Where Exactly Is Gilead From ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Again? Here’s a Map

Laura Hanrahan, Emily Tannenbaum
·4 min read
Photo credit: Elly Dassas
Photo credit: Elly Dassas


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[Warning: Spoilers for seasons 1 to 4 of The Handmaid’s Tale lie ahead.]

If you’ve been watching The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu since it dropped in April 2017 (or, you know, you actually read the original novel by Margaret Atwood), then you know exactly what Gilead is. But for just one second, let’s pretend we don’t and break it down anyway: In this world, The Republic of Gilead is the occupied territory run by the Sons of Jacob, aka the Gileadian Christians who believed America was corrupted by sin. After a series of insurrectionist attacks, they were able to perform a coup d’état against the United States government, thus creating the dystopian universe we’ve been watching for the past few years.

Okay, that’s great and all, but where is it? Well, we know June lived in Boston and has visited D.C.—two Gilead strongholds—so we can safely say those areas are solidly Gilead. In fact, the entire Northeast seems to be the epicenter of the Death Star.

Exactly how much of the States is controlled by Gilead? This became an important part of season 4 as June and the other Handmaids went on the run and took larger roles in the resistance. We saw June and Janine make their way to Chicago where the entire city was very much pushing back against the Gilead regime. The city is basically destroyed and is home to both rebels trying to fight against the oppressive regime and civilians trying to escape to safety in Canada.

Speaking of, we also know that Gilead’s reach has limits. We’ve seen escapees (including June herself) flee to Canada, and up until this point, the two countries seem to have a nonviolent relationship. Even though tensions were high after they kept the plane-full of escaped Gileadian children, they did agree to a prisoner exchange at the end of season 4.

June may have finally made it to Canada at the end of last season (and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief) but Gilead is still a major player in the show, so even though we may not see as much of it directly, it's still important to know what's going on there. And with there being some surprising support for the Waterfords and the Gilead regime in general in Canada, the spread of the religious dictatorship's control will likely become a major theme in season 5.

To give us a better picture of where Gilead has taken over so far, creator Bruce Miller explained everything we need to know about Gilead’s geography to TheWrap. “Yes, Gilead has taken over the continental U.S., so all 48 states of the continental U.S.,” he said ahead back before the season 2 finale. “There’s lots of areas that are not nearly as well controlled as the Boston area, where the movement was very strong.”

But thanks to the Pacific Ocean and Canada, there are two states decidedly out of Gilead’s reach. “So Alaska and Hawaii are the United States, the two states that are united still. And the rest of it has turned into Gilead with lots of pockets of resistance and unease and the places where the grip of Gilead is not nearly as firm.” Gotcha.

But Gilead's control continues to change over time, so ahead of last season, the show released an updated map on Twitter:

As you can see, Gilead's districts have largely set up shop in the east, with a few others in the north from Ohio to Washington, and another in Texas (an area that wasn't under Gilead control back in season 1). The colonies, aka the radioactive wastelands where Unwomen are sent to work until they die, take up the mid section from roughly Illinois to California. The pink stretches mark areas that are “under conflict,” meaning Gilead's grip isn't quite as strong there and rebels are engaging in conflict.

Well, now you know where to avoid if you find yourselves transported à la Reese Witherspoon in Pleasantville. Vive la résistance!

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