Hulu’s highly anticipated The Handmaid’s Tale spinoff The Testaments is in the works — but what is there to know about the show so far?
Margaret Atwood’s dystopian universe was initially brought to life with The Handmaid’s Tale, which is based on the novel of the same name about a future where low fertility rates have led women to be assigned to men for bearing children. Elisabeth Moss, Yvonne Strahovski, Madeline Brewer, Ann Dowd, O-T Fagbenle, Max Minghella, Samira Wiley and Amanda Brugel have led the cast since the show premiered in 2017.
The Handmaid’s Tale sixth — and final — season was announced ahead of the season 5 premiere in September 2022. At the time, creator Bruce Miller stepped down as showrunner to work on The Testaments as executive producers Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang took over the day-to-day duties on the flagship drama.
“We are ending our show on our own creative terms,” Miller told Entertainment Weekly in 2022 before his departure. “Do I know what happens in season 6? Yes, I did think about the stuff that happens in season 6 for a while.”
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Despite The Handmaid’s Tale coming to an end, the fictional world will continue to be explored with a spinoff set 15 years later. In Atwood’s follow-up novel, which she wrote after The Handmaid’s Tale was adapted for the small screen, three women recount what happened to Gilead after June (Moss) was taken and Aunt Lydia (Dowd) was revealed to be a mole for Mayday.
Keep scrolling for everything to know about The Handmaid’s Tale‘s spinoff The Testaments:
Where Is ‘The Testaments’ Set?
The spinoff will take place 15 years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale. Narrated by Aunt Lydia, viewers are thrust back into the dystopian future with new characters such as Agnes from Gilead and Daisy from Canada as they secretly gather and smuggle incriminating information about Gilead’s regime out of the country. Agnes and Daisy pose as “Pearl Girls” to infiltrate Canada while Aunt Lydia acts as a covert source within Gilead.
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Is ‘The Testaments’ Based on a Book in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Franchise?
The Testaments is a 2019 novel that serves as a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. Presented as portions of a manuscript written by one woman with testimonies by the other two, the spinoff introduces Us to a rebellious group working to bring down Gilead from the inside.
What Is the Vision for the New Series?
Since the novel was released simultaneously as a book and as an audiobook, Dowd got to reprise and narrate the role of Aunt Lydia. The role of Agnes was read by Bryce Dallas Howard while Daisy a.k.a Nicole was brought to life by Mae Whitman. Tantoo Cardinal, Derek Jacobi and Atwood herself took part in the audiobook as well during the epilogue.
“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 told journalists at an event in 2019. “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.”
She continued: “There [are] some new costume choices in this book. Human beings throughout time love outfits that tell you who you’re looking at, like football teams and things like that. So yes, we have some new outfits.”
Atwood said she kept Miller updated on her plans as The Handmaid’s Tale was coming to an end.
“I read the scripts; I make notes on them,” she added. “I have influence but no actual power. But luckily we’re in accord most of the time.”
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When Will the ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Spinoff Premiere on Hulu?
It was previously announced that Hulu and MGM were developing the sequel series, but the network and the studio have yet to release any additional updates. The plan is to have The Testaments premiere after The Handmaid’s Tale‘s final season concludes in 2025.
Will Characters From ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Make Cameos?
Dowd, who will reprise her role as Aunt Lydia, told Entertainment Weekly in October 2022 that she was excited about the show since she got to work on the audiobook and found the novel to be “brilliantly written” and “extraordinary.”
Fans are also hopeful that Moss reprises the role of June since her children — Nichole and Hannah (known as Daisy and Agnes in the books) — are the protagonists of The Testaments. The kids, however, will definitely be aged up after making appearances on The Handmaid’s Tale as babies. Despite concerns that June could be killed off in season 6, the TV universe has previously utilized flashback scenes and recorded messages as a way to bring characters back.
