First introduced as June's (Elisabeth Moss) walking partner and by her Handmaid name, Ofglen, Emily (Alexis Bledel) soon became a firm fan favourite in The Handmaid's Tale. A fierce opponent of the Gilead regime, Emily was the first person to tell June about The Eyes, and Mayday's role in trying to help people escape the totalitarian regime.
Going to any lengths to be reunited with her wife and child in Canada, Dr. Emily Malek suffered some of the worst horrors at the hands of Gilead - she was also involved in some of the show's most satisfying moments - almost putting an end to the evil Aunt Lydia being one of them.
Playing a huge part in smuggling baby Nicole into Canada, Emily stopped appearing in the show after season 4. Viewers are eager to find out what became of the iconic character, and we take a look at her possible fate.
What happens to Emily in The Handmaid's Tale?
As far as viewers are aware, Emily is still part of the resistance and fighting in Gilead. Despite safely arriving in Canada and being reunited with wife Sylvia (Clea Duvall), and son, Oliver, a traumatised Emily ultimately decided she couldn't stay with her family and needed to do everything she could to help bring Gilead down.
While she was a Handmaid, Emily had entered into a relationship with a Martha. As same-sex relationships are banned in Gilead, the pair were branded gender traitors and Emily was forced to watch while the Martha was hanged.
Emily was spared because of her fertility and for her punishment, Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) arranged for her to undergo forced genital mutilation surgery. The next time she is out shopping with June, Emily seizes an opportunity for revenge, grabbing an empty vehicle and running over an Eye - this sees her sent to the colonies to live out the rest of her days undertaking hard labour.
After a bomb at the Red Centre kills some Handmaids and numbers of fertile women are depleted, Emily was soon returned to Gilead to once again be placed with a commander and his wife to try and give them a baby.
Fuelled by anger and trauma, a headstrong Emily sees another opportunity to exact revenge on the regime that's rained down considerable trauma upon her by getting hold a knife, stabbing Aunt Lydia and pushing her down the stairs.
While Aunt Lydia survives the attack, Commander Lawrence helps Emily escape to Canada to avoid the consequences of her actions. Taking baby Nicole with her, Emily is applauded as she arrives at a place of safety in the country.
However, she struggles to settle back into normal life and the psychological damage is too much for her. Although she plays a part in the murder of Commander Waterford, it's not enough, and she makes a clandestine move to return to Gilead and fight, especially hoping to finally see off Aunt Lydia.
When June arrived at Emily and Sylvia's home in Canada to be told Emily had simply called Sylvia to say she was returning to Gilead, June became distraught.
Clearly placing a lot of blame on June for her wife's decision, Sylvia was less than enthusiastic to converse with June about it, telling her she and Oliver would just have to be grateful for the time they got with Emily, as it was unlikely they'd ever see her again.
In the show's current timeline, while viewers cross their fingers that June will get Hannah back, they also want to know what became of Emily - it could be assumed that, as her death hasn't been confirmed, she remains fighting as part of the resistance.
We hope that either The Handmaid's Tale season 6 climax or the show's spin-off, The Testaments, will give viewers closure on just what happened to such a formidable and excellent character.
Why did Alexis Bledel leave The Handmaid's Tale?
Of course, Emily's departure from the series was fuelled by Alexis Bledel, who plays the character, wanting to leave the show.
At the time of her exit, Alexis didn't explicitly state why she made the decision to leave the series. The actress simply said in a statement, "After much thought, I felt I had to step away from The Handmaid’s Tale at this time."
She added, "I am forever grateful to [showrunner] Bruce Miller for writing such truthful and resonant scenes for Emily, and to Hulu, MGM, the cast and crew for their support."
Her decision came as a surprise to the cast and crew, who had been planning season 5 with Emily still very much part of the series. However, as per Hollywood Reporter, the actress quietly revealed her reason for leaving to the series creator, Bruce Miller.
"Alexis made that decision completely on her own," he explained, continuing, "It was a complicated time and she let me know. What I tried to do was deal with it in the way we were all feeling at that point. Like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ So I think that, in some ways, the real emotions wag the dog."
