Nick Blaine's destiny in The Testaments novel comes as quite a shock, given what unfolds in The Handmaid's Tale TV series.

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments novel by Margaret Atwood

The Testaments TV series is set to land on screens this week on Hulu in the USA and Disney+ in the UK, acting as a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, reports the Mirror.

The new programme will once again be adapted from Margaret Atwood's 2019 sequel novel The Testaments, following the next generation of young women living under Gilead's rule.

The Testaments arrives a year after The Handmaid's Tale concluded with season six, which ended on a controversial note, including June Osborne's (played by Elisabeth Moss) failure to rescue her daughter Hannah Bankole (Jordana Blake).

Another pivotal character viewers are eager to learn more about is Nick Blaine (Max Minghella) and the part he plays in The Testaments - here is everything you need to know.

In The Testaments novel, Nick is very much alive and working to fight against Gilead alongside June.

The pair are portrayed as being deeply embroiled in Mayday as they strive to bring down the fanatical regime.

In the book, Nick even meets his daughter Holly at the end after the family is reunited following their escape from Gilead.

However, The Handmaid's Tale TV series took a dramatic departure from both the original 1985 book and The Testaments novel. Season six saw Nick meet his end after boarding an aeroplane alongside other high-ranking Commanders, which was destroyed by an altitude bomb that Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) had smuggled on board in an ultimate act of redemption.

This confirms that Nick will not be featuring in The Testaments, given that his character is firmly deceased, despite remaining alive in the original source material.

Since season one of The Handmaid's Tale largely adapted the events of the novel, the TV series was compelled to forge its own path as it continued to chart June's life and her battles against Gilead.

Notably, The Testaments was published in 2019, before season four aired, meaning the producers of The Handmaid's Tale made a conscious decision to deviate from the TV series.

Eric Tuchman, who served as co-showrunner and writer on The Handmaid's Tale season six, previously shed light on the reasoning behind Nick's death.

He told The Hollywood Reporter: "We decided on Nick and Lawrence's deaths when we were first breaking the season. Once we decided on Nick's betrayal midway, that led to his fate - and Lawrence's combined with that."

Throughout season six, Nick betrayed both the resistance movement Mayday and June by leaking intelligence that resulted in the brutal massacre of the women at Jezebel's, effectively sealing his fate in the eyes of the show's writers. Meanwhile, Moss - who also serves as an executive producer on The Testaments - spoke about the character's fate, saying: "I do think Nick really loved Nichole [who is now going by her real name, Holly].

"I think June will tell [her and Nick's daughter] 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 premieres on Disney+ and Hulu on April 8