'The Handmaid’s Tale’ Cast, Producers Share Season 2 Teasers At PaleyFest
Following the first-look trailer for the second season of The Handmaid's Tale, the cast and crew shared more plot details.
Hitting Its Stride
Stars Samira Wiley, Yvonna Strahovski, and Max Minghella joined series creator/showrunner Bruce Miller and exec producer Warren Littlefield to discuss what fans can expect from the highly-anticipated second season of The Handmaid's Tale.
Their chat took place at Paleyfest, and the close to sold-out Dolby Theatre enjoyed three, brand-new clips from the hit show. The first clip showed a group of handmaids, including Elisabeth Moss's Offred, punished for failing to stone a fellow handmaid. The group has to hold out stones in the rain. However, Offred gets spared from torture when her pregnancy comes to light.
The second clip gave audiences a quick look at the Colonies, a land outside Gilead. Infertile, lower-class women are sent to this place after failing their dystopian society. Alexis Bledel's Ofglen featured in the scene, which showcased the desolate landscape of the place where she has to shovel radioactive waste. She will reportedly have a new commander, Get Out's Bradley Whitford will play the role.
The final glimpse at season 2 showed Offred waiting in a hospital bed for the doctor to arrive when Strahovski's Serena storms in to confront her for her insolent behavior. Offred warns Serena to remain calm, lest she upset the baby. In the juiciest moment out of the three clips, Offred is referred to as June, her real, forbidden name, before discovering a key marked in red inside her boot.
Of what fans can expect from her character in season 2, Miller revealed that she's much more of a driving force behind the narrative.
"Her character's a lot more of a rebel and feistier. She's having a lot more of trouble as Offred hiding June, so that stuff comes out more," he said.
Offred may also forge a friendship with an unlikely ally, much to the surprise of both parties.
"She's also getting to know and building a relationship with Serena that even though they wouldn't like it to turn out that way is getting more honest," Miller advised.
Executive producer Littlefield confirmed that the two themes of the show's sophomore season will be motherhood and the idea that Gilead is inside of everybody.
"When we start the season [Offred] has a child and in ... season 2, all her moves are for that unborn child and what life will be for that unborn child," he said.
Seriously Topical
The series will also delve into how America became Gilead in the first place. As for any connections to the real world, and the Time's Up and #MeToo movement in Hollywood and elsewhere, they explained that it will be up to viewers to draw those comparisons.
Contemporary times influenced the script for the second season. However, Miller was quick to point out that he won't be telling viewers what to take from the show.
The Handmaid's Tale is set in a dystopian future version of America run by a religious fundamentalist group, the Sons of Jacob. In their version of society, women are not allowed to hold jobs or positions of power, and fertility is seen as a valuable commodity. Hence, they use handmaids to repopulate the Earth. Offred found herself pregnant at the end of the first season and men in a black van took her away.
The show premiered on Hulu in 2017, just a few short months after Donald Trump took over the office of President. It, perhaps unintentionally, tapped into the cultural zeitgeist in a big way, leading women to don handmaid-esque garb at women's marches around the country.
The show is a massive hit for Hulu, with the streaming service crediting the series for a massive spike in subscriptions. The show also nabbed several awards, including two Golden Globes and eight Emmys.
The second season of The Handmaid's Tale premieres on Hulu on April 25.
