‘The Handmaid’s Story’ Creators Tease What’s in Retailer for Sequel ‘The Testaments’

Weeks in the past, The Handmaid’s Tale came to an end after six seasons. Whereas not each story discovered a tidy conclusion, we no less than know who survived to proceed the struggle in opposition to Gilead—or in some instances, live on inside its dystopia.

With no concern of Handmaid‘s spoilers holding them again, the creators of each the unique present and its upcoming follow-up, The Testaments—based mostly on Margaret Atwood’s 2019 sequel to her groundbreaking 1985 novel—are lifting the lid a tiny bit on the brand new sequence. It started filming six weeks after Handmaid’s wrapped, and options an all-new forged alongside Ann Dowd, reprising her Emmy-winning Handmaid’s position as Aunt Lydia.

A brand new Hollywood Reporter piece that includes interviews with Atwood, Bruce Miller (who created each exhibits), and government producer Warren Littlefield doesn’t definitively reply the primary burning query followers have about The Testaments: will Elisabeth Moss’ June return? It’s tempting to hope, contemplating considered one of The Testaments‘ major characters is June’s long-lost daughter Hannah, renamed Agnes after being kidnapped and raised inside Gilead society.

“She threw herself again and she or he couldn’t stroll away from her daughter, so June remains to be doing her job,” Miller stated, noting that June, Hannah’s father Luke (O-T Fagbenle), and June’s greatest pal Moira (Samira Wiley) are all “nonetheless on the market someplace ringing the bell to get Hannah again.” (Later within the THR piece, Miller stated the one character he’s completely sure will not return in The Testaments is Yvonne Strahovski’s Serena.)

Nonetheless, it seems like The Testaments will widen the lens of that one household’s story. “The great thing about having watched Handmaid’s Story is that you just perceive there’s this enormous operation of people that care who’re on the market and who’re risking themselves to get to reunite with their kids,” Miller continued.

“So, is June influencing The Testaments? Completely. She’s on the market. She’s on the market making an attempt to get Hannah again. Can we see her? I might like to see her. However let’s increase into how the individuals who survive are rebelling in all these completely different areas. It appears to be like like Gilead is simply rife with individuals who actually hate it. So let’s see extra of them.”

Even Atwood herself, who notes that June does flip up on the finish of her ebook, received’t say for positive whether or not Moss—an government producer on The Testaments—could have an on-camera position. “For those who’re an underground resistance fighter, you’re underground—that’s the level. No person is aware of the place you might be,” the writer stated. “As a result of in the event that they do, you’re going to be useless. June is at all times there, however within the background.”

And simply because June’s within the ebook doesn’t imply she’s assured to look within the present. The THR piece notes that The Testaments takes liberties with its supply materials, very like the unique sequence did. As an example: on the web page, the story picks up 15 years after Handmaid’s. On-screen, it’ll be simply 4 years later.

Nonetheless, Littlefield defined, the story will really feel contemporary and completely different to what’s come earlier than. “Aunt Lydia is actually our solely persevering with character. Aunt Lydia has a faculty for ladies to organize them for womanhood and life in a Gilead world. What’s so fascinating is that these younger girls have by no means recognized a world that’s not a Gilead world. That’s fully completely different from our June perspective that at all times was our rudder for The Handmaid’s Story. They’re additionally youngsters. So there’s a rebelliousness—there’s angle about all the pieces.”

There’s no launch date but for The Testaments, however subsequent yr seems like an excellent guess. Will you be making the journey again to Gilead when it premieres?

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