Perhaps the best thing the Super Bowl gave us (aside from endless memes skewering Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine) was the trailer for the upcoming season of The Handmaid's Tale.
Spoilers below.
Hulu's hit series (which won its lead actress Elisabeth Moss two Emmys in 2017) returns in the spring, and it's clear from the beginning of the new trailer that life for June/Offred and the handmaids of the Republic of Gilead are going to be grimmer than ever.
The trailer lampoons former President Ronald Regan's 1984 "Morning in America" political campaign television commercial.
"It's morning again in America," you hear over a soundtrack and images that resound with boundless optimism. Things turn dark from there. Soon the camera freezes on Moss's face: "Wake up, America," she says.
You can watch the trailer below:
The Handmaid's Tale: Season 3 Teaser (Super Bowl Commercial)youtu.be
When we last saw June, she had decided to leave baby Nicole with Emily (Alexis Bledel) and remain in Gilead to save her older daughter Hannah. She walked away, her red cloak blazing against a torrential rainstorm. The finale made for startling imagery and gave us a cliffhanger for the ages.
Fans are pretty thrilled.
Margaret Atwood's novel was written at the height of the Reagan administration and satirized political, social, and religious trends of the 1980s. A sequel, The Testaments, will be released in September 2019. The Testaments is unconnected to Hulu's adaptation and will feature the testimonials of three female narrators from Gilead.