Embodiments of the present application disclose a method for handling a radio link failure RLF and a terminal device. The method includes: in a case that data of a first radio bearer reaches a maximum number of retransmissions on a first radio link control RLC entity corresponding to the first radio bearer, deactivating, by a terminal device, a replication data transmission function of the first radio bearer, and/or, deactivating, by a terminal device, a replication data transmission function of a second radio bearer, where a carrier mapped by an RLC entity corresponding to the second radio bearer at least partially overlaps with a carrier mapped by the first RLC entity.