THE Handmaid’s Tale has gained a huge following since debuting on Channel 4 in 2017 and now its third season is coming to an end TONIGHT (September 1, 2019.)
Here is the lowdown on series three of the dystopian drama as it reaches its dramatic conclusion…
The Handmaid’s Tale season three premiered on Sunday, June 9, 2019.
The first episode aired at 9pm on Channel 4.
Elsewhere, US viewers were able to stream the series on June 5 – thanks to Hulu.
The third season consists of a whopping 13 episodes in total – with the series coming to an end at 9pm on Channel 4 TONIGHT (September 1, 2019.)
The show is based on the 1985 book of the same name by Margaret Atwood.
Season one followed the story of Offred, a handmaid in a dystopian future where a Christian fundamentalist government has taken over the US.
As civil war rages and fertility is all but eradicated due to contamination, Offred is adapting to the new life of hierarchy and social classes where woman are deemed lesser.
Among the changes, women are taken away from their families, essentially owned and are not allowed to own property, control money or read.
Handmaids are fertile women who are given to homes of the elite and are forced to have sex with the men of the family to carry on their bloodlines.
The rape scenes have caused controversy due to their graphic nature and length.
Any wrongdoing could end up with the Handmaids being executed and gay people are referred to as “gender traitors”.
Executive producer Warren Littlefield told USA Today that season 3 will follow June (Elisabeth Moss) back into Gilead as the latest series picks up ten minutes after the finale of season two.
He said: “We’ll also pick up with Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) and where is she, what happens to her with the knowledge that Nicole, who she considers her baby, has gone off to Canada, but not with June.
“And so that has really far-reaching ramifications, and Nicole becomes a multinational (interest). Everybody wants Nicole. And the question is who legally and morally presides over that.”
And showrunner Bruce Miller says the series will continue to stay true to the original Margaret Atwood novel.
He said: “I roughed it out to about 10 seasons when I was first working on it.
“I see a world beyond [the current one]. I would watch an episode about the Nuremberg trials after Gilead falls. There are lots of worlds you think of.”
He added: “But my arc is still very much the arc of the novel, which is the arc of this one woman’s experience in Gilead at this time.
“And her recollections that paint this picture of what it was like and what the experience of this world was like, which really is still the book.
“People talk about how we’re beyond the book, but we’re not really.
“The book starts, then jumps 200 years with an academic discussion at the end of it, about what’s happened in those intervening 200 years.”
Bruce continued: “It’s maybe handled in an outline, but it’s still there in Margaret’s novel.
“We’re not going beyond the novel; we’re just covering territory she covered quickly, a bit more slowly.”
He hasn’t revealed too many of the specifics of what will happen in season three but he confirmed: “The season is about resistance – June resisting and June fighting.
“After a couple of seasons of being beaten down, she’s had quite enough. She’s finding ways to rebel.”
Season Two deviated from the 1985 Margaret Atwood novel it was based on and saw a lot of rape, murder and torture befall a lot of characters.
Emily enacted revenge on Aunt Lydia by stabbing her and kicking her down the stairs.
June stays behind in Gilead to search for her older daughter Hannah, while giving her newborn baby to Emily – who is taking the chance to escape.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Elisabeth explained her take on the season finale and the game-changing decision for June to stick around in Gilead.
“She just discovered that there’s a legitimate and strong underground network of Marthas working for the resistance.
“The wives led by Serena just rebelled against the men and government of Gilead. They are starting to resist. And she just saw a commander (Lawrence, played by Bradley Whitford) help his handmaid and her dear friend Emily escape. A commander.”
Elizabeth added: “How deep does this underground network of resistance go? She knows now she isn’t alone.
“She doesn’t want to leave Hannah, but when she sees Emily and the commander, she realises she can get her baby Holly out and stay to try to do the same for Hannah.
“And she doesn’t have a lot of time to make that decision.
“She does the riskier thing, which is stay, but she literally cannot leave Hannah in that place.”
