What Happened to Emily in The Handmaid’s Tale? Her Character Arc, Explained

Hulu’s acclaimed series wrapped up its sixth and final season in 2025, but it’s still considered one of the most impactful and moving dramas ever made. The show is based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel of the same name and depicts a frightening future where the United States has fallen and been replaced by Gilead, a strict religious state. Gilead aims to restore what its leaders see as traditional values through harsh methods, particularly the oppression of women. The story unfolds through the eyes of June Osborne (played by Elisabeth Moss), a handmaid forced to bear children for the ruling class.

Emily Malek, played by Alexis Bledel, was a significant supporting character in the first four seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale, often interacting with June. Even though she wasn’t in the final two seasons, Emily remains crucial to understanding the full extent of Gilead’s brutality. Her friendship with June deeply impacted June’s growth as a character, and Emily’s storyline was particularly compelling. With a new spin-off series on the way, now is a good time to revisit one of the show’s most memorable characters.

Before Gilead, Emily was a College Professor

Before the events in Washington, D.C., the audience discovered that Emily Malek grew up in Missoula, Montana. She went on to study biology at Harvard University.

Emily eventually completed her doctorate and became a professor. Flashbacks reveal she is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, having fallen in love with and married a woman named Sylvia. They had a son, Oliver, and Emily was his birth mother. This ultimately led to her being trapped in Gilead.

Following the events in Washington, D.C., Emily faced issues at work related to her sexual orientation. Because she didn’t want to keep her family private from her colleagues, she lost her teaching assignments. A coworker, Dan, explained that the school believed her openness wasn’t creating a suitable learning atmosphere for students.

Essentially, Emily has pictures of Sylvia and Oliver set as her phone’s wallpaper. Dan, who is gay, confides in her that he’s removed all photos of his partner from his workplace. Although he acknowledges the situation is difficult, Dan also brings up the political turmoil following the incident in Washington, D.C., which he refers to as a “terrorist attack.”

Everyone was on high alert, including those at school. Then, Emily discovered a hateful, anti-gay message spray-painted in the school courtyard. To her shock, she found Dan’s body hanging from a bridge overlooking the message. Someone had murdered Dan and deliberately left his body as a public display.

I was on the edge of my seat when Emily realized she had to get out of the country, taking Sylvia and Oliver with her. It turned out Sylvia and Oliver were Canadian, so that’s where they were headed. The airport was a total madhouse, and just when you thought they might make it, security stopped Emily, but unbelievably let Sylvia and Oliver continue through. It was a heartbreaking moment!

Emily’s marriage to Sylvia is threatened when Gilead, the new ruling power, outlaws same-sex marriage. When authorities discover Emily is Oliver’s mother, they become determined to keep her within Gilead’s borders. Sylvia and Oliver manage to escape to Canada, but Emily is arrested soon after they leave.

After the Formation of Gilead, Emily Becomes a Handmaid

The story follows women who, after being captured, are brought to the Red Center. This is where they are trained to become Handmaids.

In this society, Handmaids are women who are able to have children and are sent to live with Commanders – high-ranking officials – with the sole purpose of becoming pregnant. Once a month, a ritual called “the Ceremony” takes place, where the Commander and the Handmaid have sex while the Commander’s wife is present, in an attempt to produce a child.

When a Handmaid becomes pregnant, she’s expected to carry the baby until it’s born, and then nurse it before giving the child to the Commander and his wife. Once recovered from childbirth, she’ll be moved to a different household. If a Handmaid doesn’t get pregnant after a certain time, she’ll be replaced with a new Handmaid and either return to the Red Center or be assigned to another Commander.

The show consistently frames infertility as the woman’s issue, never the man’s. We don’t learn about Emily’s life before she’s a Handmaid; the story begins with her already serving as Ofglen, the handmaid assigned to Commander Glen Deeds.

Handmaids are given new names based on the men they serve, replacing their original names. For example, Emily becomes “Ofglen,” meaning she belongs to the man named Glen. If a Handmaid is assigned a new commander, her name changes to reflect that. They aren’t permitted to use the names they had “before,” in the past. Commander Deeds and Commander Fred Waterford, who is June’s commander, are neighbors.

Ofglen and June (then called Offred) began shopping together. June explains that this pairing system was designed to ensure handmaids weren’t left unsupervised. They would watch each other – June monitoring Emily, and Emily monitoring June – creating a system of mutual oversight to control the handmaids’ behavior.

Initially, Offred and Ofglen didn’t see eye to eye. Offred thought Ofglen was overly religious, but they eventually discovered they both secretly opposed the Gilead regime. Ofglen also cautioned Offred that someone was spying on her from within her own home, urging her to be careful.

Emily’s experiences shed light on Gilead’s system. She explains that, as someone who isn’t heterosexual – labeled a “Gender Traitor” by the regime – she should have been executed or sent to the colonies. However, because she was fertile and had already had a child, Gilead forced her to become a Handmaid instead.

June’s relationship with her husband, Luke, began with an affair – she was the woman he had an affair with, leading to the end of his previous marriage. Because Gilead views infidelity as a sin, they took June’s daughter away from her and forced her to become a Handmaid instead of letting her stay with Luke. Later, Emily admits she’s part of a secret resistance group called Mayday, but she doesn’t share any information about them.

Emily’s Affair with a Martha

Emily was secretly having a relationship with Martha while living with Commander Glen. Marthas are women who are unable to bear children and are assigned to serve as household staff, handling cooking, cleaning, and all the needs of a Commander and his wife. Both Emily and Martha were arrested.

Gilead brutally punished Emily by making her watch her partner being executed for being considered a “Gender Traitor.” Because Emily is able to have children, and Gilead desperately needs fertile women to serve as Handmaids, they don’t kill her. Instead, after witnessing the execution, she is sent to the Red Center, where she undergoes a horrific and violent procedure to remove her clitoris.

Aunt Lydia believes that if she can’t experience sexual pleasure, she’ll stop wanting it, framing it as a way to overcome temptation. However, this is a harsh and severe punishment for simply disobeying the rules. Meanwhile, another Handmaid, Janine, suffers an even more brutal consequence – one of her eyes is removed – for a separate offense at the Red Center.

Man, things really went downhill for Emily after they caught her and did… well, that to her. She was immediately moved out of Commander Glen’s place and ended up as Ofsteven in Commander Steven Scott’s house. It was heartbreaking to see Mayday cut her off too – they figured Gilead was watching her so closely, any communication with her would be way too risky. Just a really tough situation all around.

Despite the unexpected kindness from Commander Scott’s wife, Emily finally reaches her limit after all she’s been through. Overwhelmed, she impulsively steals a car and tragically kills a Guardian by accidentally running him over.

Emily is Sent to the Colonies

For murdering a Guardian, Emily was exiled to the Colonies – harsh, prison-like camps filled with radioactive waste. Sentenced criminals are forced to work there, cleaning up the dangerous pollution as their punishment.

Many believe life in the Colonies is a slow death due to the severe pollution, which is expected to quickly harm the workers. The majority – around 75% – of those sent to the Colonies are “Unwomen,” women convicted of serious crimes and sentenced to live there for the rest of their lives.

Emily is shown as a deeply compassionate person who frequently cares for her fellow workers’ injuries and illnesses. However, she also commits a shocking act: she poisons the wife of a commander who was sent to the Colonies after being involved in an affair. Emily explains her actions as an attempt to avenge the many women the commander’s wife had enabled to be sexually assaulted by her husband.

Emily was eventually reunited with Janine, a fellow handmaid who had been sent to the harsh Colonies for endangering her baby and attempting suicide. Following the Red Center bombing, Emily, Janine, and a few other former handmaids were rescued from the Colonies. Unfortunately, many handmaids perished in the bombing, creating a shortage at the Red Center.

To fix the shortage, they brought back handmaids who had been exiled but were still able to bear children, among them Emily. She was renamed Ofroy, but only participated in one Ceremony. Tragically, her Commander suffered a fatal heart attack immediately afterward. Following Commander Roy’s death, Emily was transferred to a new assignment.

Commander Lawrence is… different. He’s got this really unusual staff who aren’t afraid to speak their minds, and his home is full of banned books and relics from the pre-Gilead world. What’s even stranger is he doesn’t actually do the Ceremony himself, and he’ll openly talk about life before everything changed. It was so weird when he refused to participate in the Ceremony, but then Aunt Lydia showed up the next day claiming he’d said it went perfectly as planned – which just didn’t add up!

Emily Escapes Gilead And Tries to Return to Her Old Life in Canada

Aunt Lydia cruelly taunts Emily about her injuries, even comparing her to a silenced dog. Enraged, Emily retaliates and stabs Lydia multiple times. Unexpectedly, Commander Lawrence doesn’t punish Emily for the attack. Instead, he brings her to a secret location where June and their baby are waiting.

Emily was surprised to learn of a plan to help June escape Gilead. Lawrence, seemingly working with those resisting the regime, decided to include Emily in the escape. However, at the very last moment, June changed her mind. She couldn’t leave Gilead without her eldest daughter, Hannah, so she entrusted Emily with a message and sent her to safety in Canada.

As a fan, I was really invested in Emily’s journey this season. It’s heartbreaking seeing her try to build a new life in Canada and get close to her family again after everything she’s been through. I remember being on the edge of my seat when she first crossed the border – literally walking for miles with baby Nichole! It was such a relief when those Canadian officers found her and offered her a chance at asylum, a real turning point for her character.

Once Emily agreed, she was admitted to a hospital and received medical care she hadn’t had in years. Soon after, she found Luke and Moira, who had been living together since Moira’s escape from Gilead. They invited Emily, along with Nichole, to their home in Little America for a visit and dinner.

Emily hesitated to contact her wife, worried their reunion might not go as she hoped. She’d changed so much since her experiences in Gilead, and she wasn’t sure if her wife and son would still love and accept the person she’d become. Eventually, Emily did reconnect with Sylvia, and they took things slowly, both incredibly happy to be together again.

Emily was thrilled to discover that Sylvia had helped their son, Oliver, remember her. Emily worried Oliver wouldn’t recall her since he was very young when she was taken by Gilead. But she was relieved to find his room filled with drawings of their family, proving he hadn’t forgotten her.

Emily Goes To The Swiss Embassy And Attends Protests

Emily and Sylvia meet with Lena, a Swiss diplomat. Gilead brought her in as a neutral investigator to look into Emily’s situation. Lena knows about the things Emily did while living under Gilead’s rule, but Sylvia explains that Emily was simply doing what was necessary to survive in that difficult environment.

Following her meeting with Lena, Sylvia reassures Emily, making it clear she doesn’t judge her past actions in Gilead. Meanwhile, Emily joins a protest led by Moira and others, demanding the Canadian Immigration Minister do more to help American refugees, particularly vulnerable individuals like Nichole.

During her time there, Emily learns that June, Nichole’s biological mother, never legally relinquished her parental rights and wanted to ensure Nichole’s safety in Canada. Later, Moira and Emily are briefly arrested during a chaotic protest. While detained, they admit to past actions involving taking lives in Gilead, but comfort each other knowing they haven’t done anything similar since, reaffirming their belief in their own goodness.

Shortly after, June arranged for a plane called Angel’s Flight to carry children, Handmaids, and Marthas to safety in Canada, escaping Gilead. Remarkably, with a combination of good fortune and assistance from others, the plane successfully reached Canadian airspace. Once landed, Emily, Luke, and Moira were there to help those who had fled.

The three individuals continue their work helping children who are either orphaned or struggling to adapt to life after being raised in Gilead. Many of these children were born within Gilead or are too young to remember life before it, making it difficult for them to adjust and build new lives.

Emily Starts A Support Group and Helps June Kill Fred Waterford

In Season 4, Emily and Moira run a support group for people who have escaped Gilead. The group serves as a central part of the season, offering a safe space for survivors to share their experiences, heal, and try to rebuild their lives. It provides much-needed comfort and a sense of community, something both Emily and Moira deeply need themselves.

Once June reaches Canada, she quickly falls in with the others. However, she’s struggling to relax and shake off a constant sense of danger. Meanwhile, Iris – formerly known as Aunt Irene – repeatedly tries to reach Emily. Aunt Irene was one of Emily’s caretakers before her initial assignment, and also one of the most unkind people Emily had to deal with.

Iris is overwhelmed with guilt and keeps trying to reach out to Emily to apologize. She’s responsible for Martha’s death because she was the one who revealed Emily’s affair with her. June pushes Emily to confront Iris during a support group meeting. Iris pleads for forgiveness, but Emily makes it clear that things can’t be fixed.

Overwhelmed by guilt, Iris took her own life. Emily shockingly admitted to the group that she felt relieved by Iris’s death. This confession ignited anger within Emily and many others in the group, who all felt a deep need for justice after what they had endured, but never received.

In the final episode of Season 4, June, Emily, Moira, and several other women who were once handmaids plot to corner Fred Waterford in No Man’s Land. There, a group of angry survivors, including the women, violently kill him as an act of revenge. They attack him with their bare hands, and afterward, tie his body up and leave it displayed.

For many, killing Fred isn’t an end, but a turning point. They feel they can’t rebuild their lives in Canada while Gilead remains in control. Emily is one of these people, profoundly changed not only by Fred’s death, but also by her difficult encounter with Aunt Irene. She understands she can’t return to her former self and find happiness in Canada as she once imagined.

Emily chooses to go back to Gilead to fight against the oppressive regime directly. This is the last time viewers see her for a while, until a surprise return in the show’s final episode. There, she’s shown walking with June in a liberated Boston, bringing her story to a satisfying conclusion.

The Handmaid’s Tale Story Will Continue in The Testaments

I was so invested in Emily’s story and the world of The Handmaid’s Tale, and while that chapter has closed, I’m incredibly excited for what comes next! We’re finally getting a spin-off, The Testaments, which is based on Margaret Atwood’s book. It’s set 15 years after the original series, and it’s coming out on April 8, 2026 – I can’t wait to see how the story continues!

The new series, The Testaments, will release episodes in batches. The first three episodes will be available to stream all at once, and then one new episode will be released each week. The story centers on two teenage girls, Agnes and Daisy – one raised within the strict society of Gilead, and the other arriving from outside it – as they attend a special school run by Aunt Lydia.

Ann Dowd is back as Aunt Lydia, and she’ll be joined by Chase Infiniti and Lucy Halliday as the new leads. Bruce Miller returns as showrunner, and Elisabeth Moss will serve as an executive producer. However, it’s currently unknown if Moss will also appear on screen.

This new series will show how the nation of Gilead collapses and how the next generation deals with the aftermath of The Handmaid’s Tale. It will focus on their struggle to dismantle the oppressive regime. You can watch The Testaments on Hulu.

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2026-03-23 17:43