So far, what we’ve seen of The Handmaid’s Tale season two has encompassed grim photos that included a bloodied June/Offred (Elisabeth Moss), as well as yesterday’s eerie trailer. But according to showrunner Bruce Miller, the tone of season two won’t be drastically different from what worked so well in season one.
Image: Hulu
Granted, season one was brimming with dark, terrifying moments – so no doubt season two will still have plenty of those. But though the potential is there, and though the story will expand beyond Margaret Atwood’s source novel, The Handmaid’s Tale isn’t going to go full-on horror story. As Miller assured the LA Times in a recent interview:
I don’t think it’s darker than the first season. I think the first season had very difficult things, and very hopeful things, and I think this season is exactly the same way. There come some surprising moments of real hope and victory, and strength, that come from surprising places. I would say that we’re expanding our world into deeper parts of Margaret Atwood’s world, the world that she already created. I feel like it still is, “The Handmaid’s Tale” is still Atwood’s book and Atwood’s character and Atwood’s world. And that Atwoodness is what we’re always trying to get to. She has a great sense of humour, and she’s so smart and incisive, and spare in the way that she writes. All of those kinds of things we try to bring to play.
Though of course he couldn’t say too much about plot details, Miller dropped a few (very, very few) hints about season two, including that Marisa Tomei will play a character dwelling in the mysterious “Colonies” outside of Gilead. He also talked about what it’s like making a show based on an important feminist work in a time when Hollywood is finally examining its own awful shortcomings when it comes to the treatment of women in the industry. Check out the whole interview at the below link. The Handmaid’s Tale is back on Hulu starting April 25. Season one is available on SBS On Demand in Australia, but an Australian season two release date has not yet been announced.
[LA Times]