The Testaments

A sequel that moves Gilead into a school for future wives

In March 2023, Bruce Miller stepped down as showrunner of the Hulu adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale to focus on adapting The Testaments, the 2019 novel by Margaret Atwood. Hulu ordered the series in April 2025, and filming ran from April 7 to August 15 of that year.

Mike Barker directed the first three episodes and the finale, and Elisabeth Moss, the lead of the earlier series, is an executive producer and returns as June Osborne in guest appearances. Atwood herself appears in the finale as a prison matron, and Stephen Colbert voices an announcer on Radio Free Boston, a pirate radio station.

The Story

Agnes MacKenzie, played by Chase Infiniti, is a Plum at Aunt Lydia's school in Gilead: a girl who has not yet reached puberty and is destined to marry a Commander. Aunt Lydia, played again by Ann Dowd, asks her to look after Daisy, played by Lucy Halliday, a Pearl Girl who arrived from outside Gilead. Daisy is in fact a Canadian working undercover for the resistance group Mayday.

Miller told Variety that he tried not to change the novel unless he had to, but the timeline forced some changes: Daisy is not Nicole, June's second daughter, as she is in the book. He also said that this sequel should stand on its own, without viewers having seen the earlier series.

The Ideal Audience

Hulu released the first three of ten episodes on April 8, 2026, and the others weekly, with Disney+ carrying the series outside the United States. Hulu renewed it in May 2026, before the finale, when its episodes had passed 45 million hours streamed worldwide, and Chase Infiniti received an Emmy nomination for lead actress in a drama series.

The series is rated TV-14, and Common Sense Media recommends it from age 15, citing bodies hanging from ropes, a man whose hand is sawed off while schoolgirls cheer, and strong language. It also depicts the sexual assault of Agnes by a doctor. Rotten Tomatoes counted 88 percent positive reviews among 57 critics.