Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Handmaid's Tale season 5.
The ending of The Handmaid's Tale season 5 features massive reveals and seismic moments, but one of its most significant season 6 set-ups involves what happens to Janine. Madeline Brewer's Janine has been present since The Handmaid's Tale season 1, frequently collaborating with June and the other Handmaids to escape Gilead. Janine herself has been stuck in Gilead throughout The Handmaid's Tale season 5, staying at the Red Center with Aunt Lydia, and helping to prepare other Handmaids for their first postings. Given how The Handmaid's Tale season 5's finale concludes, however, Janine's future appears darker still.
After Janine and Esther are poisoned, Aunt Lydia decides her assistant must leave the Red Center. In The Handmaid's Tale season 5's finale, Lydia strikes a deal with Naomi Putnam, the wife raising Janine's child, giving Janine the opportunity to become Naomi and Commander Lawrence's Handmaid. This allows Janine to live in the same house as her child, and although the arrangement works well initially, she eventually loses her temper with Naomi, despite knowing there will be consequences. Unsurprisingly, The Handmaid's Tale season 5 ends with Eyes breaking into the Red Room and dragging Janine away, putting her in the back of a truck and driving off to an unknown destination.
Where Is Janine Being Taken By The Eyes?
The Eyes are Gilead secret police, and claim they were sent by Commander Lawrence, meaning Janine's arrest is likely the result of her outburst toward Naomi. Janine's destination remains uncertain, but the captured Handmaid is almost certainly heading toward punishment in some form. During The Handmaid's Tale season 5's finale, Naomi threatens to have Janine's tongue cut out, and the Eyes could feasibly carry out that promise. Janine may also be headed for the Colonies, but Gilead's history suggests she might simply be executed. The van that takes Janine is, after all, similar to the one Emily and her lover were transported in during The Handmaid's Tale season 1.
While unlikely, there is a slim chance Janine could be headed somewhere more positive ahead of The Handmaid's Tale season 6. Commander Lawrence always makes unpredictable plans, with Bradley Whitford's character often going against the best interests of Gilead in order to help Handmaids and refugees for seemingly altruistic reasons. Commander Lawrence has even helped Janine herself before, as she was one of the Handmaids at Lawrence's house before Mayday. Since Commander Lawrence was apparently the one who ordered Janine to be detained, it is possible he arranged some means of helping her.
Will Janine Survive The Handmaid's Tale Season 6?
Janine unquestionably finds herself in a tight spot come the end of The Handmaid's Tale season 5, raising major questions over whether she will survive in season 6. Janine has already scraped through many moments that should have seen her executed in Gilead, so survival should not be discounted, no matter how bleak the situation. Nevertheless, even Janine's impressive luck as a Handmaid in Gilead must surely run out sooner rather than later. Whether Janine can wriggle away once again and escape her captors is a mystery that will only be resolved in The Handmaid's Tale season 6.