When one speaks of dystopian Limited Series that stream on our favorite platforms, and have successfully blended high drama, with great acting chops and disturbing near-future elements, The Handmaid’s Tale is bound to figure in the conversation. Now in its 5th season; this series, based on the 1985 novel of the same title by Canadian authoress Margaret Atwood, has been accorded numerous Emmy and Golden Globe nominations and wins. It has earned Elisabeth Moss, who plays the central character June Osborne, a bevy of acting accolades and awards.

Created by Bruce Miller, the series debuted in 2017 and has not looked back since. Atwood came up with a sequel novel, The Testaments, a few years ago; and it’ll soon be woven into the narrative of the successful series. But for now, the buzz around HBO Go is the fifth season, and how it picks up the pieces of the aftermath of the watershed event that ended Season 4. This was the death/murder of Commander Waterford (Joseph Fiennes), at the hands (and teeth) of June and her confederates. If you recall, June, renamed Offred, was assigned as a Handmaid to the home of Waterford and his wife Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski), two of the founders of the totalitarian state of Gilead.

So the challenge facing Season 5 is how to offer redemptive qualities to June, given the extremes to which she resorted to at the end of Season 4. Yes, we can understand her motivation to inflict fatal damage to Waterford. But our empathizing with her, takes a new course when she has acted on those deadly thoughts and has put them into action. For four seasons now, Moss and her alter ego June, has been the poster girl for oppression and child-bearing slavery, and we’ve sympathized with her being separated from husband and child, and how she was ‘condemned’ to this Handmaid existence. Now, she’s on the run, and it’s interesting to see how this season’s arc can keep us on her side.

An online media event with the producers and select members of the cast was held the other week. And while Elisabeth Moss wasn’t among the cast joining the round table, it was easy to see how so many of the characters have resonated and become favorites of both media and the public. Ann Dowd, who plays Aunt Lydia, is one such character, and the evolution of her character through the seasons was a hot topic.

The new, and penultimate, season of The Handmaid’s Tale drops on Sept. 15 on HBO Go. For those who’ve been following the series over the years, this is a much anticipated event. If you haven’t been following the series, now is a good time to catch up and understand why both critics and audiences received the series with open arms. It is grim and tragic, but it’s also an examination of humanity in the time of darkness.