The Handmaid’s Tale’s Elisabeth Moss confirms show will return in 2021 and has been renewed for a fifth season

THE Handmaid’s Tale’s Elisabeth Moss has confirmed the show will return in 2021 and has been renewed for a fifth season.

The hit Hulu series had only just begun filming season four when it was forced to shut down production due to the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year.

Fans have been desperate to know when the show will return and now its star has given them a much needed update.

In a tweet on Hulu’s official Twitter account featuring the cast, Elisabeth said: “Actually I have a couple of the [season four] scripts right here… and I’m also thrilled to announce we have been picked up for season five.

“It’s my privilege and honour to tell this story… It’s going to be a wild ride.”

The good news comes after Elisabeth, 38, previously revealed season four had plenty of “surprises” for where the show and her character June would end up.

She told The Times back in October: “We don’t want to keep doing the same thing.

“You can’t just keep June in this place where she’s tortured all the time. It’s boring.”

So far, Handmaid June has managed to get her baby daughter Nicole to safety in Canada while remaining in Gilead in the hope of saving her elder daughter Hannah too.

June is also in love with two men, her husband Luke in Canada and her lover Nick in Gilead, and discussing whether her character will get a happy ending with either man or her children, Elisabeth said: “It depends what you define as happy.”

She added she’d pitched one idea of “June ending up in a really modern relationship on an island”.

She said: “It’s very French, and they have beautiful children” before adding there was “an idea where it might end”.

Season four of The Handmaid’s Tale will air in 2021.