‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 4: Fans Have a Bold Theory About Hannah’s Future in Gilead
June Osborne doesn’t want to leave Gilead without her daughter, Hannah. But in The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 Episode 5, “Chicago,” she seems close to escaping without her. Hannah has been frequently mentioned in the show, but rarely seen. With her future up in the air, fans on Reddit are making theories about what will happen to Hannah in future seasons. And one theory argues she’ll never get out of Gilead. Rather, she’ll move up in its ranks. And the theory ties into the events of Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, which is being developed into a series at Hulu.
[The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 and The Testaments spoilers ahead.]
Does June ever get reunited with Hannah?
June has only seen her and Luke’s daughter a handful of times throughout the entirety of The Handmaid’s Tale. She got a glimpse of her in season 1 in an act of cruelty from Serena Joy Waterford. She saw her again in season 2, when Commander Fred Waterford arranged for June to see Hannah in secret.
Hannah still remembered her biological mother and father during this meeting, although she had been renamed Agnes by her adoptive parents. June assured her that she and Luke were fighting to be with her again and to not give up hope. But worst case scenario happened in season 4 episode 3, “The Crossing.”
June was being tortured at a Gilead prison when Commander Lawrence told her the prison had Hannah. Lawrence warned they would hurt the child if June didn’t tell them where the other Handmaid’s she escaped with were hiding. She called the bluff, but it wasn’t a lie.
She was led to a room where she saw Hannah sitting in a large glass cell. But this time, Hannah didn’t recognize her mother. Rather, she feared her. June gave up the location of Janine, Alma, Brianna, and the other Handmaids to save her daughter.
Is Agnes in ‘The Testaments’ Hannah from ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’?
Hannah screaming in fear at her was beyond heartbreaking for June. Her first child had become one of the children in Gilead who no longer remembered their lives before the coup. It makes June fearful that even if they are reunited one day, Hannah won’t want to be with her.
While Hannah isn’t a large character in The Handmaid’s Tale, Hannah/Agnes is revealed to be one of the narrators of Atwood’s The Testaments. The novel is the sequel to the original Handmaid’s Tale novel, and its main characters are Aunt Lydia, Agnes/Hannah, and June and Nick’s daughter, Nichole. In The Testaments, she’s known as Daisy.
Before The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 got started, a Reddit user theorized Hannah’s arc on The Handmaid’s Tale will lead up to the events of The Testaments. And in the book, Agnes grows up in Gilead and becomes an Aunt named Aunt Victoria. The user’s season 4 theory stated:
“I think that the Martha’s will take June and all the other handmaids that helped somewhere underground to allow June time to recover. At that point they will be given the choice to join the full resistance or be taken to Canada. Most will join the resistance.”
Viewers already know June didn’t find the Mayday network when in hiding at the Keyes’ farm, so that part of the theory is incorrect.
Does Hannah get saved in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’?
The rest of the theory sets up Hannah’s plot in The Testaments. As it reads:
“Word will get back for June’s work, and an order for her death, but Lydia intervenes and through the situation they come to an agreement, where Lydia will bring Hannah to become an Aunt when the time comes, and for June to set up the network in Canada for Lydia to send the inside information through. Due to the upper commanders attempting to gain Fred back, they trade June for the Waterfords and attempt to demand Nicole as well, but Luke and Moira have sent Nicole into hiding with a couple underground. Moira keeps in contact with the couple and she and Emily start doing more for the resistance within Canada.
This will allow seeing the way they will eventually bridge HT to TT. I can see us seeing the beginning of how the pearl girls come to be, as well as the death of Hannah’s Gilead mom this season and her school.”
The Pearl Girls is a group of missionaries sent from Gilead to other countries to bring more women to Gilead. The Pearl Girls were created by Aunt Lydia. It’s a prerequisite to becoming an Aunt. This fan thinks June and Luke won’t be able to save Hannah from Gilead, and she’ll end up growing up there. And if the show is trying to align with The Testaments, they’ll be right.
Based on the events of season 4 so far, it seems they are setting it up for June to escape Gilead without Hannah. She will have to cope with the trauma of that, should she make it out. June is in The Testaments, although she’s not a main character. Only time will tell if that’s the creative choice Hulu’s series has made.
