File this under “not a huge surprise, but still fantastic news”: The Testaments is getting a second season. Hulu’s well-received sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale—which itself ran for six seasons, wrapping up in 2025—is based on the Margaret Atwood novel and features standout lead performances by rising star Chase Infiniti as well as returning Handmaid‘s Emmy winner Ann Dowd.
With just one episode left to go in its first season, The Testaments has crafted a poignant exploration of coming of age under extreme repression, showing us a side of Gilead that went relatively untapped in The Handmaid’s Tale. We’ve followed along as the young daughters of powerful Gilead leaders—groomed since birth for marriage—face the next chapters of their lives, with most of them starting to realize the perfect, polished world they’ve inhabited is actually full of cruelty and corruption.
This week’s episode, “Marat Sade” (no spoilers if you haven’t watched it yet!), signals a major turning point for the characters, and it feels like there’s a lot more story to tell after this, so it’s excellent to hear that Infiniti’s Agnes and her friends (and foes) will get to continue on.
According to a Disney press release, The Testaments has also been a ratings hit, with “over 45 million hours streamed globally on Hulu and Disney+ to date. The series has been gaining momentum, with viewership growing week over week. Views for episode eight were up 76% from the premiere.”
The Testaments was created by Bruce Miller, who also created The Handmaid’s Tale. Along with Infiniti and Dowd, the cast features Lucy Halliday, Mabel Li, Amy Seimetz, Brad Alexander, Rowan Blanchard, Mattea Conforti, Zarrin Darnell-Martin, Eva Foote, Isolde Ardies, Shechinah Mpumlwana, Birva Pandya, and Kira Guloien. Elisabeth Moss has also guest-starred, reprising her Handmaid’s Tale character June Osborne.
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