Showrunners Eric Tuchman & Yahlin Chang On Concluding “The Handmaid’s Tale” In Its Sixth And Final Season Of (Part 1)
Orwell. Huxley. Atwood. The power of dystopian fiction is felt most when it seems like a chilling reflection of reality. When you have chills running down your spine, thinking that someone, somewhere, mistook a cautionary tale for an instruction manual.
As eerie as #TheHandmaidsTale has felt since its first season in 2017, it was not the initial intention of the creative team to make a modern social commentary. They were simply adapting Margaret Atwood’s 1985 book of the same name; a story set in a future where women have lost all rights in a fundamentalist Christian republic called Gilead. To refresh, Gilead is run by wealthy men known as Commanders and armed guards called “The Eyes,” all supposedly operating on the principles of the Bible and a belief in the sovereignty of men.
The women assigned to be handmaids become prisoners in the homes of the Commanders and their wives who are unable to have children of their own. Every month, the Handmaid is subjected to a “ceremony” (i.e. rape) to have her impregnated by her Commander. If successful, she is forced to hand over the baby once born and go through the experience all over again in a new household for the remainder of her childbearing years. Those who don’t abide by Gilead “law” (be they handmaid, commander or anyone in between) face public hanging and display on “The Wall” as a reminder to all citizens of the penalty of independent thinking and rebellion.
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