The Testaments is confirmed to be in the early stages of production, but it may already be too late to save it from some of the troubles brewing around The Handmaid’s Tale. The Testaments is a spin-off sequel to the Hulu show based on the Margaret Atwood dystopian novel where women are reduced to merely a means of childbirth in a future totalitarian government. Bruce Miller, the longtime showrunner for The Handmaid’s Tale, is expected to develop the spin-off series.
The Testaments timeline takes place several years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale and follows the perspective of several women who remained in Gilead long after June’s escape from the Waterfords. While the entire cast of The Testaments has not been revealed, Ann Dowd (Aunt Lydia) is one of the few confirmed stars, but several characters from The Handmaid’s Tale are expected to have a role in The Testaments. Whether or not those familiar faces are enough to save The Testaments remains to be seen, because problems with The Handmaid’s Tale are putting the sequel in a rough spot.
The Handmaid’s Tale Has Already Gone On Too Long (& Declined A Lot)
The Handmaid’s Tale season 1 debuted almost seven years ago, in April 2017. It had a consistent run of five seasons in six years, as the show ran on a schedule of one season per year except when it was shut down during COVID-19. However, there will be a long gap between The Handmaid’s Tale season 5 and season 6, and the show’s audience is getting increasingly impatient that a television series based on a single book will take six seasons and more than seven years to complete.
In addition to the length of time The Handmaid’s Tale has been streaming, a major criticism of the show is that the quality of the plot and the script has declined precipitously since June escaped from Gilead at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale season 3. Since that time, there has been uneven storytelling centered around June and her husband, Luke (O-T Fagbenle), trying to fight the spread of the authoritarian country and find their daughter while residing in Canada. The best part of the show was the tension between June, Serena, and Commander Waterford, and that has been missing for two seasons.
The Testaments Is Seemingly Still A Long Way Off – So Will Enough People Care?
Recent updates about The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 have revealed that the production, which was slated to begin in 2023, was delayed for a number of months because of the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The current plan now is for production to begin in the summer of 2024. That would mean that The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 will not appear on Hulu until somewhere around summer 2025. Recent updates suggest that The Testaments will also appear at some point in 2025.
By the time The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 airs, it will have been almost three years since season 5 debuted, a huge amount of time even in an era of prestige television that can often see one to two years in between seasons. With many other shows all slated to return in 2025 such as Stranger Things, Wednesday, The Last of Us, White Lotus, Silo, and Severance, will enough people tune in to The Handmaid’s Tale to make a sequel series justified? For as strong as the first two seasons of the show were, it has declined in viewership and may be out of the pop-culture consciousness by 2025.
The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 Could Still Save The Testaments
One hope that The Testaments has as the production ramps up is that The Handmaid’s Tale concludes with a truly captivating story that brings all the former fans of the show rushing back to see the final outcome of June, Luke, Serena, and the rest of the extended Gilead universe. With three years in between seasons, the writers and showrunners have had ample time to craft a story that would give The Handmaid’s Tale season 5 cliffhanger and the rest of the story the fitting ending it deserves.
If they succeed with an iconic and fitting ending, there will certainly be more appetite for the world of Gilead and The Handmaid’s Tale ending could sufficiently set up The Testaments. With some of the original characters, such as Aunt Lydia, already scheduled to return for The Testaments, capturing the attention of the faithful The Handmaid’s Tale fans will be essential. As things stand right now, however, there are already many factors causing The Testaments to suffer, even before the first script is developed or the first scene is shot.
The Handmaid’s Tale
The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian television series based on the 1985 novel by author Margaret Atwood. The series was created by Bruce Miller and stars Elisabeth Moss, Joseph Fiennes, and Yvonne Strahovski. The show follows the story of a young handmaid as she is forced to deal with a new totalitarian government that subjugates women in this dark societal twist.
- Release Date
- April 26, 2017
- Cast
- O-T Fagbenle , Joseph Fiennes , Alexis Bledel , Elisabeth Moss , Amanda Brugel , Bradley Whitford , Max Minghella , Ann Dowd , Samira Wiley , Madeline Brewer , Yvonne Strahovski
- Seasons
- 5
- Streaming Service(s)
- Hulu
- Showrunner
- Bruce Miller
