The Handmaid's Tale Star Exits Series Ahead of Season 5

Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale was renewed for Season 5 back in December 2020 and while the season is expected to arrive sometime in 2022, it will do so without one of its stars. Alexis Bledel, who has played Emily/Ofglen since the series' debut in 2017, announced on Friday that she is exiting the series, noting in a statement to Variety that she felt she "had to step away" from the series. Bledel offered no other information about her departure.

"After much thought, I felt I had to step away from The Handmaid's Tale at this time," Bledel's statement read. "I am forever grateful to Bruce Miller for writing such truthful and resonant scenes for Emily, and to Hulu, MGM, the cast and crew for their support."

The last viewers saw of Bledel's Emily was in the Season 4 finale where she helped June (Elisabeth Moss) and the other handmaids get their revenge on Gilead by chasing Commander Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) through the forest before beating him to death and hanging him on a wall.

In addition to Bledel, Moss, and Fiennes, The Handmaid's Tale stars Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley, Ann Dowd, Max Minghella, Madeline Brewer, O-T Fagbenle, Amanda Brugel, Bradley Whitford, and Sam Jaeger. The series is inspired by the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name, with that book depicting not only events that correlate with what Moss' character endures, but also features an epilogue set 200 years in the future with a group of academics looking back at what had happened to society.

A sequel novel, The Testaments, was published in 2019. Ahead of that novel's release, it was reported that MGM and Hulu were in discussion about how the sequel could be "an important extension" to the series, opening up the possibility of the story continuing beyond June's journey. Moss previously shared with ComicBook.com that she feels like The Handmaid's Tale will end when June's journey ends.

"It's not up to me, but I think that we all agree that this is the story of one woman and it's not the story of Gilead," Moss shared with ComicBook.com of the series' trajectory. "We're tracking her story and we're taking care of her story and it will be up at some point. I think that we keep that as our guideline. When we feel like that story has been told, then it will be over."

The first four seasons of The Handmaid's Tale is now streaming on Hulu. Season 5 does not yet have a release date.