If you’re an avid watcher of The Handmaid’s Tale, chances are you’ve spent the last six months waiting for news as to when season five would be heading to our screens.

After *that* tumultuous ending, it’s been hard to predict where on earth the series would be headed – but now, we finally know more about what to expect, thanks to none other than series favourite Ann Dowd.

Speaking in an interview with The Radio Times ahead of the release of her new film, Mass, Dowd – who plays the imitable Aunt Lydia – not only confirmed that season five would start filming at the “end of January”, but revealed that we’d be getting another series on top of that, too. 

“Well, the writers are very smart,” she said when asked what she knew about the future of the series. “They don’t tell the actors anything. What would I say about it? No, I don’t have a clue at all about what will be happening. I do know that there’s a season five and six.”

While Dowd’s response doesn’t give us any hint about what we can expect from seasons five and six plot-wise, it’s exciting to know that there are still two more seasons of the show on their way.

Previously, there were questions as to whether the show would continue beyond season five, which was confirmed back before season four aired in December 2020.

Indeed, speaking at Deadline’s Contenders TV virtual event last August, the series’ showrunner Bruce Miller said that, while he’s “never looking” to end the show, he’s not going to “overstay” his welcome. 

“The team made an incredible TV show, so I’m not so quick to say, ‘oh, you know, let’s just walk away,’” he said. “I don’t know how you felt about the pandemic, but I certainly learned the things of my life that are pretty rare and working with these people is one of them.”      

He continued: “So, honestly yes, I know what the end is and I’m not going to overstay my welcome but I’m also not going to rush off if I don’t have to because as long as I’m writing for Elisabeth Moss, you know, it really doesn’t get better.”

For now, we’ll be waiting patiently for more news about what we can expect plot-wise from The Handmaid’s Tale’s fifth season. To check out everything we do know about the upcoming season so far, you can read this article. 

Images: Hulu