A Taylor Swift Song In The Handmaid’s Tale Fuels A Reputation (TV) Theory

Predicting a Taylor Swift album theory and being proven wrong time after time can make you start to feel like — to quote the bard herself — “I don’t trust nobody and nobody trusts me.”

But a new clue is giving Swifties hope yet again.

A Musical Cameo

The May 20 episode of The Handmaid’s Tale opens with a powerful scene of the show’s women carrying out an uprising. And there’s something familiar playing as they march: “Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s Version).”

It’s not just a brief snippet, but the majority of the song plays, cutting out before Swift’s chilling, revenge-fueled bridge. For star and executive producer Elizabeth Moss, the Swiftie needle drop was a long time coming.

“I’ve been wanting to use a Taylor song for many years on the show and we finally found the perfect spot for a track from her, and I’m so glad we waited because there could not be a more perfect song for a more perfect moment,” she told Billboard, calling Swift an “inspiration.”

How It Supports The Reputation (Taylor’s Version) Theory

Of course, the full impact of the musical nod traveled well beyond The Handmaid’s Tale fandom. As the two-minute clip circulated on social media, many Swifties used it to bolster their belief that Swift would be announcing her Reputation re-recording imminently — namely, at the 2025 American Music Awards.

ICYMI, subscribers to the latest theory point out that Swift’s online store currently categorizes her merch into four sections: Apparel, Music, Accessories, and Sale. Or... AMAs.

What’s more, multiple items in the store are an oddly specific 26% off, and the AMAs are happening on May 26.

That the “LWYMMD” re-recording would drop so close to the AMAs was enough to convince many fans that Swift would announce Reputation (Taylor’s Version) at the 2025 ceremony. Plus, several fans noted that The Handmaid’s Tale episode dropped six days from the awards. Reputation was Swift’s sixth studio album, and “LWYMMD” is the sixth song on it.

Now, for those who want to clown cautiously, there are some things to keep in mind. For starters, this isn’t the first time Swift has teased a re-recorded Reputation song — who can forget “Delicate (Taylor’s Version)” in The Summer I Turned Pretty? — and it’s not even the first appearance of “LWYMMD (TV).” Pieces of the track also appeared in a 2024 New England Patriots docuseries and the 2023 Prime Video series Wilderness, where it actually served as the theme song.

But one fan on X (formerly Twitter) summed up the Rep (TV) optimism succinctly: “THIS TIME FEELS DIFFERENT.”

Plus, Swift herself is a self-professed fan of The Handmaid’s Tale — so what better way to usher in this new era than by using her beloved Rep track in the final season of the show? A literal swan song, if you will.