The Handmaid’s Tale has been a runaway hit for Hulu. Adapted from the book of the same name by Margaret Atwood and starring Elisabeth Moss and Alexis Bledel, it’s racked up tens of awards nominations (as well as eight Emmy gongs) for its tight plotting and worryingly prescient premise.
Now, almost ten years after the show first aired, it’s set to come to a close: the final sixth season will be released in April this year. But all is not lost. Fans have something else to look forward to in the shape of the upcoming spinoff series, The Testaments.
With news starting to trickle out about the casting and plot, here’s what to know.
What’s the premise?
We already know that The Testaments will be set 15 years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, and will star June’s (Elisabeth Moss) children Nichole and Hannah. Based in Gilead - formerly the US, now a dystopian state - and Canada, they’re responsible for gathering and smuggling information about Gilead out of the country.
They’re joined by Aunt Lydia, who is the girls’ source within Gilead - in The Testaments, she is revealed to be a mole for Mayday, an underground resistance movement against the regime. Quite how that happens is anybody’s guess - but doubtless something the show will dive into.
What happens in the book?
Yes, there is a book: it was penned by Atwood in 2019 and forms the basis of the plot for the show.
“Although I could not continue with the story of Offred, I could continue with three other people concerned in these events and tell the story of the beginning of the end, because we know from The Handmaid’s Tale that Gilead vanishes,” Atwood said at the time.
“It’s no longer present 200 years into the future, because they’re having a symposium on it. How did it collapse? How do these kinds of regimes disappear? I was interested in exploring that.”
In that version of events, Nichole and Hannah are referred to as Agnes and Daisy, but the premise looks like it’ll be similar - and the book itself is narrated by Aunt Lydia.
Who’s in the cast?
News has been slowly trickling out here. Ann Dowd will be returning as Aunt Lydia, having also made an appearance in the audiobook for The Testaments - she called the book “brilliantly written” and “extraordinary”.
She’ll be joined by Chase Infiniti, star of Jake Gyllenhaal show Presumed Innocent, who will be playing one of the two girls.
As for whether Elisabeth Moss will be making a reappearance - well, it’s not looking likely, but characters have appeared in the show before after their demise via video messages, letters or in flashbacks. It stands to reason that this may well be the same for her, especially as she’s the mother of the two protagonists.
The Testaments will also be helmed by Bruce Miller, who was the showrunner for the first five seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale. In other words, there’s lots to get excited about here.
When will it be out?
No word on this yet, but we’re expecting not for a couple of years. And in the meantime, there’s always the last season of The Handmaid’s Tale to watch: it launches on April 8 this year.
