June Osborne and the other rebel maids of the theocratic regime of Gilead return to Hulu in April for the fourth season of the series inspired by the dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood and this time too, as and even more than in the previous three, the reference background will reflect the anxieties of the moment: in this case those of the post-Trump times.
"We will tackle issues of the post-Trump era because this is the moment in which our producers and our writers live. We are not trying to steal headlines from news and turn them into television. But we try to follow our characters through a historical moment. of Gilead which also coincides with a historic moment for America, ”showrunner Bruce Miller said during a panel with the Television Critics Association.
The series will return with three of ten episodes on April 28 and will kick off when, at the end of the third season, June risks her life to free dozens of Gilead's children and send them to Canada.
The final scene sees the plane with the little refugees landing safe and sound while the Handmaid, wounded in the shoulder, is rescued by another resistance fighter dressed in red.
Miller said he never considered killing June, but that the consequences of his actions pushed the series on a new trajectory and that audiences "will be satisfied" with the solutions: "Partly it has to do with Covid and with the consideration that life is short, but this season we have tried to make progress and make things happen ".
The fourth season was back on set a year ago, but almost immediately, in March, the pandemic stopped production.
When it was possible to restart shooting it was necessary to reduce the number of people in the scenes and create lockdown "bubbles".
"The hardest thing was getting the cast to Canada. That's why we had to keep some actors out."
But once the "bubble" was created, between tests and quarantines, "everything went as it should", said Elizabeth Moss, who in addition to playing the role of June this time is for the first time directing three of the ten bets.
And there is already a fifth season on the horizon: Miller said he was fascinated by what happens in "The Testaments", the sequel that Atwood has released in 2019 and of which Hulu has acquired the rights : "It will be part of our future".
Meanwhile, a video clip released to coincide with the round table shows June who, no longer wearing the red cloak of the Handmaids, tries to enter Canada where her husband Luke (OT Fagbenle) has been a refugee for some time.
But there is also a passionate kiss with bodyguard Nick Blaine (Max Minghella) with whom she had a daughter, named Holly in honor of her mother, but whom Commander Fred Waterford's wife, Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski), renames Nichole.