Hulu’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Everything You Need To Know About The Adaptation

The first ad for Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale dropped during Super Bowl LI, and people were instantly talking about it. With a series of political ads, it’s no surprise that people wanted to find out more about this dystopian future series. Here’s all you need to know about the upcoming series before it premieres on April 26, 2017.

#1. It’s Based on a Book

The Handmaid’s Tale is just the latest of book-to-TV adaptations. Unlike others that have been recent young adult novels, Margaret Atwood’s novel was written in 1985 and has had other types of adaptation. It’s more of an adult novel that focuses on a dystopian future where the United States government has been overthrown by a totalitarian party. Women are now lesser people, and all those fights for equality have been long forgotten.

There is the room for feminist movements and America is known as Gilead. There’s no confirmation that the name of the country is going to be the same in the Hulu adaptation.

It’s won numerous awards, but many people may never have heard of it. However, thanks to the Super Bowl ad, people want to know more. The Canadian author is now at the top of the Amazon best-seller’s list, according to the Loop.

Why is it so important now? Well, many say that it is due to the current state of politics in the United States.

#2. It’s All Based on Definite Possibilities

Atwood shared with the Guardian in 2012 that she would never write about something that wasn’t possible. That means no impressive but imaginative technology. All the group-activated hangings, forced childbearing, and even costumes are those that have been viewed in real life.

This makes The Handmaid’s Tale scarier than it initially seems. If people have done it before, then what’s to stop them from doing it all again?

The only possible pure speculation is the world where childbearing is becoming increasingly difficult. The women like main character Offred, played by Elizabeth Moss, have been handpicked because of their proven childbearing capabilities. They are forced to bear children from masters of households whose wives are barren.

#3. There Are Flashbacks

The book is full of flashbacks of the world before America was taken over by totalitarian rule. It is likely that these flashbacks will be used in the TV series, as one of the characters from the flashbacks, Luke, has been cast.

Flashbacks are sometimes necessary. There is hope that Hulu will fit them in seamlessly and make sure they are clearly defined as a different part of the storytelling. O. T. Fagbenle will play the role of Luke, Offred’s husband from America.

The flashbacks will likely happen within with the current day storyline. During flashbacks, Offred had an affair with a man called Nick, who is part of the government in Gilead and pretends not to recognize Offred. Could he play a deeper role and be the reason for Offred’s current state of living?

#4. There Is an Underground Resistance

This shouldn’t a surprising point, even for those who haven’t read the books. When any type of totalitarian rule is involved, there are people who get together to fight against it. They are always at threat and always have to live underground. You just have to look at dystopian futures in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Fahrenheit 451, and Man in the High Castle to see how resistances work.

The Handmaid’s Tale will have a resistance and Gilmore Girls fans will see Alexis Bledel as part of that. She plays lesbian character Ofglen, who becomes friends with Offred and takes us through the world of this underground group of people fighting against the government.

There are hopes that the resistance will have a deeper role to play in the series than it does in the books.

The Handmaid’s Tale is terrifyingly relevant to the total state of the world. If some of the top players around the world have their own way, we could certainly see women, LGBT, and lower-class rights diminished. The novel-to-TV adaptation will take us through the potential of such a dystopian future should it happen.

The adaptation of Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale comes to Hulu on April 26.

[Featured Image by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]