[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments novel.]
It’s been a very long time since there’s been a peep about The Testaments, a derivative sequence of Hulu‘s The Handmaid’s Story, however the sequence has formally locked in its three stars.
As beforehand introduced, Ann Dowd will reprise her function as Aunt Lydia within the spinoff. She’s joined by Presumed Harmless‘s Chase Infiniti (above, left) as Agnes (aka grown-up Hannah, daughter of June and Luke) and Lucy Halliday (above, proper) as Daisy, per Selection. Lydia, Agnes, and Daisy are the principle protagonists of the Margaret Atwood novel of the identical title on which the sequence is predicated. The spinoff sequence has been in growth since 2022 and can debut after the ultimate season of The Handmaid’s Story, premiering in April.
Right here’s all the things there’s to know concerning the upcoming spinoff after the March 3 casting announcement.
What’s The Testaments about?
Sophie Giraud / Hulu / Everett Assortment
The Testaments takes place 15 years after the occasions of The Handmaid’s Story and tracks the lives of Lydia, Agnes, and Daisy by way of alternating POVs. All three are questioning their relationships to Gilead. The sequence is created and showrun by Bruce Miller.
Viewers already know Lydia and Agnes. Daisy is a younger Canadian teen whose life is modified ceaselessly when she learns her connection to the Republic of Gilead.
Atwood’s The Testaments novel was revealed in 2019 and is the official sequel to the unique e book revealed in 1985. In it, the three predominant characters recount what occurred after the ultimate moments of the primary e book, when June Osborne was taken by The Eyes (this happened on the finish of The Handmaid’s Story Season 1, and all plot since has been created by the present for the present). The destiny of Gilead after that second is revealed within the sequel.
The Testaments being set 15 years after the top of Season 1 permits The Handmaid’s Story‘s present plot to exist in that point between. The ultimate season will possible arrange the spinoff, and it already began laying the inspiration in Season 5. With Aunt Lydia as a predominant character, a part of that work is already completed.
Aunt Lydia has a stunning growth in The Testaments, one which aligns together with her waning assist of Gilead proven in Season 5 of the Hulu sequence.
Miller stepped down from his function on the Emmy-winning drama to refocus his efforts on The Testaments. This was introduced in March 2023 in Selection. He had served as showrunner for each season prior.
Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang, who have been writers and government producers on earlier seasons of The Handmaid’s Story, have taken over from Miller as co-showrunners for the sixth and ultimate season, which is at present in manufacturing. Miller remains to be engaged on Handmaid’s as a author and government producer, he’s simply now not steering the ship.
When does The Testaments come out?
The Handmaid’s Story‘s ultimate season premieres on April 8, and The Testaments received’t come out till after its predecessor has launched its ultimate episode. A Testaments launch date has not but been introduced, so it’s unknown as of the time of publication if it would premiere in 2025, however it’s unlikely.
Who’s in The Testaments forged?
Dowd, Infiniti, and Halliday are the one forged introduced up to now. Infiniti was most just lately seen in Apple TV+‘s Presumed Harmless, her first main function. Halliday is a newcomer as nicely. Her characteristic movie debut was in 2022’s Blue Jean, for which she received a Scottish BAFTA Award for lead actress. She was additionally nominated for a British Unbiased Movie Awards in 2022 for that efficiency. Halliday just lately wrapped filming on James McAvoy’s California Schemin’.
Agnes is the title given to June and Luke’s daughter, Hannah, after she’s kidnapped by Gilead and brought in by a commander and his spouse. Hannah is performed by Jordana Blake within the unique Hulu sequence. Child Nichole from The Handmaid’s Story, June and Nick’s daughter, is a personality in The Testaments. Her smuggling out of Gilead and into Canada makes her a martyr-like determine for Gilead.
After studying surprising particulars about her life, Daisy sneaks into Gilead utilizing the title Jade to try to collect intel that would convey down Gilead for good. Agnes, in the meantime, trains to change into an aunt (Aunt Victoria) after she’s horrified to be taught of Gilead’s customs that may see her married off to a commander at a younger age. She will get concerned with Mayday, the group working to convey down Gilead, and meets Daisy within the course of.
Infiniti’s casting as Agnes confirms that The Testaments is doing a time bounce. And with heavy supply materials comparable to this dystopian novel, it’s for the very best that children aren’t taking up these roles.
What has Ann Dowd mentioned about The Testaments?
George Kraychyk / Hulu
After Aunt Lydia’s loyalty to Gilead began to fade in Season 5, which resulted in 2022, Dowd confirmed that the season planted the seeds for her function in The Testaments and that Aunt Lydia’s “blinders are coming down.”
“The dialog actually occurs over time. Which means, there’s a basic dialogue, as a result of we’re headed towards The Testaments,” Dowd instructed Leisure Weekly. “So we all know that in some way Lydia goes to start to see the sunshine and start to understand what’s truly occurring, versus what she thought was occurring with the commanders and in addition what she may bear to really see with out blinders, if you’ll.”
She added: “First off, writers are sensible, I do know nothing about the way it will proceed, besides that it will. I’ve completed the audiobook of The Testaments. So I’m aware of it. It’s brilliantly written, as is all the things Margaret Atwood does — it’s fairly extraordinary. To talk broadly, she’s transferring into way more consciousness of her personal complicitness, if that may be a phrase, and really what’s occurring beneath the entire faux stuff at Gilead. Faux which means, what commanders say is happening, what the values of Gilead are presupposed to be, however aren’t. The blinders are coming down, the partitions are coming down. She’s a really sensible girl, she is aware of males have the facility in the intervening time. And so what she must do is be alert, conscious, hold monitor, and hold it hidden. And simply to make her strikes slowly. She has large endurance. It’s only a great development into herself, and in addition into what she desires to now do with what she is aware of. And I discover her very inspiring as time goes on.”
Is June Osborne in The Testaments?
June, Nick, and Luke are all talked about in The Testaments, however we received’t reveal what occurs with them right here in order to not spoil the e book’s ending. It’s narratively attainable that Elisabeth Moss, Max Minghella, and O-T Fagbenle may seem in The Testaments, supplied their characters aren’t killed off in The Handmaid’s Story‘s ultimate season. Even then, nevertheless, flashbacks are at all times attainable.
Keep tuned right here as we proceed to report the newest on The Testaments.
The Handmaid’s Story, Season 6 Premiere, Tuesday, April 8, Hulu
The Testaments, Sequence Premiere TBA, Hulu