5 reasons why the TV series “The Witnesses” is already different from the sequel “The Handmaid’s Tale”

A sequel to The Handmaid’s TaleHulu’s adaptation of The Testaments will definitely be different from Margaret Atwood’s book of the same name. Although Atwood The Handmaid’s Tale Novel in 1985, She only wrote a sequel to the dystopian classic in 2019 — several seasons after the Emmy-winning The Handmaid’s Tale Adaptation. As a result, The Handmaid’s Tale The show goes beyond the confines of Atwood’s book, which ends with a possibly pregnant June (Elisabeth Moss) climbing into a van, possibly headed to Canada. The Handmaid’s Tale By the end of season five, June has crossed the border several times.

As she fights to reunite her broken family and save her two daughters from Gilead, June is confronted with the harsh reality of her position as a survivor, diplomat and refugee — all things that the novel did not need to explain in detail. Other The Handmaid’s Tale Characters like Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) or Moira (Samira Wiley) have been given prominent roles in Hulu’s adaptation, which means that they may appear in The Testaments‘ narrative too. So far, only Dowd’s casting as Aunt Lydia has been confirmed by Hulu, which leaves the door wide open to The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 and the series finale.

5 Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” has already shown the moral gray areas of Aunt Lydia

Season 3 of the series dedicates an episode to Lydia’s backstory

As early as The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3, The show explored Aunt Lydia’s (Anne Dowd) ambiguous background. Before Gilead, she was a compassionate teacher – if a bit lonely and sometimes misunderstood. The series shows that Lydia was forced to do what she believed was right, even when her moral compass wasn’t quite right. Still, Dowd captures the more human element. While Atwood’s character in the The Handmaid’s Tale was cruel to the core, the author uses Aunt Lydia as a point-of-view character in The Testamentsand let the obvious Gilead loyalist tell her story.

The Hulu version of Aunt Lydia has always been complex. Like everyone else involved in Gilead’s regime, Aunt Lydia has physically, verbally, and mentally abused the handmaids placed in her “care.” By being so committed to the handmaid system, Aunt Lydia is helping those who sexually harass women. There’s no getting around that, no matter what the character’s backstory is. In the series Lydia has made herself an acolyte of Gilead with all her mightdespite some signs of compassion. Still, it is hard to imagine that Hulu’s version of The Testaments adapt their story faithfully.

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Atwood reveals that Aunt Lydia actually despises Gilead and that she has been playing some sort of long-term game for some time. Ultimately, Aunt Lydia is a very embedded Mayday agent and supports the rebel cause in The Testaments. At this point, it’s hard to imagine Lydia on the show having these tendencies. It’s possible that her experiences – and the time she spent with Janine (Madeline Brewer) – will turn Aunt Lydia against Gilead Before The Handmaid’s Tale ends and prepares her Mayday story in The Testaments.

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 series tells the story of a young handmaid who must contend with a new totalitarian government that oppresses women in this dark societal turn.

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OT Fagbenle, Joseph Fiennes, Alexis Bledel, Elisabeth Moss, Amanda Brugel, Bradley Whitford, Max Minghella, Ann Dowd, Samira Wiley, Madeline Brewer, Yvonne Strahovski

Release date

26 April 2017

Seasons

5

Streaming service(s)

Hulu

Authors

Bruce Miller, Margaret Atwood

Showrunner

Bruce Miller

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4 Hanna tells the Testaments of Gilead

June’s daughter is secretly one of the main characters in the sequel

In The TestamentsHannah (Jordana Blake), June and Luke’s (OT Fagbenle) daughter, is one of the book’s three narrators. However, she calls herself Agnes Jemima and still lives with her adoptive parents, Commander Kyle and his wife Tabitha, within the borders of Gilead. In the Hulu show Hannah is adopted by Commander MacKenzie and his wife and named “Agnes”. So there are certainly similarities. However, in the book version, Hannah/Agnes cannot remember her biological parents – she only has a vague memory of running through the forest with a woman as a small child.

Of course, Hulu’s version of the character was also sufficiently indoctrinated by Gilead. it doesn’t seem like Hannah remembers June or their life together before Gilead’s war. Although there are some groundbreaking moments later in The Handmaid’s TaleHannah still lives with the MacKenzie family. Much of June’s story revolves around trying to reunite her broken family, and that includes rescuing Hannah from Gilead. That seems to be the plan for the sixth and final season of the show. Whatever happens will no doubt TheWills’ Characters and stories drastically.

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3 Nicole’s story will have to be changed in the will

Unless June and Luke die, Nicole will probably know who she is

Nicole (written Nichole in the Hulu series) has already become something of a symbol in The Handmaid’s Tale. As the baby of a handmaid in Gilead, Nicole was brought across the border to Canada as a refugee and quickly became a puppet in the US’s struggle for diplomatic relations with Gilead. More than that, Nicole became a kind of puppet in Serena Joy’s and June’s The Handmaid’s Tale Action. For now, Nicole is safe in Canada with June, Luke and Moirabut it is difficult to say whether this security will last.

In The TestamentsThe third character from the author’s perspective is Daisy, a young woman who lives with her adoptive parents in Toronto. On Daisy’s sixteenth birthday, her parents are killed and it is revealed that They were Mayday agents tasked with protecting her – because Daisy is actually Nicole. This revelation drives Nicole’s entire narrative, which in turn affects the story of her half-sister Hannah/Agnes. Luke and June are both characters who could die in The Handmaid’s Talelast season, although the latter seems a little less likely. If that’s the case, Nicole could still become a ward of Mayday.

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The identities of Hannah/Agnes and Daisy/Nicole remain unclear

Although The Testaments strongly suggests that Hannah/Agnes and Nicole/Daisy are June’s daughters, but never directly confirms anything. That’s how Atwood wanted it. Both teens learn that their mother was a Handmaid, but otherwise it remains vague. Of course, Hulu’s shows can’t achieve the same. For Atwood, it was important that readers could form their own opinion about the situation: The connections to Offred are there if readers want them, but The anonymity also underlines that the stories of Hannah, Nicole and June are the stories of so many women influenced by Gilead.

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“The Testaments” poses a major challenge to Serena Joy’s story in season 6 of “The Handmaid’s Tale”

As for Serena Joy’s story in the final season of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood’s sequel Testaments raises some problems.

1 June’s story in the wills could herald a tragic ending to “The Handmaid’s Tale”

It is possible that June will have no family at all

In Atwood’s sequel June ends up working for Mayday and watches her alleged daughters from afar. If that happens in the adaptations, Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale The series finale is much darker – and more tragic – than expected. Separating June from her children seems to be the only way for The Handmaid’s Tale to successfully build the storylines in The Testaments. While that would be an immensely harrowing conclusion to June’s six-season struggle, it certainly gives the sequel series plenty to dive into, and June remains alive when the credits roll.

The Testaments

Based on the book series of the same name by Margaret Atwood, The Testaments is a drama thriller series set fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale. The series takes viewers back to the heart of Gilead, where a reckoning is looming for the founders.

Pour

Ann Dowd

Seasons

1

Authors

Margaret Atwood

Showrunner

Bruce Miller

Creator

Bruce Miller

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