The Testaments is heading back to Gilead starting April 8.
Hulu’s highly anticipated sequel series to The Handmaid’s Tale had previously revealed it would launch in April, and has now has set a premiere date. The new chapter from the showrunner and executive producers of The Handmaid’s Tale premieres with three episodes, followed by a weekly release.
The Hulu original series will be available on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers in the U.S., and on Disney+ internationally.
The series returns The Handmaid’s Tale star Ann Dowd to the role of Aunt Lydia and introduces new characters led by Chase Infiniti, who steps into the role of Agnes/Hannah — the daughter to June Osborne, who was played by Elisabeth Moss in The Handmaid’s Tale. Lucy Halliday, Rowan Blanchard, Mattea Conforti, Isolde Ardies, Shechinah Mpumlwana and Birva Pandya round out the cast.
While Moss has not been confirmed among the cast, her June Osborne will be present over The Testaments given how The Handmaid’s Tale ended. The Testaments centers on the young girls in Gilead who are training to be wives. The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments author Atwood and show creator Bruce Miller had explained in The Hollywood Reporter‘s oral history on The Handmaid’s Tale how Atwood’s sequel novel helped set the show’s ending on a different course.
Here’s the official logline: “An evolution of The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments is based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name and is a dramatic coming-of-age story set in Gilead. The series follows young teens Agnes, dutiful and pious, and Daisy, a new arrival and convert from beyond Gilead’s borders. As they navigate the gilded halls of Aunt Lydia’s elite preparatory school for future wives, a place where obedience is instilled brutally and always with divine justification, their bond becomes the catalyst that will upend their past, their present, and their future.”
The Testaments is produced by MGM Television and created for television by showrunner/executive producer Miller, who created The Handmaid’s Tale and was showrunner for the first five seasons. He remained an executive producer for the final season while shifting gears to work on The Testaments. He also wrote the series finale, which was directed by Moss. The final scene brought to series full-circle with an ending Miller had always envisioned, where June ends the series speaking the words that opened the show.
The sequel series is executive produced by Warren Littlefield, The Handmaid’s Tale star/executive producer/director Moss, Steve Stark, Shana Stein, Maya Goldsmith, John Weber, Sheila Hockin, Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears and Mike Barker, who will also direct the first three episodes.
