The Handmaid's Tale (TV series)


The Handmaid's Tale is an American dystopian television series created by Bruce Miller, based on the 1985 novel The Handmaid's Tale by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. The series was ordered by the streaming service Hulu as a straight-to-series order of ten episodes, for which production began in late 2016. The plot features a dystopia following a Second American Civil War wherein a theonomic, totalitarian society subjects fertile women, called "Handmaids", to child-bearing slavery.
The series premiered on April 26, 2017, and was renewed for five additional seasons, with the sixth and final season premiering on April 8, 2025. Its first season won eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 13 nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series. It was the first show produced by Hulu to win a major award and the first series on a streaming service to win an Emmy for Outstanding Series. It also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama. Elisabeth Moss was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Drama Series.
In September 2019, Hulu and MGM announced they were developing a sequel series based on Atwood's 2019 novel, The Testaments.

Plot

In a world where fertility rates have collapsed as a result of sexually transmitted diseases and environmental pollution, the totalitarian, theonomic government of Gilead has established its rule in the former United States in the aftermath of a civil war. Society is organized by power-hungry leaders along with a new, militarized, hierarchical theonomy and newly created social classes, in which women are brutally subjugated. By law, women in Gilead are forced to work in severely limited roles, including some as natal slaves, and they are not allowed to own property, have careers, handle money, or even read and write.
Worldwide infertility has led to the enslavement of fertile women in Gilead determined by the new regime to be fallen women, citing an extremist interpretation of the Biblical account of Bilhah. These women often include those who have entered marriages following divorce, single or unmarried mothers, lesbians, non-Christians, adherents of Christian denominations other than the "Sons of Jacob", political dissidents, and academics.
These women, called Handmaids, are assigned to the homes of the ruling elite, where they must submit to ritualized rape by their male masters in the presence of their wives with the intent of being impregnated and bearing children for them. Handmaids are given names created by the addition of the prefix Of- to the first name of the man who has them. When they are transferred, their names are changed.
Along with the Handmaids, much of society is now grouped into classes that dictate their freedoms and duties. Women are divided into a small range of social categories, each one signified by a plain dress in a specific color. A Handmaid’s outfit consists of a long red dress, a red cloak, heavy brown boots, and a white coif, with a larger white bonnet to be worn outside, which conceals her from the public view and restricts her vision.
June Osborne, renamed Offred, is the Handmaid assigned to the home of the Gileadan Commander Fred Waterford and his wife Serena Joy, key players in the formation and rise of Gilead, who struggle with the realities of the society they helped create. During "the time before", June was married to Luke and had a daughter, Hannah.
At the beginning of the story, while attempting to flee Gilead with her husband and daughter, June was captured and forced to become a Handmaid because of the "adultery" she and her husband committed. June's daughter was taken and given to an upper-class family to raise, and her husband escaped into Canada. Much of the plot revolves around June's desire to be reunited with her husband and daughter and the internal evolution of her strength to its somewhat darker version.

Cast and characters

Main

  • Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne / Offred / Ofjoseph #2, a woman who was captured while attempting to escape to Canada with her husband, Luke, and daughter, Hannah. Because Luke is divorced, their union is considered adulterous in this new society. June is considered an adulteress and their daughter, Hannah, is deemed illegitimate. Due to June's fertility, she is made a Handmaid to Commander Fred Waterford and his wife Serena Joy, and is called "Offred"; later she becomes handmaid to Commander Joseph Lawrence and is called "Ofjoseph".
  • Joseph Fiennes as Commander Fred Waterford, a high-ranking government official, and June's first master. Both he and his wife were instrumental in Gilead's founding.
  • Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy Waterford, Fred's wife, and a former conservative cultural activist and author. She appears to have accepted her new role in a society that she helped create. She is poised and deeply religious, but capable of great cruelty and is often callous to June. She is desperate to become a mother.
  • Alexis Bledel as Dr. Emily Malek / Ofglen #1 / Ofsteven / Ofroy / Ofjoseph #1, a former university professor in cellular biology and initially June's shopping partner. Although June is initially wary of her, it is revealed she is not as pious as she seems, and the two become friends. Emily is involved with and first informs June of Mayday, an underground resistance movement. She has a wife and son living in Canada.
  • Madeline Brewer as Janine Lindo / Ofwarren / Ofdaniel / Ofhoward / Ofjoseph / Ofpaul #3, a Handmaid who entered the Red Center for training at the same time as June, and considers June a friend due to her kind treatment. Initially non-compliant, Janine has her right eye removed as a punishment. She becomes mentally unstable due to her treatment and often behaves in temperamental or childlike ways. Before Gilead, Janine was a waitress and had a son, Caleb, who unbeknownst to her was killed in a car crash after the takeover.
  • Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia Clements, a woman in charge of overseeing the Handmaids in their sexual re-education and duties. She is brutal and subjects insubordinate Handmaids to sadistic physical punishment, but she also cares for her charges and believes deeply in the Gileadean mission and doctrine. She appears to have a soft spot for Janine and even goes so far as to address her by her given name on occasion. Before Gilead, she was a family court judge, and afterwards, an elementary school teacher.
  • O-T Fagbenle as Luke Bankole, June's husband from before Gilead. Initially, June believes he was killed, but it is later revealed that Luke managed to escape to Canada.
  • Max Minghella as Commander Nick Blaine, Commander Waterford's driver and a former drifter from Michigan who has feelings for June. June and Nick develop an intimate relationship and she eventually discovers that he is an Eye, a spy for Gilead and that he played a significant role in the Gileadean takeover. In season 3, he is promoted to Commander.
  • Samira Wiley as Moira Strand, June's best friend since college. She is already at the Red Center when June enters Handmaid training but escapes before being assigned to a home. She is recaptured and becomes "Ruby", a Jezebel. She seems to have given up hope of ever being free, but on meeting June again regains the conviction to escape to Canada.
  • Amanda Brugel as Rita Blue, a housekeeper at the Waterford house, who becomes one of June's closest allies. She had a son named Matthew, who died fighting in the civil war when he was 19 years old.
  • Bradley Whitford as Commander Joseph Lawrence, the founder of the Colonies and architect of Gilead's economy. He is on and off with Mayday.
  • Sam Jaeger as Mark Tuello, an operative of the U.S. Government whom Serena encounters in Canada.
  • Ever Carradine as Naomi Putnam, Commander Putnam's wife. She has no sympathy for Handmaids and only sees her baby as a status symbol. She later marries Commander Lawrence after a change in circumstances.

    Recurring

  • Jordana Blake as Hannah Bankole, June and Luke's daughter. After being taken, she is given a new family and renamed Agnes MacKenzie.
  • Stephen Kunken as Commander Warren Putnam, a High Commander and the first known Commander of Janine.
  • Tattiawna Jones as Lillie Fuller / Ofglen #2, who replaces Emily in the position after Emily is captured by the Eyes. She warns June away from breaking the rules and does not wish to upset the status quo, but this is because she believes her life as a Handmaid is better than the difficult, impoverished life she led prior to Gilead, rather than out of religious piety.
  • Nina Kiri as Alma / Ofrobert, another Handmaid who trained at the Red Center with June, Moira, and Janine. She is frank and chatty and often trades gossip and news with June. She is also involved with Mayday and becomes one of June's first contacts with the resistance group.
  • Bahia Watson as Brianna / Oferic, another local Handmaid who is friends with June. She is Dolores's shopping partner.
  • Jenessa Grant as Dolores / Ofsamuel, a local Handmaid with a friendly and talkative nature. She is Brianna's shopping partner.
  • Edie Inksetter as Aunt Elizabeth, a fellow Aunt who works closely with Aunt Lydia at the Red Center.
  • Robert Curtis Brown as Commander Andrew Pryce, a Commander who is one of the leading members of the Sons of Jacob and is in charge of the Eyes.
  • Kristen Gutoskie as Beth, an award-winning chef before the rise of Gilead, formerly a Martha at Jezebel's, and later a Martha in the Lawrence household.
  • Erin Way as Erin, a young, apparently mute woman who was being trained to become a Handmaid but managed to escape to Canada with Luke.
  • Krista Morin as Rachel Tapping, an official at the United States Consulate in Canada.
  • Clea DuVall as Sylvia, Emily's wife.
  • Cherry Jones as Holly Maddox, June's mother, an outspoken feminist.
  • Sydney Sweeney as Eden Blaine , a pious and obedient young girl who is married off to Nick.
  • Greg Bryk as Commander Ray Cushing, a fellow Commander who later replaces Commander Pryce's position.
  • Rohan Mead as Isaac, a young Guardian assigned to the Waterford home.
  • Julie Dretzin as Eleanor Lawrence, the mentally unstable wife of Commander Lawrence.
  • Amy Landecker as Mrs. Mackenzie, Hannah's placement mother in Gilead.
  • Ashleigh LaThrop as Natalie / Ofmatthew, a devoted Handmaid whose loyalty to Gilead causes divisive tensions amongst her peers.
  • Sugenja Sri as Sienna, a former radiology student and a new Martha in the Lawrence household.
  • Jonathan Watton as Commander Matthew Calhoun, the assigned Commander of Natalie/Ofmatthew.
  • Charlie Zeltzer as Oliver, Emily and Sylvia's son.
  • Christopher Meloni as High Commander George Winslow, a High Commander stationed in Washington, D.C.
  • Elizabeth Reaser as Olivia Winslow, the wife of High Commander Winslow.
  • Mckenna Grace as Esther Keyes, a farmer and the teenage wife of an older Commander.
  • Zawe Ashton as Oona, an aid worker in Toronto and Moira's new girlfriend.
  • Jeananne Goossen as Aunt Ruth, a high ranking Aunt who is desperate to replace Aunt Lydia as the leading Aunt in their district.
  • Natasha Mumba as Danielle, a former handmaid.
  • Victoria Sawal as Tyler, a former handmaid.
  • Amanda Zhou as Vicky, a former handmaid.
  • Carey Cox as Rose Blaine, the daughter of a High Commander in Washington, D.C. and Nick's new wife.
  • Jason Butler Harner as Commander Mackenzie, a High Commander and Hannah's placement father.
  • Rossif Sutherland as Ezra Shaw, Serena's personal Gileadan bodyguard in Canada.
  • Genevieve Angelson as Alanis Wheeler, an affluent Canadian who idolizes Serena and who is a driving force behind the rise of Gilead in Toronto.
  • Lucas Neff as Ryan Wheeler, Alanis' husband who lives with her in Canada.
  • Josh Charles as Commander Wharton, a High Commander and Nick's father-in-law.
  • Athena Karkanis as Ellen, a leader in Mayday.
  • Timothy Simons as Commander Bell, a High Commander with important family connections.
  • D'Arcy Carden as Ava / Aunt Phoebe, a U.S. government operative posing as an Aunt at the Red Center.