Did Taylor Swift Make A Cameo In The Handmaid's Tale?

Did Taylor Swift make a cameo in "The Handmaid's Tale?" Probably not, but showrunner Bruce Miller is teasing her massive legion of fans anyway by saying "maybe."

In an interview with Variety after the show — which adapted its first season from Margaret Atwood's acclaimed sci-fi book of the same name and then spent the following five seasons continuing the story past its original endpoint — concluded, Jennifer Maas straight-up asked Miller if Swift appeared on the series in "Execution," the second-to-last episode of the show that aired on May 20, 2025. Why did she ask this? Well, as the world waits for Swift's final two re-recorded albums to drop ("reputation" and "Taylor Swift" are the only two of her first six albums that she hasn't released as "Taylor's Version" after her original masters were sold to her archenemy Scooter Braun), "The Handmaid's Tale" scored an enormous coup when Swift and her shrewd team allowed the show to use her version of "Look What You Made Me Do," the lead single from "reputation." 

As Handmaids, including Elisabeth Moss' June Osborne, storm the streets of the religious country Gilead to take down the Commanders who have controlled them for so long, Swift's vengeful anthem booms out, and someone who walks sort of like her exits a car to join the Handmaids. You do not see her face, but because Swifties have been watching their fave stroll, strut, and run around a stage a lot lately thanks to the Eras Tour, they think that maybe, just maybe, Swift took time out of her likely busy schedule to appear on the show.

Apparently, Miller feels like keeping this rumor afloat. "The use of 'Look What You Made Me Do' (Taylor's Version) in episode 9 had Swifties going crazy," Maas pointed out. "Fans have inspected some of that scene and noticed a character shot only from behind that's walking in such a way they think it's Taylor Swift herself. Was that her? Did Taylor have a cameo?"

"I can't say anything. I'm not allowed to say anything," Miller demurred. When Maas also (correctly) pointed out that this non-answer would just create more speculation and make it "worse," Miller continued, "All right, I'm good at making things worse — that's how I make all of my money."

I do not think that Swift — a preternaturally talented singer-songwriter who just concluded a world-spanning, billion-dollar-grossing tour at the end of 2024 and who is, I hope, getting some much-needed R&R as I type this — made a cameo in the penultimate episode of "The Handmaid's Tale." So, why does anyone think that?

As /Film's resident Swiftie, I'm no stranger to the phenomenon known in the fandom as "clowning." For the uninitiated, this means that every time Taylor Swift so much as breathes, someone on social media creates a theory out of thin air that means her movements and actions are pointing to any of the following things: the release of one of her two remaining "stolen" albums, an Eras Tour documentary, a brand-new 12th studio album, or, perhaps, all of these things at once. The extent to which Swift encourages this bald-faced clowning is ... largely overestimated by the fandom. Yes, the "Tortured Poets Department" songstress loves an Easter egg, but the amount of numerology involved in the clowning I come across is frankly egregious (before I became a Swiftie, I had no idea the whole arrangement would involve so much math), and her Easter eggs are usually pretty obvious and not things like "Stevie Nicks' birthday is May 26 and she turned 26 in 1975 which ties to a lyric in her song 'Clara Bow,' which means she will make an announcement at the American Music Awards on May 26." (This, I should note, did not happen.)

Was "Look What You Made Me Do" a little on the nose for "The Handmaid's Tale" in general, let alone that specific scene? Sure! Was it also fun to hear a lengthy snippet of "Taylor's Version" of a song about finding your inner brat after people wrong you, which feels like it sort of describes her entire re-record project as a whole? Yes! Again, not only do I not think that Swift appeared in the series, but I actually hope she didn't. I was fortunate enough to see the Eras Tour twice and I put the concert film on in my house whenever I need a little pick-me-up, and I was tired just watching her perform for three and a half hours with limited breaks. Speaking as a fan of Swift, I hope she enjoyed that episode of "The Handmaid's Tale" from the comfort of one of her many homes, hopefully with one of her three cats on her lap, and didn't bother to show up for a three-second faceless strut. (I also hope we do get those re-records soonish and that maybe she'll get around to making that feature film one of these days as well! Being a Swiftie means I contain multitudes, okay?!)

"The Handmaid's Tale" is streaming in its entirety on Hulu, and if you want to see why I hope that Swift is taking it easy right about now, her "Eras Tour" concert film is streaming on Disney+.