit: Hulu)

"The Handmaid's Tale" season 6 finally has a release date.

We've long expected the dystopian drama's sixth and final season to arrive sometime this year. But now we no longer have to speculate, as Hulu has announced that season 6 will be released on the streaming service on April 8. Season 6 will kick off with a three-episode premiere and then air weekly until the series finale on May 27.

But that's not all that Hulu revealed. Yesterday, we also got our first season 6 teaser trailer that shows us a taste of what we can expect as Elisabeth Moss’s June Osborne tries to finally free Gilead from its oppressive totalitarian regime.

Everything you need to know about 'The Handmaid's Tale' season 6

The Handmaid's Tale | Season 6 Teaser | Hulu - YouTube The Handmaid's Tale | Season 6 Teaser | Hulu - YouTube
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For those who are unfamiliar, "The Handmaid's Tale" is based on the novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood. It's set in a dystopian world where a collapse in fertility rates leads to a Second American Civil War. The end result of this war is the formation of the nation of Gilead, a totalitarian government ruled by laws from the Judeo-Christian Old Testament that enslaved fertile women as "Handmaids." These Handmaids are subjected to childbearing slavery.

One of these Handmaids is June Osborne, who was renamed Offred when she was assigned to the home of Commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) and his wife Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski). But June still remembers her previous life — and her husband and daughter who escaped to Canada.

Now though, revolution is brewing and June is ready to bring her army of Handmaids to bear on the oppressive Commanders of Gilead, including her new master Commander Joseph Lawrence (Bradley Whitford). She might have help from an unlikely source too, as the events of season 5 brought June and Serena Joy together on a train leaving Toronto. Will they team up to overthrow Gilead's oppressive government and free the Handmaids for good? You'll have to tune into the three-part season 6 premiere on April 8 on Hulu to find out.

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Malcolm McMillan
Senior Streaming Writer

Malcolm McMillan is a senior writer for Tom's Guide, covering all the latest in streaming TV shows and movies. That means news, analysis, recommendations, reviews and more for just about anything you can watch, including sports! If it can be seen on a screen, he can write about it. Previously, Malcolm had been a staff writer for Tom's Guide for over a year, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI), A/V tech and VR headsets.

Before writing for Tom's Guide, Malcolm worked as a fantasy football analyst writing for several sites and also had a brief stint working for Microsoft selling laptops, Xbox products and even the ill-fated Windows phone. He is passionate about video games and sports, though both cause him to yell at the TV frequently. He proudly sports many tattoos, including an Arsenal tattoo, in honor of the team that causes him to yell at the TV the most.