‘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 a minimum of know who survived to proceed the combat towards Gilead—or in some circumstances, 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—primarily based 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 function as Aunt Lydia.

A brand new Hollywood Reporter piece that includes interviews with Atwood, Bruce Miller (who created each exhibits), and govt 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 certainly one of The Testaments‘ important characters is June’s long-lost daughter Hannah, renamed Agnes after being kidnapped and raised inside Gilead society.

“She threw herself again and he or she couldn’t stroll away from her daughter, so June remains to be doing her job,” Miller mentioned, 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 mentioned the one character he’s completely sure will not return in The Testaments is Yvonne Strahovski’s Serena.)

Nonetheless, it appears like The Testaments will widen the lens of that one household’s story. “The fantastic thing about having watched Handmaid’s Story is that you simply perceive there’s this large 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’d like to see her. However let’s broaden into how the individuals who survive are rebelling in all these totally different areas. It seems 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 govt producer on The Testaments—can have an on-camera function. “If you happen to’re an underground resistance fighter, you’re underground—that’s the level. No person is aware of the place you might be,” the creator mentioned. “As a result of in the event that they do, you’re going to be lifeless. June is all the time 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 similar to the unique sequence did. For 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 recent and totally different to what’s come earlier than. “Aunt Lydia is absolutely our solely persevering with character. Aunt Lydia has a faculty for women to arrange them for womanhood and life in a Gilead world. What’s so fascinating is that these younger ladies have by no means recognized a world that’s not a Gilead world. That’s utterly totally different from our June viewpoint that all the time was our rudder for The Handmaid’s Story. They’re additionally youngsters. So there’s a rebelliousness—there’s angle about the whole lot.”

There’s no launch date but for The Testaments, however subsequent 12 months appears like a superb guess. Will you be making the journey again to Gilead when it premieres?

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