The Handmaid’s Tale may have concluded with an explosive finale earlier this year, but Gilead endures in the new sequel series The Testaments. At Hulu‘s panel at CCXP in Brazil, the streamer revealed some first-look images at the next generation…and of returning character Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd). The series is set to premiere in April 2026 on Hulu.
What Is Gilead?
Created by Canadian author Margaret Atwood in the 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Gilead is a theocratic military dictatorship that has taken the place of the United States of America in a near-future world where pollution and radiation have rendered much of the population infertile. Women are forbidden from owning property or learning to read and write; for many, the only way to advance in society is to become a Handmaid, a woman duty-bound to bear children for society’s elite. The Handmaid’s Tale follows one such woman, Offred, who becomes entangled with her Commander and his resentful wife; it was adapted as a film in 1990 with Natasha Richardson as Offred, and for television in 2017 with Elisabeth Moss. Atwood further explored the world of Gilead in a 2019 sequel novel, The Testaments, which is set fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale.
The Testaments will be showrun and executive produced by The Handmaid’s Tale‘s Bruce Miller. It is executive produced by Moss, Warren Littlefield, Steve Stark, Shana Stein, Maya Goldsmith, John Weber, Sheila Hockin, Daniel Wilson, and Fran Sears. Mike Barker (Malice) directed the first three episodes, and will also executive produce.
The Testaments will premiere on Hulu in April 2026.
via Collider