The When, Where, and How of The Handmaid’s Tale season 5 launch?
After wrapping up its fourth season that answered long-standing questions and created new ones, Hulu’s dystopian television series, The Handmaid’s Tale, is less than two weeks away from its season 5 premiere!
Streaming exclusively on Hulu, the first two episodes will release on September 14. After the premiere, there will be a weekly episode rollout each Wednesday. If the anticipation of waiting is too much to bear, alleviate the anxiety with these projects also based on novels!
How faithful has The Handmaid’s Tale been to Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel?
While season 1 closely followed the original source material, It was not long before the series explored unwritten territories. With the original text clocking in at 300 pages, show-runner Bruce Miller has done a fantastic job of emulating the original tone and direction.
The novel closely follows June Osborne, her husband, and their daughter as they attempt to escape a dystopian New England. In a society where adultery, divorce, and liberties surrounding women are now a crime, fleeing Gilead was their only option. It’s never that easy, though, is it? A new police force eventually stops June and her family; all three are separated.
It’s a bleak future where women are having trouble conceiving children, and June is one of the few remaining fertile women. As a result, women like June are forced to become handmaids and bear children for commanding officers whose wives cannot.
While the novel and show have plot differences throughout, the novel ends with much of the same ambiguity that season 1 does. June, only referred to as Offred in the novel, is given the opportunity to escape Gilead through Nick’s (Max Minghella) aid. Even the book leaves Nick’s alliance with the Eye or Mayday a mystery.
What did last season’s finale set up?
READER BEWARE! Spoilers ahead if you have not caught up!
At the end of season 4, June (Elisabeth Moss) and a few fellow handmaids finally inflict revenge on Commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes). It was a moment of brutality and grittiness worthy of four seasons of buildup. Yet, even in his final moments, Fred vehemently refused to call June by her birth name.
Coming full circle, Fred is chased through the woods by the women who were once chased in a similar manner by forces Fred Waterford helped set up. One by one, each handmaid takes action in the fatal beating. June joins in shortly after cracking a slight smirk, full of relief and release.
You reap what you sow!
Season 4 heavily explored Fred’s actions finally catching up to him. Through Hulu’s official description, it seems June’s turn on the hot seat now. What happens now in the wake of the murder of a high-ranking Gilead officer? Will Canada be so empathetic with June’s actions? How will Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski), Fred’s wife, and the rest of their dystopian nation react?
We have seen Serena’s character evolve from a submissive housewife to a woman of her own with a strong resolve bent on spreading the gospel of Gilead. Is she capable of seizing the opportunity from her husband’s death to rise to greater power? The trailer’s parallels between Serena and June lead one to believe Serena will be June’s major opposition.
What do you hope to see in this new season? Has June finally gotten all the revenge she rightfully deserved? Or, like Serena, is enough never not enough? Perhaps they are both the emblematic representation of the extreme side of each spectrum. Check out the trailer below and give your best predictions in the comments!
