What Happens To Nick Blaine In The Handmaid's Tale

In the time between the debut of "The Handmaid's Tale" in 2017 and its messy finale airing in 2025, a lot changed in the outside world. The long-running series, based on author Margaret Atwood's 1985 dystopian novel of the same name, has always been frighteningly relevant. That has only increased exponentially in the decades since, to put it mildly. Did that ultimately backfire when things perhaps became a little too real, with the show ultimately bowing out after overstaying its own welcome? Anecdotally, a lot of viewers seemed to fall off after the Hulu adaptation reached its peak of cultural popularity sometime after season 3 or 4. Whatever the case may be, the series at least had the ability to end on its own terms and wrap things up as creator Bruce Miller and season 6 co-showrunners Yahlin Chang and Eric Tuchman saw fit — no small achievement these days in a post-"Peak TV" landscape.

But when the smoke cleared, where did our main characters find themselves? Elisabeth Olsen's June Osborne underwent one of the most dizzying arcs of any recent television protagonist, starting as someone basically enslaved for sex and ending as a true revolutionary vowing to defeat Gilead for good. Along the way, however, she and her allies experienced more than their fair share of losses and bittersweet partings. And out of all the characters who made it to the show's final season, Max Minghella's Nick Blaine stands out as one of the most divisive figures. Initially a spy for the Eyes and eventually June's lover, Nick had one of the more complex arcs in the entire narrative.

So, for those who may have not made it to the end, where does he finally land? Does he survive the carnage and live happily ever after? Well, not quite.

Look, there's no beating around the bush: Nick Blaine dies and in a rather tragic fashion, too. That shouldn't come as a major shock to viewers even loosely aware of what "The Handmaid's Tale" is about, a story designed to feel as bleak and hopeless as possible. But, with that said, it's the circumstances of his death and the push/pull he undergoes with June that makes it all the more heartbreaking. Or maybe the word we should be looking for is "inevitable."

Throughout the bloodbath of "The Handmaid's Tale" season 6, June and the surviving Handmaids' war against Gilead escalates to a fever pitch — with Nick and the various Commanders caught in the middle. Even as late as the final season, June holds out hope that Nick could be a trustworthy ally ... until he betrays her by leaking her plans to bomb a high-profile target and takes it straight to the sinister Commander Wharton (Josh Charles). Episode 7, appropriately titled "Shattered," sees the two finally reach the point of no return, with June rejecting Nick as they go their separate ways.

That turns out to be the last time he sees his former lover, as the show's penultimate hour spells the end of the line for Nick. Unaware that June and Commander Joseph Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) intend to bomb an aircraft carrying Gilead's highest-ranking officials, he boards the plane and seals his own fate. When Wharton invites Lawrence to join them, and with no way to leave (or even warn Nick), the sabotage mission turns into a suicide mission. Just before Lawrence's explosives go off, however, Nick's final thoughts are of June — a poignant end to a complicated character who couldn't choose a side.

Give "The Handmaid's Tale" and its writing team credit: They still knew exactly how to twist the knife on viewers right up until the end. The fandom's overall relationship with Nick very much mirrored his own with June, as the two loved one another just as much as they disagreed with his actions to remain with Gilead. Nick had numerous chances over the course of the show to break his ties with the oppressive regime and run away with June. Due to his own responsibilities to his new wife and their unborn son, Nick makes the (somewhat) understandable choice to "join the winners," as he puts it to Lawrence in his last words. Naturally, that decision comes at the cost of his own life.

So, was this the only way that things would end for Nick? Not according to actor Max Minghella, who told Variety about his thoughts on his character's arc in the final batch of episodes. As he explained:

"Transparently, I was very surprised by where they were going to take Nick in season 6, because it was quite different to how he served the show previously. Not to get too macro about it, but the Nick and June relationship has been a reprieve from the more tense thematic elements of the show. And so to ground that relationship, then, into some of the darker, more nihilistic points-of-view that we have to explore in 'The Handmaid's Tale,' I was surprised by it — but interested in it as an actor. And certainly nobody could accuse them of pandering."

That's for sure. As much as fans (and June) were left with broken hearts, the drama made for an unforgettable end to a memorable character.