The Handmaid's Tale

Plot

In a world where fertility rates have collapsed as a result of sexually transmitted diseases and environmental pollution, the totalitarian, theonomic Republic of Gilead has established its rule in the former United States in the aftermath of a civil war. Society is organized by power-hungry leaders along with a new, militarized, hierarchical theonomy and newly created social classes, in which women are brutally subjugated. By law, women in Gilead are forced to work in severely limited roles, including some as natal slaves, and they are not allowed to own property, have careers, handle money, or even read and write (apart from the Aunts).

Worldwide infertility has led to the enslavement of fertile women in Gilead determined by the new regime to be fallen women, citing an extremist interpretation of the Biblical account of Bilhah. These women often include those who have entered marriages following divorce (termed "adulteresses", as divorce is not recognized under Gileadian law), single or unmarried mothers, lesbians (homosexuals being termed "gender traitors"), non-Christians, adherents of Christian denominations other than the "Sons of Jacob", political dissidents, and academics.

These women, called Handmaids, are assigned to the homes of the ruling elite, where they must submit to ritualized rape (referred to as "the ceremony") by their male masters ("Commanders") in the presence of their wives with the intent of being impregnated and bearing children for them. Handmaids are given names created by the addition of the prefix Of- to the first name of the man who has them. When they are transferred, their names are changed.

Along with the Handmaids, much of society is now grouped into classes that dictate their freedoms and duties. Women are divided into a small range of social categories, each one signified by a plain dress in a specific color. A Handmaid’s outfit consists of a long red dress, a red cloak, heavy brown boots, and a white coif, with a larger white bonnet (known as "wings") to be worn outside, which conceals her from the public view and restricts her vision.

June Osborne, renamed Offred, is the Handmaid assigned to the home of the Gileadan Commander Fred Waterford and his wife Serena Joy, key players in the formation and rise of Gilead, who struggle with the realities of the society they helped create. During "the time before", June was married to Luke and had a daughter, Hannah.

Cast and characters

Main

Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne / Offred / Ofjoseph #2, a woman who was captured while attempting to escape to Canada with her husband, Luke, and daughter, Hannah. Because Luke is divorced, their union is considered adulterous in this new society. June is considered an adulteress and their daughter, Hannah, is deemed illegitimate. Due to June's fertility, she is made a Handmaid to Commander Fred Waterford and his wife Serena Joy, and is called "Offred"; later she becomes handmaid to Commander Joseph Lawrence and is called "Ofjoseph".

Joseph Fiennes as Commander Fred Waterford (seasons 1–4), a high-ranking government official, and June's first master. Both he and his wife were instrumental in Gilead's founding.

Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy Waterford, Fred's wife, and a former conservative cultural activist and author. She appears to have accepted her new role in a society that she helped create. She is poised and deeply religious, but capable of great cruelty and is often callous to June. She is desperate to become a mother.

Alexis Bledel as Dr. Emily Malek / Ofglen #1 / Ofsteven / Ofroy / Ofjoseph #1 (seasons 1–4, guest season 6), a former university professor in cellular biology and initially June's shopping partner. Although June is initially wary of her, it is revealed she is not as pious as she seems, and the two become friends. Emily is involved with and first informs June of Mayday, an underground resistance movement. She has a wife and son living in Canada.

Madeline Brewer as Janine Lindo / Ofwarren / Ofdaniel / Ofhoward / Ofjoseph / Ofpaul #3, a Handmaid who entered the Red Center for training at the same time as June, and considers June a friend due to her kind treatment. Initially non-compliant, Janine has her right eye removed as a punishment. She becomes mentally unstable due to her treatment and often behaves in temperamental or childlike ways. Before Gilead, Janine was a waitress and had a son, Caleb, who unbeknownst to her was killed in a car crash after the takeover.

Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia Clements, a woman in charge of overseeing the Handmaids in their sexual re-education and duties. She is brutal and subjects insubordinate Handmaids to sadistic physical punishment, but she also cares for her charges and believes deeply in the Gileadean mission and doctrine. She appears to have a soft spot for Janine and even goes so far as to address her by her given name on occasion. Before Gilead, she was a family court judge, and afterwards, an elementary school teacher.

Recurring

Jordana Blake as Hannah Bankole, June and Luke's daughter. After being taken, she is given a new family and renamed Agnes MacKenzie.

Stephen Kunken as Commander Warren Putnam (seasons 1–5), a High Commander and the first known Commander of Janine.

Tattiawna Jones as Lillie Fuller / Ofglen #2 (seasons 1–2), who replaces Emily in the position after Emily is captured by the Eyes. She warns June away from breaking the rules and does not wish to upset the status quo, but this is because she believes her life as a Handmaid is better than the difficult, impoverished life she led prior to Gilead, rather than out of religious piety.

Nina Kiri as Alma / Ofrobert (seasons 1–4, guest seasons 5–6), another Handmaid who trained at the Red Center with June, Moira, and Janine. She is frank and chatty and often trades gossip and news with June. She is also involved with Mayday and becomes one of June's first contacts with the resistance group.

Bahia Watson as Brianna / Oferic (seasons 1–4, guest seasons 5–6), another local Handmaid who is friends with June. She is Dolores's shopping partner.

Jenessa Grant as Dolores / Ofsamuel (seasons 1–2, guest season 3), a local Handmaid with a friendly and talkative nature. She is Brianna's shopping partner.

Edie Inksetter as Aunt Elizabeth, a fellow Aunt who works closely with Aunt Lydia at the Red Center.

Robert Curtis Brown as Commander Andrew Pryce (seasons 1–2), a Commander who is one of the leading members of the Sons of Jacob and is in charge of the Eyes.

Kristen Gutoskie as Beth (seasons 1 and 3, guest season 4), an award-winning chef before the rise of Gilead, formerly a Martha at Jezebel's, and later a Martha in the Lawrence household.

Guest

Jim Cummings as Burke (season 1), an Eye who interrogates June in the Waterford home.

Zabryna Guevara as Mrs. Castillo (season 1), an ambassador from Mexico who visits Gilead to see the effectiveness of the regime.

Christian Barillas as Mr. Flores (season 1), Mrs. Castillo's assistant.

Rosa Gilmore as Zoe (season 1), the daughter of a US army soldier and the leader of the group of survivors whom Luke encounters after being separated from June and Hannah.

Tim Ransom as Mr. Whitford (season 1), a friend of June's mother who helps June, Luke, and Hannah attempt to cross the border.

Marisa Tomei as Mrs. O'Conner (season 2), a Commander's wife who is exiled to the Colonies as punishment for committing a sin of the flesh.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Omar (season 2), a man who helps June attempt to escape Gilead.

John Carroll Lynch as Dan (season 2), Emily's boss at the university where she worked.

Kelly Jenrette as Annie (season 2), Luke's ex-wife.

Rebecca Rittenhouse as Odette (season 2), a doctor, and Moira's deceased fiancée.

Laila Robins as Pamela Joy (season 3), Serena's mother.

Deidrie Henry as Lori (seasons 3–4), a Martha who Nick uses for intel in Gilead.

Sarah McVie as Lena (season 3), a Swiss diplomat negotiating the hostile conflict between Gilead and Canada over Nichole.

Production

Development of The Handmaid's Tale began with Ilene Chaiken at Showtime, but the network passed on the pilot, and Chaiken was hired as showrunner for Empire. MGM's Steve Stark was determined to find a female writer, but after difficulty he hired Bruce Miller for his enthusiasm. The strength of the script attracted star Elisabeth Moss and executive producer Warren Littlefield, who together created a straight-to-series order from Hulu, which was announced in April 2016. Based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood, the series was created by Bruce Miller, who is also an executive producer with Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, and Warren Littlefield. Atwood serves as consulting producer, giving feedback on some of the areas where the series expands upon or modernizes the book. She also played a small cameo role in the first episode. Moss is also a producer.

In June 2016, Reed Morano was announced as director of the series. Samira Wiley, Max Minghella, and Ann Dowd joined the cast in July 2016. Joseph Fiennes, Madeline Brewer, and Yvonne Strahovski were cast in August 2016, followed by O-T Fagbenle and Amanda Brugel in September 2016. In October 2016, Ever Carradine joined the cast, and Alexis Bledel was added in January 2017. Filming on the series took place in Toronto, Mississauga, Brantford, Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville, and Cambridge, Ontario, from September 2016 to February 2017. Hulu released the first full trailer of the TV series on YouTube, on March 23, 2017. The series premiered on April 26, 2017.

On May 3, 2017, The Handmaid's Tale was renewed for a second season which premiered on April 25, 2018. Moss told the news media that the subsequent episodes would cover further developments in the story, filling in some of the unanswered questions and continuing the narrative already "finished" in the book. The second season consists of 13 episodes and began filming in the fall of 2017. Alexis Bledel returned as a series regular. Showrunner Bruce Miller stated that he envisioned 10 seasons of the show, stating, "Well, you know, honestly, when I started, I tried to game out in my head what would ten seasons be like? If you hit a home run, you want energy to go around the bases, you want enough story to keep going, if you can hook the audience to care about these people enough that they're actually crying at the finale." Season 2 was filmed in Ontario, primarily in Toronto, but some scenes were shot in Hamilton and Cambridge.

On May 2, 2018, Hulu renewed the series for a third season, which premiered on June 5, 2019. Season 3 started production in Toronto in October 2018. Scenes for season 3 were also filmed in Cambridge and Hamilton, Ontario as well as in Washington, D.C. Season 3 saw the show's long-serving Director of Photography, Colin Watkinson, make his directorial debut with the episode "Unknown Caller". Cambridge, Ontario was nominated by the Location Managers Guild International for "Outstanding Film Office" for their work on this season. This was the first time that a Canadian Film Office was nominated for this honor.

Broadcast and release

The first three episodes of the series premiered on April 26, 2017. The subsequent seven episodes were released on a weekly basis. In Canada, the series is broadcast weekly by CTV Drama Channel and the streaming service Crave; the first two episodes premiered on April 30, 2017. In Scandinavia, the series is available on HBO Nordic. In the United Kingdom, the series premiered on May 28, 2017, on Channel 4.

In New Zealand, the series was released on the subscription video on demand service Lightbox on June 8, 2017. After satellite service provider Sky acquired Lightbox and merged it into its streaming service Neon on July 7, 2020, Neon acquired the distribution rights to the series in New Zealand.

In Australia, the series premiered on the TV channel SBS's video streaming service SBS on Demand, on July 6, 2017. The series also released on the subscription video on demand service Stan on December 12, 2018.

In Ireland, the series premiered on February 5, 2018, on RTÉ2, with a showing of the first two episodes. RTÉ also became the first broadcaster in Europe to debut Season 2, Season 3 and Season 4 following its broadcast in the US and Canada. In Brazil and Latin America, the series premiered on March 7, 2018, on Paramount Channel.

In India, the series premiered on February 5, 2018, on AXN and ran for the first two seasons before moving to Amazon Prime Video for Season 3, which made all three seasons available for viewing on January 31, 2020.

In Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, the series premiered on September 15, 2018, on HBO Asia through HBO Go (now HBO Max).

The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 13, 2018, the second season on December 4, 2018, and the third season on November 19, 2019, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The fourth season was released on DVD only (no Blu-ray) on April 5, 2022, by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

Reception

Critical response

The Handmaid's Tale was ranked as the 25th and 38th best TV series of the 21st century by The Guardian and BBC, respectively. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the overall series has an approval rating of 83%. While on Metacritic, another aggregator website, it has an average score of 80 out of 100.

On Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 260 reviews are positive for the first season. The site's critical consensus reads: "Haunting and vivid, The Handmaid's Tale is an endlessly engrossing adaptation of Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel that's anchored by a terrific central performance from Elisabeth Moss." On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 92 out of 100 based on 41 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter called it "probably the spring's best new show". Jen Chaney of Vulture gave it a highly positive review, and wrote that it is "A faithful adaptation of the book that also brings new layers to Atwood's totalitarian, sexist world of forced surrogate motherhood" and that "this series is meticulously paced, brutal, visually stunning, and so suspenseful from moment to moment that only at the end of each hour will you feel fully at liberty to exhale".

On Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 339 critics have given the season a positive review. The site's critical consensus reads: "Beautifully shot but dishearteningly relevant, The Handmaid's Tale centers its sophomore season tightly around its compelling cast of characters, making room for broader social commentary through more intimate lenses." Metacritic assigned the season a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Some critics perceived the second season's depictions of violence as excessive. The Atlantic's Sophie Gilbert wrote: "There came a point during the first episode where, for me, it became too much." Lisa Miller of The Cut wrote: "I have pressed mute and fast forward so often this season, I am forced to wonder: 'Why am I watching this'? It all feels so gratuitous, like a beating that never ends." The Daily Telegraph's Rebecca Reid admitted she had an anxiety attack watching an episode of the show.

For the third season, Rotten Tomatoes reports that 82% of 301 reviews are positive. The site's critical consensus reads: "The Handmaid's Tale's third season reins in its horrors and inspires hope that revolution really is possible – if only the story would stop spinning its wheels and get to it already." Metacritic compiled 14 critic reviews and an average score of 68 out of 100, signifying "generally favorable reviews".

Political response

There was much debate on whether parallels could be drawn between the series (and by extension, the book on which it is based) and American society during the first presidency of Donald Trump. Comparisons were also made to the practices implemented by the Islamic State, such as throwing homosexuals from rooftops, as well as the policies of the Christian reconstructionist movement of the 1970s and 1980s that sought to expel women from the workforce.

Several protests around the world, especially related to women's rights, have made use of the red handmaid uniforms from the TV series.

In 2018, online retailer Yandy.com sparked controversy by marketing a sexualized version of the handmaid costume for Halloween. The retailer subsequently pulled the costume in response to widespread criticism.

Awards

In 2017, The Handmaid's Tale made history as the first streaming series to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. However, in 2021, despite receiving 21 nominations, it did not secure any wins, setting a record for Emmy losses.