The Testaments, Margaret Atwood’s anticipated follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale, is being developed for the screen by MGM and Hulu, according to Time.
What’s Happening:
- Hulu and MGM will develop Margaret Atwood’s new novel, The Testaments, for the screen.
- The showrunner of TV adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, Bruce Miller, is involved and currently working on how to best approach the new material.
- At this point, it is unclear whether this will be a new series or will become a part of the existing Hulu series.
- Atwood has been working closely with Miller and his team on each season of the series, advising on story plans and details like character names. She started writing The Testaments before the show premiered.
- The widely acclaimed show has won 11 Emmys thus far, as well as a Peabody award, although the most recent season had more divided critical reviews.
- Miller and his team are looking forward to the release of The Testaments, as they’re eager to see which details the team can work with to incorporate or build up in to the show.
- The new book has three different narrators and offers new perspectives as it is not told not from the perspective of Offred, but instead from those of three other women connected to Gilead: a young woman raised in the oppressive society; a Canadian teen who learns she was actually born there; and Aunt Lydia, a major villain in both the original novel and the show.
- The new book, The Testaments, is a highly anticipated follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale and is due for release on September 10th.
What They’re Saying:
- Bruce Miller, Showrunner for The Handmaid’s Tale: “We’ve tried to hint at the wider world as much as possible in the show. The Testaments really gives us much wider glimpses into other parts of the world.”
- Margaret Atwood, Author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments: “They can’t keep Offred in Gilead for many more seasons, or a certain amount of wheel spinning will be going on. They have to move her along – and I’ve given them lots of ways of how that would happen.”