Barely halfway through the second season of The Handmaid's Tale, Hulu has already renewed the Emmy-winning show for a third season, presumably to premiere in 2019.
That's right — Hulu is taking us back to Gilead, making the announcement after last week's Season 2 premiere doubled its audience compared with the first season's.
The Handmaid's Tale Returning For Season 3
The renewal comes as no surprise. During its first season, The Handmaid's Tale became one of the most talked about shows in existence, in huge part because of its funhouse mirror approach to how women's rights crumble in the face of a totalitarian regime. The show is based on Margaret Atwood's highly controversial 1985 book of the same name, and though it was released decades ago, many pundits saw parallelisms of Atwood's bleak picture of America with Donald Trump's presidency.
The first season nabbed the Outstanding Drama Series award at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, becoming the first show from a streaming service to do so. It also took home other major awards: best actress for Elisabeth Moss, who plays June/Offred; best supporting actress for Ann Dowd, who plays Aunt Lydia; and best writing in a drama series for creator Bruce Miller, among others. The series also received a 2018 Peabody Award, on top of Golden Globe trophies.
The Handmaid's Tale follows the story of life in Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly part of the United States. As a result of depleting childbirth rates, fertile women are forced to become Handmaids to infertile couples, where they are ritually raped and prevented from exercising their common rights as human beings. Gilead essentially treats fertile women as cattle, and those who revolt or go against the commands of their owners face extreme consequences.
The first season largely followed events depicted in the book, but the second season has started exploring storylines and locations not originally included in the source material. Atwood serves as a consulting producer on the show, keeping close tabs on story material along with modern elements introduced in the narrative.
10 Seasons Of 'The Handmaid's Tale'
Given that the show's sophomore season just kicked off late April, it's hard to determine where Miller plans to go story-wise, as Season 2 already deviates from the book to a great extent. However, he has said that while working on the show, he envisioned it to go as long as 10 seasons.
The Handmaid's Tale is now streaming on Hulu.
