The one thing about The Testaments fans are furious about - major character's absence explained

Fans of The Handmaid’s Tale can be transported back to the dystopian world of Gilead, as new spin-off series The Testaments is now available on Disney+ in the UK and Hulu in the US.

The new series is based on Margaret Atwood’s 2019 follow-up to the original novel, and follows a new group of young women who face a life of servitude to the men of Gilead, having grown up only ever knowing this bleak way of life.

However, after The Handmaid’s Tale series - which ran for six seasons between 2017 and 2025 - deviated from Atwood’s text, there’s one massive difference that fans are already furious about - the fate of Nick Blaine.

Warning: spoilers ahead

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In Atwood’s novel, Nick - played by Industry star Max Minghella - is alive and well, and very much still fighting the good fight against the oppressive regime.

Nick, who helped protagonist June (played by Elisabeth Moss) throughout much of the original series, engaging in a complex love affair and having a daughter together, ended up getting as close to a happy ending as possible in the grim world of Gilead.

In the book of The Testaments, Nick, June and their daughter, Nichole, reunite and escape Gilead.

However, the TV series will go a very different direction, based on the events set in place by the final season of The Handmaid’s Tale. In the show, not only did Nick end up betraying June and Mayday - the resistance movement - he also ended up dead.

In the final season, Nick leaked intelligence against Mayday that led to a horrific massacre of the women at Jezebel's. Nick was last seen boarding a plane alongside other high-ranking commanders of Gilead. Commander Lawrence - in the ultimate act of redemption for the atrocities they had caused - blew up the plane.

While fans of Margaret Atwood’s books have had to make peace with changes from the texts - the show essentially expanded the universe and deviated from the original novel after the first season - Nick seems to be a step too far.

Many fans are desperate to have him back - and have him back in a more faithful capacity.

An official petition, which already has nearly 1000 signatures, pleads, "Nick is one of the most complex, fascinating, and emotionally rich characters in The Handmaid’s Tale. He represents hope, moral ambiguity, and internal rebellion against a brutal regime…It would be a major loss if his story were to end without resolution.

"In the series, Nick is portrayed as someone who may have turned his back on June and chosen Gilead. But this is not what happens in the books... Nick Blaine is not a side character. He belongs in The Testaments.”

Alas, the showrunners and executive producers don’t share that opinion.

Elisabeth Moss - who serves as an executive producer on The Testaments - confirmed that they have no plans to retcon the fate of Nick.

All but confirming he will remain dead, she told the Hollywood Reporter, "I do think Nick really loved Nichole. I think June will tell her all of the good things about her father.

"She'll tell him how much she loved him and how much he loved her. She'll tell him how much her parents loved each other and that ultimately, I think he would have done the right thing if he had gotten the chance to do it again."

The Testaments will air on Disney+, and stars Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another), Ann Dowd (Philadelphia) and Scottish actress Lucy Halliday.