Hulu has offered up the first trailer for season 3 of The Handmaid’s Tale, the award-winning series based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name.
“If I’m going to change things, I’m going to need allies,” says lead character June (aka Offred) in the preview, which goes on to show some of the characters she will align with and against in the coming season.
Among the supporting characters featured prominently in the trailer along with June (Elisabeth Moss) are Serena Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski), the wife of Commander Waterford; Nick Blaine (Max Minghella) the Gilead spy in love with June; and Commander Joseph Lawrence (Bradley Whitford), the founder of the Colonies, whose current allegiances remain uncertain.
The second season of The Handmaid’s Tale had June decide at the last minute to return to Gilead instead of making her escape north, sending her baby across the border with a fellow Handmaid, Emily (Alexis Bledel).
The new season has June focused on disrupting the cruel, patriarchal, pseudo-Biblical government of Gilead from within its ranks. The trailer shows her striking up an allegiance with Serena, whose status as the wife of a commander gives her influence.
“Up to a point,” adds Serena, only to have June respond, “So move the point.”
The trailer ends with a shot of June and Serena smoking cigarettes by a pool.
The trailer was released during a presentation by Hulu that announced several new shows in development, as well as data regarding the subscriber pool for the direct-to-consumer streaming video service and other upcoming projects.
The first Hulu series and the first streaming series to win a Primetime Emmy Award in the prestigious “Outstanding Drama Series” category, The Handmaid’s Tale is also the first streaming series to win the Golden Globe Award as the year’s best television series in the drama category. Moss has also won the Golden Globe Award for her performance in the show, and the show itself has been nominated for — and won — major awards in various other categories across its two seasons so far.
The Handmaid’s Tale returns to Hulu for its third season on June 5.
