It’s been a little over a year since season 3 of ‘ The Handmaid’s Tale’ was released and we still have a few months to see the new episodes of the dystopia developed by Bruce Miller based on the Margaret Atwood novel.
A season 4 that will consist of ten episodes, three less than usual, and of which we are going to review everything we know at the moment of the new installment of the series.
The cast
Due to how season 3 ended (we will go into it shortly) it is somewhat difficult to ensure who will be in these new episodes and, at the moment, no new additions have been announced. What we can do is play it safe with the main cast.
So we will continue to see Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne, Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy, Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia, OT Fagbenle as Luke, Alexis Bledel as Emily, Samira Wiley as Moira and Joseph Fiennes as Commander Waterford.
Pulling interviews with Miller, the screenwriter seems interested in continuing to tell what happens with Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) and discovering Nick’s past (Max Minghella)
The history
The season 3 finale was shocking, with an injured June managing at the last minute to free a good number of infants to Canada. This season is being carried with certain secrecy. But undoubtedly much of the first episodes will revolve around the consequences of this act of betrayal of Gilead.
‘The wills’
With the publication, last fall of ‘ The Testaments ‘, the sequel to ‘ The Handmaid’s Tale ‘ written by Margaret Atwood, the possibility of incorporating elements of that book into the future stories of the series is much being discussed. Something that Bruce Miller, the showrunner of the series, and his team of writers are working with.
However, it is complicated because, on average, the main action takes place about fifteen years after season 3. I mean, they should take a big leap in time for it. Or not. Because although Atwood’s proposal with this sequel is radical, with June of the map (which would not be far from what was expected after the shocking end of the third season), it has elements that can be taken advantage of.
You can get very good ideas from ‘The Wills’ as it is a book that expands the world of Gilead. The operation of Mayday and the “Underground Railroad”, for example, is explained a little more.
It also goes a long way into Aunt Lydia and her background. Although in the books it is quite different from what we have seen in the series. It is good material for these new episodes. Finally, we meet the Pearls, missionaries who go abroad two by two to recruit lost girls for Gilead … and serve as spies. They are all ingredients that can somehow fit into this new season.
The filming
Here’s the bad news. The filming of season 4 of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ was planned for last March. And, unless you’ve lived in a cave all this time. You’ll know that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all filming was paralyzed. Elisabeth Moss confirmed that they had only been filming for two weeks at the time.
Filming has not resumed yet, but hopefully, it will do so during the summer. Also, in these new episodes, we will see Moss debut in directing.
The teaser trailer
Despite the little material shot, Hulu surprised us by releasing a first teaser trailer for season 4 of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ made up mostly of material from previous seasons. But something is something.
Premiere
During his latest news presentation. Hulu announced that season 4 of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ would arrive in 2021 . This is months later than originally planned. A delay, on the other hand, inevitable due to the coronavirus. A more precise date has yet to be confirmed.
