*SPOILERS FOR THE HANDMAIDS TALE*
Hulu will produce a sequel series to The Handmaids Tale. Actually, let me back up, Margaret Atwood has written a sequel book to The Handmaids Tale, called The Testaments, that comes out September 10th. I had no idea there was a sequel coming out, but I’ll talk a little bit more about that below. Anyway, there is a sequel coming out, Hulu has already bought the rights to develop it into a series and they already have casting news. My goodness time flies in Gilead! The new series will revolve around three protagonists: a woman raised in Gilead, a Canadian teenager and Aunt Lydia. Wait, Aunt Lydia’s a protagonist? How?
Hulu and MGM will develop Margaret Atwood’s new novel The Testaments for the screen, the partners told TIME exclusively. Bruce Miller, showrunner for the Emmy-winning television adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, is involved in discussions about how to best approach the new material. It’s unclear at this stage what form The Testaments will take — whether it will be folded into the existing Hulu series or developed as a separate work.
Atwood, who appears on the cover of TIME this week, will release the highly anticipated follow-up to her 1985 dystopian novel on Sept. 10. The new book jumps forward in time about 15 years after the famously ambiguous end of The Handmaid’s Tale, where protagonist Offred boarded a van that would take her to an unknown fate. The first season of the Hulu series, which premiered in April 2017, stuck closely to many of the major arcs of the original novel. The finale ended with the same image of Offred facing uncertainty about her future as in the book. But as the show has continued — Hulu has picked up a fourth season — its writers have had to develop the narrative beyond Atwood’s original story.
The Testaments will help. The book is told not from the perspective of Offred, but instead from those of three other women connected to Gilead: a young woman raised in the oppressive society; a Canadian teen who learns she was actually born there; and Aunt Lydia, a major villain in both the original novel and the show. In season 3 of The Handmaid’s Tale, Lydia finally got her backstory — one that showed her grappling with romantic rejection and shame in her life before the regime took over. The new book takes an even deeper dive into her mind, one more conflicted about Gilead than it may appear on the surface.
I have a huge problem with Aunt Lydia. I get there are layers to her. In season two, when June asked her to be Nicole’s godmother, I thought she’d redeem herself, but I can no longer forgive her for anything. Her backstory made her worse in my eyes. I can’t wait to see what happens to her and that is due to Ann Dowd, who is just marvelous in everything she does, but I can’t accept Aunt Lydia as a protagonist. In that same Time article, Atwood spoke about Aunt Lydia surviving being stabbed. I’d thought it was another cheap shot the show took to inexplicably bring back a fan favorite character like they did with Emily/Alexis Bledel (I still cry over the scene when she walked into that hospital in Canada). But no, it was Atwood herself who saved Aunt Lydia. The show told her about Aunt Lydia getting stabbed and she told them, “You absolutely cannot kill Aunt Lydia, or I will have your head on a plate.” Since she was already working on her book featuring Aunt Lydia at that point, it makes sense she’d fight to spare her. Plus, I’d wear a threat from Margaret Atwood like a badge of honor. I’ll bet it’s framed in the writers room. Bryce Dallas Howard is supposed to play the former Gilead woman and Mae Whitman will play the Canadian teenager who finds out she was born in Gilead. No one will confirm if Dowd will continue as Aunt Lydia, which just means we need Atwood to issue another threat.
So, about the sequel: as I said, I didn’t know there was one in the works. I just pre-ordered it, though. This is only notable because although I love many of Atwood’s books, The Handmaids Tale was not my favorite, I don’t think I even finished it. But I’ve really gotten into the series. I guess a lot of people didn’t like last season, but I did. I completely agree that they are retelling certain stories but the twists were enough to keep me in. I very much wanted Serena to switch sides but when she confirmed who she was and then ended up getting her just desserts, I was so completely satisfied. I loved what they did with the Waterfords story in general. And then June goes all Henry V? I loved it. But yes, the show is right on the edge of going stale, I really don’t know how they will wrap it up. And as much as I am enjoying the unexpected, if I don’t get a scene of Luke’s face when Hannah actually does get off the plane, I’ll never forgive any of them. Maybe I should get Atwood to issue a threat for that too.
And before we go, I want to make sure we’ve all seen this. I’m calling it, this is our sequel:
Photo credit: WENN Photos and Instagram
The Robber Bride was such an odd and delicious book.
Can’t wait for the new book!
There’s an excerpt of the new book on the Guardian website: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/04/the-testaments-by-margaret-atwood-read-the-exclusive-first-extract
Ooph that scene when Emily is in the river with Nichole and the Canadian police come across her was so amazing. Tears even now as I type this.
Uhhh yeah I don’t see how Aunt Lydia can possibly become a protagonist after what she’s already done. Was her backstory episode supposed to make her sympathetic? She came off even more evil to me.
I haven’t read anything from this new book yet (my friend preordered it for me but it’s a bday gift so I won’t get it until October) but from what I heard it’s set 15 years later, and told from the POV of three different women, one of whom is Aunt Lydia. I am very curious to see how she’ll be “redeemed” because I am right there with you, she was an evil person.
Ann Dowd is amazing but I don’t think a redemption story for Aunt Lydia will work. She’s so far gone.
I wonder if Nichole is the Canadian teenager ?
It’s about Agnes, Nichole and Aunt Lydia!
Mae Whitman’s character has to be Nicole, right?
How is Mar Whitman playing a teen? She’s 30!!!
“Protagonist” doesn’t necessarily mean a hero or good person. It’s simply the main character of the story. I’d wager Aunt Lydia will be an anti-hero in this.
Tony Soprano and Walter White were the protagonists in their respective stories but they weren’t good or heroic.
They weren’t good or heroic, but they were sympathetic, which is a near-intrinsic element of a protagonist. Even Shakespeare was like, “hmm, if I’m going to write my Tudor propaganda in a way people will enjoy it, the supposed child-killer has to be funny and clever and get the audience cheering for him for at least the first couple of acts.”
When people say Lydia is too far gone, I’m betting what they mean is it’s hard to walk BACK from evil. All those anti-heroes — Soprano, White, Richard III — started either deeply relatable or at least ambiguous and then got darker.
I think Margaret Atwood is great – but I don’t like her books. I just can’t get into them for some reason.
I’ve been waiting for aunt Lydia to finally kick the bucket and you’re telling me she survives! She’s a horrible human being! I hope she’s rotting in jail in the future!
FYI – just read a review of the book and the names of the three women are:
Agnes – who is described as the daughter of a ‘well to do’ commander ‘on the cusp of puberty’ and being initiated into an ‘arranged’ marriage. So I am guessing this is June’s Agnes. Although the time-line does not appear to sync as in Season 3 we learned that Agnes is now 10 years old, so zipping forward 15 years would make her mid-20’s. In Gilead this means they would have married her off at least 8-10 years ago. I suspect we will be seeing a married Agnes with children.
Daisy – “Daisy lives in Canada, defying the wishes of her mysteriously anxious parents to attend an anti-Gilead protest march in Toronto.”
This could potentially be Nichole (aka Holly Osborne) I am guessing the anxious parents are Luke and Moira ? Alternatively things may have turned rough after June’s escapades so Nichole/ Holly may have been placed with new parents to protect her identity and location. This would also explain why her parents are anxious about her joining the cause against Gilead.
This next paragraph was also part of the write up:
“Then there’s Lydia, Gilead’s highest-ranking Aunt, scheming to bring down the regime from inside in a plot that will unite Agnes and Daisy by revealing to them their hidden origins.”
And this is why I believe that Nichole/ Holly is may actually be ‘Daisy’.
Will be interesting how this sequel is interpreted to screen.
The last season was terrible (in my opinion). A whole bunch of episodes where nothing happened, then one episode full of action, then a whole bunch where nothing happened, then a finale that was so full of holes it was mind blowing. (All of those kids traipsing through the forest… many of them RAISED FROM INFANCY in Gilead by their new parents… and not one of them cried that she missed her mom and wanted to go home, not one of them raised a stink about being led through the dark woods by a bunch of strangers? It made no sense.) I was especially annoyed at the scenes with Serena. After everything that woman has done, it bugs me the writers were trying so hard to make us feel sympathy for her.
So I’m looking forward to Atwood’s sequel. I’m hoping her plot is more logical than the series!
I think the Martha’s who were involved were from households where the kids likely wouldn’t have raised a stink.
I fully appreciate the critique of the last season. It was definitely slower which I suspect was due in part to the lack of source material. Paradoxically that was one of the reasons I liked it. I feel like they were setting up the sequel and next series more than anything.