Praise be: The Handmaid's Tale is renewed for season 4 at Hulu. The award-winning series has become a stand-out for the streaming subscription service by tackling an adaptation of a disconcerting novel as originally written by Margaret Atwood.
The Handmaid's Tale envisions a near dystopian future where religion controls most of the U.S., which is now known as the Republic of Gilead. In this future, many women are unable to conceive children due to an unknown condition. However, those women who can still conceive have been rounded up and forced to work as handmaids. This means that they are forced to breed with men deemed worthy enough by Gilead to procreate. In looking at the current political landscape, the story of The Handmaid's Tale has a lot of present-day relevance, which could be part of the secret behind its success.
In response to that success, the story of The Handmaid's Tale will continue. According to Deadline, Hulu confirmed that it has renewed the series for season 4. This renewal should not come as a surprise, though. The Handmaid's Tale was the first TV series by a streaming service ever to win the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy. It also has several other Emmys, along with a plethora of other awards.
The Handmaid's Tale helped put Hulu on the map for its original content. Since then, the streaming service has also launched other original shows, including Harlots, Stephen King's Castle Rock, Marvel's Runaways and Light as a Feather. It also recently became the exclusive home of Veronica Mars and The Orville. With Hulu officially now under the Disney umbrella, the service will continue to create new shows. Just a few in the works include Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles, as well as a TV adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. At this point, there's no stopping the Hulu train, especially now that it has Disney money fueling it.
The Handmaid's Tale season 3 hasn't wowed critics like previous seasons, but its latest few episodes have seen interest in the show pick up. Now that the main protagonist, June, has decided to rescue the children of Gilead, she has a purpose again, giving the show a new direction that should prove compelling moving into season 4. With only a handful of episodes left in season 3, viewers are looking forward to seeing what might happen next. In the meantime, fans can get their hands on Atwood's next novel in the series, The Testaments, in September.
Source: Deadline