The story of Gilead isn’t over, as Hulu is eyeing a The Handmaid’s Tale sequel. Deadline reports that MGM Television and Hulu are developing The Testaments, the sequel to Atwood’s best-selling 1985 dystopian novel, into a series. The studio and the streaming service are currently in talks with Bruce Miller, showrunner of The Handmaid’s Tale, about how the The Testaments can become “an important extension” to the original series.
“Margaret Atwood is a literary icon who continues to delight and challenge readers through her provocative and compelling prose,” Steve Stark, President of Television Production at MGM, said. “She has been an incredible creative partner and resource to MGM throughout the production of Handmaid’s and we look forward to working with her on the story’s exciting next chapter.”
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“Margaret Atwood is one of the visionary storytellers of her generation. From her award-winning poetry, short-stories and novels, Margaret has continually pushed boundaries and broken barriers to bring innovative stories to life,” Craig Erwich, Senior Vice President of Originals, Hulu, added.
Set to hit shelves on Tuesday, Sept. 10, The Testaments picks up 15 years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale.
“When the van door slammed on Offred’s future at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale, readers had no way of telling what lay ahead for her — freedom, prison or death,” the novel’s official logline reads. “With The Testaments, the wait is over. Margaret Atwood’s sequel picks up the story more than 15 years after Offred stepped into the unknown, with the explosive testaments of three female narrators from Gilead.”
Expanding the series into a franchise doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise given the success The Handmaid’s Tale has achieved. In total, the series has won 11 Emmys, including for outstanding drama series in 2017, for its first two seasons. Although ineligible for this year’s Emmys, the third season still earned 11 nods in individual categories due to the Television Academy’s “hanging episodes” rule. The series has also won multiple Golden Globe awards, a Peabody Award, an AFI award, among others.
At Hulu’s Summer Television Critics Association press tour in late July, the streaming service officially announced that it had renewed The Handmaid’s Tale for a fourth season.
The series, which tells the story a dystopian future in which a totalitarian society, Gilead, subjects fertile women, “Handmaids,” into child-bearing servitude, stars Elisabeth Moss, Joseph Fiennes, Alexis Bledel, Madeline Brewer, Ann Dowd, O-T Fagbenle, Max Minghella, Samira Wiley, and Bradley Whitford.
Season 1-3 of The Handmaid’s Tale are currently available for streaming on Hulu.
