Does The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 Connect To The Testaments?

Does The Handmaid’s Tale season 4 have any connection to The Testaments, Margaret Atwood’s sequel book? The Handmaid’s Tale finally returned to Hulu in April 2021, following an extended hiatus of almost two years, in part due to the coronavirus pandemic. The story picks up right where it left off, with June bleeding out and clinging on for survival, but its long-term future could be found in another of Atwood’s works.

The events of The Handmaid’s Tale season 1 covered the book in its entirety, with the exception of its future-set epilogue. That naturally raised questions of whether or not the show would continue or be a limited series, because at the time Atwood had only written the one novel in the world of Gilead, but The Handmaid’s Tale has since blown past the book and continued June’s story much further, and does so again in season 4.

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Atwood herself, however, returned to write a belated sequel novel, The Testaments, which released in 2019, shortly after The Handmaid’s Tale season 3 came to an end. The Testaments is set 15 years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale book, but follows some familiar characters, including Aunt Lydia, and two other females – Agnes and Nicole – who are believed to be the books’ versions of June’s two daughters, one living in Gilead still, the other in Canada. Since the events are a long way off, The Handmaid’s Tale season 4 doesn’t connect to The Testaments or adapt any of its material, but that isn’t to say it can’t or won’t happen, or that it won’t at least pave the way for it.

Rather than The Handmaid’s Tale adapting the book, The Testaments is expected to become its own TV spinoff (as reported by Deadline back in 2019), although no firm details have been announced just yet. Since Atwood wrote the book so that it didn’t conflict with the show, then there’s plenty of scope for The Testaments to be worked into – or setup by – the main show. As The Handmaid’s Tale season 4 continues to explore June’s time in Gilead, her struggle to get Hannah out, and Nicole’s new life in Canada, then the pieces are in place for an eventual follow-up that would allow for an adaptation of The Testaments, with some key changes. June only very briefly appears in the series, but Elisabeth Moss could make a guest appearance, while Ann Dowd could remain as Aunt Lydia.

Lydia herself may be the key piece of the puzzle in terms of linking The Handmaid’s Tale to The Testaments, as she eventually turns against Gilead and work to bring it down. There’s no firm sign of that in the opening episodes of season 4, bar the briefest flashes of regret at June being tortured yet again. That’s something that could eventually spark into a much bigger sense of rebellion from her, but it’s a long way off happening yet, and presumably wouldn’t until The Handmaid’s Tale season 5 or beyond. Still, if showrunner Bruce Miller is deliberately going to work towards The Testaments, then laying the groundwork for Lydia’s turn, Hannah’s stay in Gilead, and what happens to June would make sense for The Handmaid’s Tale to do as its own story progresses.

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